around it a supposition which was at once
confirmed by the great difficulty of finding this
sunken rock. Don Pablo, however, succeeded
in sounding it, and, in search of specimens of
the largest and oldest shells, dived down in
eleven fathoms water. The rock is not above
one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards
in circumference, and our adventurer swam
round and examined it in all directions, but
without meeting any inducement to prolong
his stay. Accordingly, being satisfied that
there were no oysters, he thought of ascending
to the surface of the water ; but first he cast a
look upwards as all divers are obliged to do,
who hope to avoid the hungry jaws of a mon-
ster. If the coast is clear, they may rise
without apprehension. Don Pablo, however,
when he cast a hasty glance upwards, found
that a tinterero had taken his station about
three or four yards immediately above him,
and, most probably, had been watching during
the whole time that he had been down. A
double-pointed stick is a useless weapon against
a tinterero, as its mouth is of such enormous
dimensions that both man and stick would be
swallowed together. He therefore felt him-
self rather nervous, as his retreat was now
completely intercepted. But, under water,
time is too great an object to be spent in
reflection, and therefore he swam round
to another part of the rock, hoping by this
artifice to avoid the vigilance of his per-
secutor. What was his dismay, when he again
looked up, to find the pertinacious tinterero
still hovering over him, as a hawk would
follow a bird ! He described him as having
large, round, and inflamed eyes, apparently
just ready to dart from their sockets with
eagerness, and a mouth (at the recollection of
which he still shudders) that was constantly
opening and shutting, as if the monster was
already, in imagination, devouring his victim,
or, at least, that the contemplation of his prey
imparted a foretaste of the gotit. Two alter-
natives now presented themselves to the mind
of Don Pablo; one, to suffer himself to be
drowned, the other to be eaten. He had
already been under water so considerable a
time that he found it impossible any longer to
retain his breath, and was on the point of
giving himself up for lost, with as much phi-
losophy as he possessed. But what is dearer
than life ? The invention of man is seldom at
a loss to find expedients for its preservation in
case of great extremity. On a sudden he
recollected that on one side of the rock he had
observed a sandy spot, and to this he swam
with all imaginable speed ; his attentive friend
still watching his movements, and keeping a
measured pace with him. As soon as he
reached the spot he commenced stirring it with
his pointed stick, in such a way that the fine
particles rose, and rendered the water per-
fectly turbid, so that he could not see the
monster, nor the monster him. Availing him-
self of the cloud by which himself and the
tinterero were enveloped, he swam very far out
in a transvertical direction, and reached the
surface in safety, although completely ex-
hausted. Fortunately he rose close to one of
the boats ; and those who were within, seeing
him in such a state, and knowing that an
enemy must have been persecuting him, and
that by some artifice he had saved his life,
jumped overboard, as is their common practice
in such cases, to frighten the creature away by
splashing in the water ; and Don Pablo was
taken into the boat more dead than alive."
LOVE SICK SPORTING WILLY.
The following, after Hood's style, the author of
" Whims and Oddities." is from a Yankee paper .
One Willy Wright, who kept a store,
But nothing kept therein,
Save earthen jugs, and some few kegs,
Of whiskey, ale, and gin.
Although he said, the times were hard.
He ' kept it up' like fun !
And ' on the sly,' he play'd the card !
Too fond of dog and gun.
Grew sick, and often would exclaim,
" Oh, how my heart does burn I"
And every week the poor man lived
He had a weakly turn.
230
PIERCE ECAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS.
Now, when they saw him.thus decline,
Some said that Death must conic ;
Sonic wonder'd what his ail couki be
Some said his ale was rum.
At last the very cause was known
Of every pang he felt
Remote, at one end of the town,
Miss Martha Towns-end dwelt.
A portly, love-resisting dame,
Contemptuous, proud, and haughty ;
But yet, though " fat and forty," too,
fc!!ie was not t\vo-and-forty.
And Willy long had sought and sighed,
To <4ain this pretty imid ;
" 1 have no trade (said he), so sure
.My love can't be betray'd."
To Martha, then, he trembling went,
And said, "My dear 'tis true,
Though I have nothing in my store,
I've love in store for you.
" And if thou wilt, thou may st become-
And here his tongue was ty'd !
And though she willed, yet she said,
She ne'ei would be his bride.
Then, turning Willy out of doors
She said, " go, go along ;
I hate the man, who's always Wright,
Yet always doing wrong,"
" I leave you, then (said he) tarewel !
