immediately declared "A dead heat!" The expanded nostrils of each horse being quite equal-an announcement which flew through the throng with the rapidity of lightning; and so intense was the excitement, that it was some time before the wide roar of voices had subsided. Euclid was a much smaller horse than his competitor; and he had the public sympathy by being the lesser. It is a fact worthy of being placed on record, that the stroke of Charles, opposite the Grand Stand, bound after bound, was exactly twenty-four feet six inches and a half; that of Euclid was much shorter, but much quicker. As much time as possible was allowed to intervene between the dead heat and the final trial. The interest as to which horse would finally prove the victor was, if possible, more intense; and opinions vibrated from side to side. The betting recommenced with 6 to 4 on Charles; it then became even, and finally left off at 6 to 4 on Euclid. Both rivals, on making their reappearance, looked remarkably well. They started without any difficulty. But the order of running was reversed. Euclid took the lead at a slow pace. On reaching the distance, Charles challenged his opponent. They were again head to head; and so equal seemed the chance of each, that another dead heat was confidently expected. The former bursts of exclamation were repeated. Again went the whips to work; again were the spurs applied, with the skill, nerve, and resolution of each jockey. But the larger conformation of Charles enabled him to win the race by scarcely a-head, amid a crash of voices wholly indescribable. In witnessing a scene of so magnificent a character, it must strike the attention of the stranger that large sums of money are continually expended, in a variety of ways, to bring the racing system to its present state of perfection and of attraction. Such undoubtedly is the case. The custom arose under the patronage of royalty. It is still patronised by the Queen and Prince Albert; and still encouraged by royal grants. The nobility followed the example in the first instance; and in many families the racing stable was considered a portion of the family establishment. Country gentlemen, possessing ample means, also contended with their superiors in rank for the palm of victory. The competition, although severe, was of a wholesome character; and a superior breed of horses was the gratifying result. It is quite true, however, that from time to time, many noblemen and gentlemen have retired from the arena, some in disgust, and others from a conviction that foul play had been resorted to. With regard to the latter, many flagrant instances could be produced from the days of George the Fourth to the present period. But it must at the same time be admitted, that the deficiency in the ranks was filled up by younger aspirants for racing honours. With regard particularly to Doncaster, it has shared in those vicissitudes which seem inevitable in racing, as well as in all other matters. There may be no diminution in point of numbers, but there is a marked difference even in the external character of the scene. There never was a period in our history fraught with greater changes than those which distinguish the times in which we live. Nor are those changes confined to one section of society. They pervade everything which concerns our social and national existence. Still greater changes will ensue; but these are beyond the range of human foresight. The influence of fashion may do much upon the surface; but there is an under-current, mysterious and irresistible. Compared with former years, what a striking contrast is now presented on the race-ground of Doncaster ! The splendid equipages of the nobility, with gorgeous liveries,-harness, housings, and trappings,-are no longer seen. The handsome set-out of the country gentleman; the four-in-hand; the tandem, and so forth; these, too, have vanished. The coronet is succeeded by the cob; and the family carriage by the 'bus. And the beauty and fashion which once graced the grand-stand-the cynosure of all eyes-are seen no more. The race-balls, which, particularly at the periods when the Duke of Devonshire and the Marquis of Londonderry acted as stewards, crowded the mansion-house to repletion with the rank and fashion of more than the county-sparkling with diamonds, and moving to the swell of the sweetest music-are wholly abandoned; and now, in these once gay and festive halls, loneliness and silence hold companionship. The retirement of Earl Fitzwilliam from the turf, "no son of mine succeeding," was a disheartening circumstance. The Duke of Leeds, the Marquis of Westminster, the Earl of Scarborough-these honoured names-with those of Wilson, Gascoigne, Peirse, Watt, and Petre, are gone, all winners of the St. Leger, and all without successors. It is true that strange names continue to swell the nominations; but the prestige of many old family names has gone, apparently for ever. Lord George Bentinck, although he had disposed of his stud before his lamented death, was a true friend to the races. It was the noble lord, who, seeing their inevitable decline, wrung from the corporation the one thousand pounds grant, given with marvellous reluctance, but only received as an act of justice; a sum, however, which is