THE STEEPLE CHASE.

PLATE IV. "THE GREY BEATS ANYTHING."

ENGRAVED BY E. HACKER, FROM A PAINTING BY J. F. HERRING, sen.

There are few nastier things for a man to ride at, or a horse to face, without they both know tolerably well the game they are playing, than a stiff stone wall; to be sure, when they are set up loose and low, as you meet with them in parts of Oxfordshire and lower down, there is not much fear of damage, except, may-be, to the wall itself, a few yards of which frequently fall before the misdirected prowess of some hero charging at instead of over it. When, however, you come to bigger and less accommodating material, a mistake becomes a much more serious affair; indeed we can scarcely fancy a worse fall than a inan may have from going wrong at a well-coped wall, set up on the true obstando principle. In no kind of fencing, perhaps, do education and practice tell so much as they do here. A long striding, highcouraged horse will often turn up a good brook-jumper instanter, and we have seen many horses take as cleverly and readily to timber; but in wall-jumping there is a peculiar knack a horse must have acquired before he can get quickly or safely across a country of this character. By comparison, the model English hunter is about the least "up" at this description of fencing; accounted for, of course, from an almost utter absence of the fence itself in any of our swell countries. On the other hand, Irish and Scotch horses are singularly handy at wall-jumping, the Irish particularly; and it is seldom, indeed, that an English "born and bred" one can compete at all with them in the easy touch-and-go way they hop on and off the mason's workmanship. "To use an expressive Irish phrase," and to borrow from poor Nimrod in using it, "they have always a leg to spare,' implying that they have a ready use of their hinder legs; which is the fact, in tipping or touching walls or banks with one or both, which gives them a fresh fulcrum, from which they can extend their leap in case of their finding an unforeseen difficulty or obstacle on the landing side. In the wall counties of Ireland, indeed, the horses are taught to alight on their hinder legs upon the summit of the wall, after the manner of the dog when he leaps a gate, which, if the wall be broad and firm, adds to the facility of the exertion, as also to the safety of the rider."

For the steeple chase, where a stride or so gained at one fence may give you the pick and take of the next, and where half a length so saved may serve you up to the finish, this "ease and safety" style of doing it may teach a horse to dwell a trifle too much; and it is extraordinary what an immense deal of ground slow fencers will so lose. Still it cannot take near so much out of them as the grand flying fashion we have; and, barring it being carried to too great a perfection, we think, "whether a hunter, hack, or racer, "a touch of the touch

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and-go" Irish recipe will always tell at a stone wall. In our chases on this side of the Channel and the Border walls are not very common : but whenever one is included, it is sure to be made a point in the line; and many a "worthy owner" and "gallant rider" look with no little anxiety to seeing, or feeling, their nag well over it. To the gentle public it is, if in good view, an especial treat, for there are few prettier sights than that afforded by a field of horses topping side by side such a clear standing, hieover "jump," as the boys call it. A wall in the line, too, is a fine thing for an incident or accident, whichever reading applies better. A bad-hearted one will run a few hundred yards up it, or, next time, a few hundred yards more down it; and, in short, go at it any way you like but over it. Or a pumpedout, over paced horse, without strength sufficient to resist the "resolution" of his never-say-nay pilot, will go headlong into it, with a crash and a smash that excite the sympathising pity of "lads and lasses," and the especial delight of a "leg" or two, who, like their friend at Liverpool, when four or five men and horses were down and struggling all en masse, and at great hazard of course, thanked Heaven for its goodness, for he "stood agen 'm all."