Of peace I'm now bereft ;
If 1 am always Wright and wrong,
You must be right and left."
So then ne clos'd his little store,
Shut up each door and blind ;
And settled his accounts, and died :
And left no Will behind !
HEM .'
ZOOLOGY.
The collections recently brought from
India, by M. Dussumier, for the Museum at
P'aris, are of great value. When the weather
permitted, M. Dussumier never lost an oppor*
tunity of fishing ; at Sechelles, the Isle of
France, Bourbon, St. Helena, on the coasts of
India, in the rivers, and even in the deep sea ;
in consequence of which he has obtained a
vast mass of fishes, some of them entirely
new, others of which only imperfect specimens
had hitherto been procured. He has also
brought from India quadrupeds which have
never been seen in Europe in modern times,
but with which the ancients were nevertheless
acquainted such as the four-horned antelope,
mentioned by TElian, and in cabinets ; of
which' nothing is to be found in the collection
of skulls, except an incomplete head. This
animal, which M. Dussumier brought alive
from Bengal, died on its way from Bordeaux
to Paris : but its remains have been preserved.
Another rare animal, the long-lipped bear,
has been more fortunate, and is now in the
Parisian menagerie. M. Dussumier is desir-
ous of returning to Canton and Manilla to
make farther researches ; and M. Cuvier has
proposed to the French Academy to defray a
portion of the expense of the expedition.
EXTRAORDINARY HARE HUNT.
The annals of hare-hunting scarcely furnish
a more remarkable instance of sporting plea-
sure than that afforded in the admirable run-
ning of our Kilkenny harriers on St. Stephen's
day. The hounds threw oft' at Bonnetts-town,
and in a short time a hare was soho'd which
afforded good sport for about twenty minutes,
when the hounds were drawn off. Soon after
a second hare was started in the bog of Mone-
vidrew, adjoining Clonan. She ran over the
hill of Ballydaniel, very near to Three Castles,
and thence by the hill of Kilroe to the back
of Bonnett's-town demesne ; she then went in
the direction of Knockroe-cover, where she
crossed the road and made for Barrack-hill,
passing by the house of Bouleshea, and
through the bottoms to Curragh-hill, at which
place she " gave a view," and shortly after
was terminated the existence of one of the
stoutest hares that ever ran. Poor puss, at
the lowest calculation, ran a distance of twelve
Irish (upwards of fifteen English) miles, in
about an hour and twenty minutes. Several
horsemen were thrown off as well as out, and
but six sportsmen were in at the death,
amongst whom was E. Cooke, esq., the public-
spirited proprietor of the Kilkenny harriers ;
Mr. Cummins, of High Sreet, and the hunts-
man also rode well throughout. There was
but one check, for a few minutes, during the
entire hunt. Some of the country people,
astonished at the rapidity with which the
hounds were going, repeatedly asked, " Is it
a fox ?" The harriers have had nine splendid
hunts this season, but the above was by far
the most brilliant.
INGENUITY OF A BEAVER AT PARIS.
A beaver from the Rhine is now in the
Royal Collection in the Jardin des Plantes at
Paris, which exhibited as much ingenuity as
has ever been ascribed to the species in a wild
state, and more than enough to silence the in-
credulity of sceptics respecting the beavers'
dams and their magazines of winter provi-
sions. This beaver, for instance, we are in-
formed by M. Geoffroi St. Hilaire, was, during
the severe weather in winter, provided with
fresh twigs of trees, to furnish exercise for
his propensity of gnawing, and with apples,
&c., as a more nutritive food. One night there
came on a snow storm, and the snow beat into
his domicile in considerable quantity, till he
found out a plan of shielding himself from the
inconvenience. For this purpose, he cut his
supply of twigs into proper lengths, to be
wove in the basket fashion, between the bars
of his cage ; chopped his apples in pieces to
fill up the intervals between the twigs ; and
when even this did not appear sufficiently air-
tight, or (if you will), storm-tight, he kneaded
snow into the intervals. By the morning, it
appeared that he had laboured hard all night,
and had completed a very neat and ingeniou*
barricado against the intrusion of the snow
PIERCE EGAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS.