less than what is given at some other race meetings. At the present moment, the racing system has received a "heavy blow and great discouragement" from more quarters than one. The retirement of the Marquis of Exeter from the arena of the turf, with the desire to be relieved from his racing stud for the sum of £10,000, although, during the last season, the noble Marquis was the largest winner of stakes, is a matter of deep regret. The fear, sanctioned by indications, that the Duke of Richmond will follow the example, is full of gloom and disappointment; and the regret that "princely Goodwood" will be numbered amongst the things that were, will be no less grievous than discouraging; for the racing career of the noble Duke has been distinguished with a generosity, liberality, and hospitality never surpassed. Colonel Peel has withdrawn altogether; and Lord Strathmore has followed the example; while it is deemed by many, questionable whether Lord Clifden will long retain his racing stud. The recent sale of Sir Joseph Hawley's horses, after a series. of unprecedented winnings in seven years, reaching the enormous sum of £45,395 is sufficiently significant. Colonel Peel has, however, found a worthy successor in Lord Ribblesdale; and a voice from the North, awakening remembrances of the honoured name of Lambton, announces the racing advent of a Durham; while the nominations for all the great stakes are far from being deficient in point of number. The wisdom of the legislature ensures the safety of the empire in the adjustment of the laws to the altered circumstances of the times and the spirit of the people; and a strict revision of the laws of racing, and the rules of the Jockey Club, would, undoubtedly, be attended with those salutary results, which would exalt the turf in the timation of its true supporters and best friends, and render the horseng of England more famous throughout all the nations of the world. The crocodile, the dragon of the waters, In iron panoply, fell as the plague, "Tentyra in Ægypto, Nilum juxtà insula gentem Ex amne in terram: mortem acceleratque nocenti." Ir might have been anticipated that an animal which abounded in the great river of Egypt, in the time of the Israelites, and was an object of idolatrous worship to the inhabitants, should have attracted the notice of the inspired writers of old; accordingly, various allusions to it are found in the sacred writings. Commentators, however, differ as to whether it is the crocodile which, under the name of Leviathan, forms the subject of one of the sublimest chapters of Job; the description is applicable in some respects, and not in others, but there can be little doubt that this creature is referred to under the Hebrew name Than, translated dragon, in the following figurative passage of Ezekiel. "Behold, I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers, which hath said, My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself: But I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will bring thee up out of the midst of thy rivers, and all the fish of thy rivers shall stick unto thy scales." * Here we have a distinct allusion to the mode of taking the crocodile practised by the Egyptians, as described by Herodotus, whose statements upon these and some other disputed points, have been proved to be entirely trustworthy. "The modes of taking the crocodile are many and various, but I shall only describe that which seems to me most worthy of relation. When the fisherman has baited a hook with the chine of a pig, he lets it down into the middle of the river, and holding a young live pig on the brink of the river, beats it. The crocodile hearing the noise, goes in its direction, and meeting with the chine, swallows it; but the men draw it to land. When it is drawn out on shore, the sportsman first of all plasters its eyes with mud; and, having done this, afterwards manages it very easily; but until he has done this he has a great deal of trouble."+ With the ancient Egyptians, the crocodile was typical of the sun, and Savak, the crocodile-headed deity of Ombos was a deified form of the sun. In Lower Egypt it was held in especial veneration at a place * Ezekiel, xxix. 3, 4. VOL. XXXI. Herodotus. Euterpe, ii. 70. L called the City of Crocodiles, afterwards Arsinoe, and the animals were there kept in the lake Moris, and when dead, were buried in the underground chambers of the famous labyrinth. These sacred crocodiles led a most luxurious life; they were fed with geese, fish, and various delicacies dressed purposely for them; their heads were adorned with ear-rings, their throats with necklaces of gold, or artificial stones, and their feet with bracelets. Strabo gives a curious account of an interview he had with one of these portly reptilians. His host was a man of consideration, and anxious to do the honours of the place with becoming courtesy. Having, therefore, entertained the great geographer and his party, at an elegant déjeûner, he proposed that they should pay their respects to his neighbour "Souchos." Providing himself with a cake, a loaf of bread, and a cup of wine, he led the way to the borders of the lake, where his crocodilian highness lay stretched in pampered indolence. To open its own mouth was too much