Having seen our field saddled, given them the word at starting, and followed them over, in Yorkshire lingo, the first flight of "hardles," we'll pull our hack up at the next bit of rising ground, and see how we can make them out, without taking any further share in the profits." The worthy reader, who will have the kindness to recollect that we left him by the side of Lady Jane in the Stand, ready to catch her and comfort her should anything happen to the Captain, will also be pleased to remember that we have been backing her favourite, and are now disposed, from the way he holds his own, to go on further, and set the Grey against anything. He has got evidently more than a taste of "the leg to spare" plan we spoke off, and the Captain handles him at it as if he had been born with a brogue in his own, and a "swate" hand at a horse's mouth. The grand jumping, lengthy, Lottery-looking nag at his side, is about our most dangerous customer, and the A. 1. "professional" performer on his back, is riding him as jealous and careful as can be. The bay certainly doesn't fence so cleverly here as the other, but perhaps he is better at different work; and at any rate, if he can only get over them "somehow," as Sir Harry Goodricke did the brook, that long stretch of his must serve itself if they ever draw to a race in straight running. The lucus a non gentleman is the young one who sat his horse so well at starting, and, despite his unpardonable exit just now, we fancy he'll come again, if he only keeps a hold on his horse. Of course his mishap has had a very moral effect on the groom behind him, who, if he didn't pull his mount round from, certainly didn't put him at, the place; and on the very best interpretation of the case, could not say himself whether he meant having it or not. His heart is not exactly where it should be, and that in steeple chasing, if not in every other game from love to war, will "place" him at the time of trial in much the same mediocriter rank. The different identities thus being made out, as we hope, with all the unerring intelligence of an assaulted policeman, or a swindled tradesman, and the distinctions drawn perhaps with a little more

clearness than that condescended to by the gentleman who undertook the showing of "the lion and the dogs," we stand up in our stirrups for a view of the next "stopper." A brook, if we mistake not, with an awkardish rail on the taking-off side, and at which we should reckon far more in than over. Repeating, nevertheless, as we soothe our peppery and now much excited little hack, that we always back "the gentlemen" if they go in at anything like "equal main and chance," and so mean to imply we are still open to our offer that "the Grey beats anything!"

HUNTING IN WESTERN TEXAS, AND VISIT TO SAN ANTONIO DE BEJAR, IN 1843.

BY A TRAVELLER,

During a lengthened residence in Galveston Island and its vicinity, when my occupations permitted, I devoted myself to sporting, or, as called in Texas, hunting. Bird-shooting is denominated "gunning."

In winter, wild geese, wild ducks, brant, canvass-backs, sand-hill cranes, &c., are met with in great numbers, and are brought down with buck-shot, either on the wing or from an ambush. As spring approaches, quails, wild pigeons, and the delicate prairie-hen (a species of grouse) afford sport for small shot; but the magnificent wild turkey requires a small rifle-ball, or buck-shot. Before the warm weather sets in, oystering and turtle parties are formed; and when summer is approaching, fishing on the coast, in the bays and rivers, affords profitable amusement, in the shape of red-fish (as large, and finer than cod), mullet, trout, perch, cat-fish, &c., &c. In these expeditions, woe be to alligators, rattle-snakes, opposums, racoons, fox, wolf, skunk (polecat), peccary, or Mexican hog! and when in the deep woods of the lower country, exciting indeed is the chase of the puma (lion of Texas), the tiger, and leopard. These last three wild animals are much smaller, and have none of the ferocity of similar species met with in the jungles of Africa or India, and may be easily tamed.

In the autumn of 1843, having affairs to attend to in Western Texas, and being at Galveston, I made arrangements for starting. The first was to find my half-wild Comanche mustang, which had been loose on the island for months; and having sought for the animal myself in vain, I offered a reward to whoever would bring him to me. In a day or two a Scotsman, who had the reputation of being a "first-rate horse-stealer, produced my mustang, which was in capital condition, observing that he had friendly recollections of me when out in the "Lafitte" privateer, on a cruize after some Mexican transports; and the only remuneration he required was to take a drink with one from the old country.

Discarding all European gear for myself or horse, I patronized the straight Comanche saddle, as better adapted for travelling over a rough country, and, in not being liable to get wet when fording rivers, and