237
MISERIES ATTACHED TO HUNTING :
4 BLANK DAY!
Thus are the feelings of the disappointed
FOX-HUNTER described, in the Sporting Mag-
azine for March, by Mr. GILBERT FORRESTER :
" Of all the miseries of human life, or
indeed any other life, put me down a fine
frosty day to a fox-hunter : 'tis the very acme
of misery. Talk of the rack, that is a bed of
down compared to the sensations of a hunter,
\vho rises hastily in the morning in expecta-
tion of a brilliant day, and finds ice three
inches thick in his water jug ; who is obliged
to rig himself in a dressing gown and slip-
pers, and sit by the fire reading some dry Par-
liamentary piece of humbug, instead of sport-
ing his top-boots, and scouring away at the
rate of fifteen miles an hour after some pre-
cious varmint. Now I am a good-tempered
fellow, Mr. Editor indeed, I think I may
flatter myself a very good-tempered fellow ;
but I confess, notwithstanding, it requires
all my fortitude to bear this peculiar misery
Tvitho'ut letting some naughty words escape.
However, this state of things, thanks to our
variable climate, did'nt last long ; and on the
19th, having sent my horse forward to the
Borough of Dunhaved, near Lifton, I set sail
for a meeting with Mr. Phillips's pack, and
the first rate workmen who follow it. Our
place of rendezvous was at Cobham brake,
where I found Sir William Molesworth, Mr.
Salisbury Trelawny, the DEVONIAN, Mr. Phil-
lipps, and a strong muster of Yeomanry, who
have an annual dinner on this day, given by
the DEVONIAN for their services in preserving
the rurmint. The word of command given,
away we scoured, and a goodly sight it was,
the hounds being riglar trumps, steeds well
trained, and their riders no flinchers.
" Merrily, merrily see thorn ride,
Hark forward ! the veil known cry !
The hills resound, and the valleys wide
Loud echo their quick reply."
We tried Cobham brake, a very likely patch of
furze, but it was " no go." Reynard hud
been but was gone, and his apartment was to
let unfurnished.
"We show'd fight
lie thought best to walk it."
Mr. Newton's hounds had been scouring the
country a day or two before, and had managed
to clear it pretty well, so that there was little
chance of a find ; and we feathered several
well-looking coverts without success. The
scent, which in the morning promised to
be good, (like many other things) broke its
promise, and turned out but so-so, there-
fore we did not unkennel. To some the day
might have been tedious in consequence ; but
to those who, like myself, go two hundred
miles into the " bowels of the land" for the
mere sake of seeing hunting in all its varie-
ties, the case was different. I like to see the
working of the hounds ; to see them in difii-
uity ; to mark the threading, the stopping,
the eagerness to find, the emulation of each
to gain applause. This, I say, is no mean
sight ; and if men would follow at a proper
distance, instead of loitering in ' high-ways
and bye ways," grumbling over the Reform
Bill and other threadbare subjects, they would
find themselves rewarded for the trouble of
coming out, though not a single " Tally-ho"
should be heard. But a word for the pack.
In height they range about twenty-two inches,
large limbed, deep chested, big ribbed, rather
wide loined, and full lengthy in the body,
which enables them to push along and keep
moving at a slapping pace ; the frontispiece,
perhaps, rather too foxy ; but on this point
sportsmen differ ; so I will say nothing about
it. Their style of trying is good ; and it is
my opinion, if a hound is a good searcher, he
will sooner or later attain perfection. I ima-
gined when first the hounds were thrown off
at Cobham brake, they did not dash the covert
as speedily as I should have desired. In
drawing covert, hounds can hardly be too
quick, especially in furze, as such places are
always tedious and galling, and are apt to
make them hang back, unless urged to it by
the workman, when in the eagerness to follow
such obstructions will be forgotten. The fox
does not at all times seek the deepest point,
but will play about the outskirts, seeking a
convenient kennel ere he takes up his abode.
Hounds, therefore, which pass rapidly on,
must hit the drag, and consequently seldom
lose the varmint. Slow hounds may be made
quick ; and if they are not, it is the fault of
the huntsman and nothing else. I am sure
more foxes are lost through the tardiness of
the guide than any other cause Emulation
is a prominent feature in the character of the
dog ; and when he finds his companions, by
getting a-head, receive the jolly " gone
away" cheer, it will teach him, if ever such a
sluggard, to quicken his movements. Mr.
Phillipps's style of hunting I like exceedingly;
and with the greatest deference to the sports-
men of the West (many of whom are first
raters,) I must say it is more than 1 expected
to see. Patience, perseverance, quickness of
eye, and great judgment, are the qualities
conspicuous in that gentleman, and, in all his
hunting, not a useless sound escapes his lips.
I may, without the slightest flattery, add to
these virtues, those of an agreeable companion
and polished sportsman. His followers de-
serve equal credit for their silence in the
field. Mr. Phillippsis always with his hounds ;
indeed, with such a Pegasus as he bestrides,
this is no wonder. "When I saw Foster at a
little distance, he appeared a lumbering sort
of prad : but on a closer inspection I found
my mistake, for his move and shape are ex-
cellent. He is a bay, with capital sound
forkals, big in bone, and head prettily set on ;
exceedingly deep in his forehand (which is
good), with wide lengthy quarters to match ;
short in the joint, and famous middle piece;
stands about fifteen hands and a half,
238
PIERCE EGAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS.
and has a very quick and extended stride.
In short, take him for all and all, 1 never saw
a horse (for his country) combining so com-
pletely the three qualities necessary to consti-
tute perfection " one like an ox, one like a
fox, and one like a bonny maiden." He has
carried his master five seasons, and could not
be purchased from him at any price : his sire
Gainsborough, dam an excellent mare, and
grandam an Exmoor poney, from which it is
thought he inherits much of his lasting and
sterling qualities, this breed being proverbial
for those virtues. Sir W. Molesworth was
mounted on a beautiful bay nag, as close to
the wind as possible, bred by Mr. Leach, who
is a good judge of these matters, out of a
sister to Minna, by Amadis ; sire Grey Comus.
Though Sunshine is not above fourteen hands
and a half high, he has sufficient power and
action to carry the Baronet (who rides under
ten stone, I think) to the fleetest pack. He
is now only four off, and will be doubtless
spared this season being pushed too hard in
front, an indulgence which, in another season,
he will amply repay ; and, as his owner can
gang along, he will be an ugly opponent to
handle. The Devonian was mounted on his
chesnut mare, Puss, a very excellent steady
fencer, and speedy in her gallop. She was
purchased, I heard, at Oxford, and had been
a front player in the Duke of Beaufort's hunt.
This gentlemen has a knowing finger and a
steady fine seat, with abundance of nerve. I
thought he hung ratherlong in the suspenders
for up-and-down skirmishing ; but I found he
was a bruiser to the back bone. Capt. Salis-
bury Trelawney, I rejoiced to see apparently
as well as ever, and a noble looking fellow he
is. The Captain was once master of a capital
pack of fox-hounds, and I may with truth as-
sert, no man ever hunted them better, or had
a keener eye for the steeples ; and, I doubt
not, in hard knocking, he would still prove a
queer customer to the youngest clipper. M.
Chas. Trelawney rode a slapping chesnut, son
of old Gainsborough, which is only to be seen
to be admired ; he has great strength and
substance, and freedom to get well out of the
heavy. This gentleman has an extraordinary
seat, savouring much of the jock as well as
hunter ; and, when I see him go, I predict he
will be one who can do a trick worth copying.
His move in the saddle reminded me much of
Captain Beecher, and that is saying enough
for any man. There was one little man out
on this day, something below a feather, who
deserves honorable mention. It was the De-
vonian's first-born, a boy rising six year's old,
mounted on an Exmoor pony, and ciad in the
full costume of the hunt. The animated coun-
tenance of the tyro interested me extremely.
The word fatigue seemed to have no place in
his vocabulary ; his whole soul was in the
chase, and his ardour and enjouement such as
are felt (like woman's love) but once in a life
and that in its spring. I would have given a
crown, had I possessed one (/ don't mean five
shillings, dear reader!) to have felt as that
boy did ; but 'tis impossible : the Rubicon is
passed, and can never be retraced. Those
happy feelings, those unclouded moments
were once mine, but they have fled ! ! Late in
the day I asked the little fellow how he got
on, when he replied, " He had been galloping
ever since he came out, and was not tired/'
I inquired where were his spurs ? "I have
none," said he ; '' but a friend of papa's has
promised me a pair on my next birth-day, and
then, you know, I can make the pony gallop
faster." The sight of this little trump, in his
scarlet coat and white collar, spanking along
in the thickest of the melee, would have glad-
dened the heart of an expiring Meynel. The
lady of the Devonian honoured us by ap-
pearing in her pony phaeton, and seemed well
pleased with the noble and courageous bear-
ing of her son, who might have said, in the
words of Corneille,
" Je suis jeune, il est vrai, rnais au ames bien nces
La valeur n'attend pas le norubre dea anaees."
In the course of the evening we adjourned
from Hayne house to the inn at Broadwood,
where two hundred of the first class fanners
were making themselves supremely happy at
tbe expanse of the Devonian, who must, I am
sure, have felt real pleasure in witnessing the
happiness he had created. And to have heard
them chanting, in the first style of jollity :
Gadzooks, my dear boy, they're a hunting to day,
The birds are awakened in meadow and spray ;
Then why should we linger 'tis Pleasure who knocks,
So e'en let us join in the chase of the Fox.
Humanity, pshav.- ! ask the poor cock, and then
You'll find WHS the rascal humane to his hen,
He has thrown on his back her poor carcase to box :
No, no, it won't do ; and we'll hunt jnaster_/'w.
He's a sneak, for he only appears in the night,
To take off our geese and our poultry outright ;
No, no, for their sake, you're the cause of the shocks;
Come, let us away to your death, master fox.
WILD PIGEONS.
The accounts of the enormous flocks in
which the passenger, or wild pigeons, fly
about in North America, seem to a European
like the tales of Baron Munchausen ; but the
travellers are " all in a story." In Upper
Canada, says Mr. Howison, in his entertain-
ing " Sketchet," you may kill twenty or thirty
at one shot, of the masses which darken the
air. And in the United States, according to
"Wilson, the ornithologist, they sometimes
desolate and lay waste a tract of country forty
or fifty miles long, and five or six broad, by
making it their breeding place. While in the
state of Ohio, Mr. Wilson saw a flock of these
birds which extended, he judged, more than
a mile in breadth, and continued to pass over
his head, at the rate of one mile in a minute,
during four hours thus making its who'&
PIERCE EGAN'S BOOK OF SPORTS.
^ength about 240 miles. According to his
moderate estimate, this flock contained t\vo
thousand two hundred and thirty millions,
two hundred and seventy-two pigeons. In
Persia, pigeons are kept wholly for the pur-
pose of obtaining their dung, to rear and im-
prove fruits ; and immense flights of these
birds are frequently to be met with.
THE LAWS OF THE TURF.
The following trial between Mr. Jones and
Mr. Breary is well worthy the attention of
sportsmen in general, which took place at
the Derby Assizes ; it was an action against
the defendant, the clerk of the Derby race-
course, in his character of stake-holder, for
money had and received to plaintiff's use.
The facts were these : At the last Derby
races, which took place in the month of
August, I\Jr. (now Lord) Cavendish, and Mr.
Thornhill, acted as stewards. When "The
Dunnington Park and Fatbuck Stakes" was
run for, Mr. Thornhill told the jockeys, eight
or ten in number, as they were about to start,
that they must be ready within ten minutes
after they WT< weighed to start for the
second heat. The first heat was won by a
three-year old horse of Mr. Beardsworth's,
named " Champion." Few, if any, of the
Imr.-cs were ready at the appointed time for
starting for the second heat. At nineteen
minutes after tlu; first heatMr. Thornhill gave
the word " Oil'," there being then only five
horses at the starting post. Of these the
plaintiff's horse ''Tommy Tickle," which
was aged, came in first. Although the
stewards are masters of the race, it is usual
for the clerk of the course to start the horses,
and it is also customary to allow an interval
of half an hour between the heats, particularly
for young horses, which take a longer time to
recover their wind than aged ones. This
heat, therefore, having been objected to as
not being fair, the defendant refused to weigh
the rider of Tommy Tickle, and ultimately the
stewards decided that it was no race, and must,
therefore, be run again. The horses accord-
ingly started a third time, when Champion
came in first, and a mare named Gazelle
came second, Tommy Tickle coming in third.
Under these circumstances, it was contended
that Tommy Tickle won the race, because the
second start, it was contended, was fair ; and
neither Gazelle or Champion having run that
heat, they must be taken to be distanced, and
therefore disqualified from running the third
heat, thus leaving Tommy Tickle the winner
of the third as well as of the second heat.
It was, however, admitted by plaintiff's wit-
nesses that the usual and reasonable interval
allowed between heats at all races throughout
the kingdom was half an hour, and also that
it was customary for the clerk of the course,
an d not the steward, to start the horses ;
be sides which, it was stated that the stewards
were the proper persons to judge of the fair-
ness of a start, and in this case they had
decided that the start was not fair, and that
therefore the second heat should be run over
again. Upon these facts, Air. Baron Bayley
was clearly of opinion that the plaintiff must
be nonsuited. If the stewards deviated from
the usual course, they were bound to give
notice of such deviation to the owners of the
horses ; and they were, moreover, bound to
allow a reasonable time for young horses as
well as old to recover their wind. On the
present occasion they had not done so, and
they had subsequently decided that they were
wrong, and that the heat must therefore be
run over again. In any point of view, there