trouble, so one of the priests politely did it for him; another put in first the cake, then the meat, which it gratified them by swallowing, and then pledged them in the cup of wine, which was poured down its throat. Having rested awhile after this exertion, his highness entered the lake, crossed it, and submitted to a similar ordeal on the other side, for the gratification of another party who had come to offer their tribute of good things. Happy were these sacred crocodiles during life, and after death they were not less well cared for;-their bodies were embalmed in a sumptuous manner, and deposited in catacombs hewn out of the limestone rock. There are many of these mummies in the British Museum, all having the same character, that of being rolled and swathed up in oblong packages, carefully and neatly secured with bandages. It was not, however, throughout the whole of Egypt that this golden age of crocodiles reigned; an iron age overshadowed the race in the land of the Tentyris. By them they were held in abhorrence, and no opportunity of destroying them was lost; indeed these Tentyrites are said to have been so expert in their pursuit, that they thought nothing of following a crocodile into the Nile and bringing it by force to shore. The following is Pliny's account of this proceeding. "The men are but small of stature, but in this quarrell against the crocodiles, they have hearts of lions, and it is wondrous to see how resolute and courageous they are in this behalfe. Indeed this crocodile is a terrible beast to them that flie from him; but contrary, let men pursue him, or make head againe, he runs away most cowardly, Now these islanders be the only men that dare encountre him affront. Over and besides, they will take the river and swim after them, nay they will mount upon their backs, and set them like horsemen; and as they turne their heads with their mouth wide open, to bite or devour them they will thrust a club or great cudgell into it, crosse overthwart, and so holding hard with both hands each end thereof, the one with the right, the other with the left, and ruling them perforce, as it were, with a bit and bridle, bring them to land like prisoners. When they have them there, they will so fright them only with their words and speech that they compel them to cast up and vomit those bodies again to be enterred, which they had swallowed but newly before." There is a very rare and curious book on field sports, by one Johannes Stradaen, in which men are represented riding on crocodiles, and bringing them to land, whilst others are being killed with clubs. The sketch is full of spirit, and below it are the four lines quoted on our first page. Strabo bears testimony to the dexterity of the Tentyrites, stating, that when some crocodiles were exhibited in the Circus at Rome, in a huge tank of water, a party of Tentyrites who had accompanied them, boldly entered the tank, and entangling the crocodiles in nets, dragged them to the bank and back again into the water. Singular to say, homage to these reptiles is still paid in certain parts of India; and the following account, by an eyewitness, almost carries us back to the time of the Egyptians : "Among the outlying hills that skirt the Hala Mountains, about nine miles from that town (Karáchí), is a hot spring, the temperature of which where it wells from the earth is 136° of Fahrenheit. The stream irrigates a small valley, and supplies some swamps with water, in which the fakirs keep numbers of tame alligators. The pond where we saw the congregated herd at feeding time was about eighty yards long, and perhaps half as many wide. It was shallow, and covered with small grasscovered islets, the narrow channels between which would only admit of a single alligator passing through at a time. Two goats were slaughtered for that morning's repast, during which operation a dozen scaly monsters rose out of their slimy bed, crawled up the back of the tank, and eyed with evident satisfaction the feast preparing for them. All being ready, a little urchin, not nine years old, stepped without our circle, and calling "Ow! ow! (come, come)" the whole tribe was in motion; and as soon as the amphibious animals had gained terra firma, the meat was distributed. Each anxious to secure a piece at his neighbour's expense, the scene that ensued was ludicrous enough and not a little disgusting. A hind quarter of a goat gave rise to a general engagement. One by one the combatants drew off till the prize remained in the grasp of two huge monsters. Their noses all but touching, each did his best to drag the bloody morsel from the jaws of his adversary, and a long struggle ensued, in which by turning and tossing, writhing and twisting, they strove for the mastery. It was a drawn battle, for the leg was torn asunder, and each retained his mouthful, when with heads erect, they sought the water, showing, as they crawled along, considerable tact in avoiding their less successful neighbours." 66 According to Pliny, much medicinal virtue rested in defunct crocodiles. "The blood," he tell us, "mundifieth the eies;" the fat is an excellent depilatory, and in the words of quaint old Holland, "No sooner is the hare rubbed therewith, but presently it sheddeth." The choicest morsel, however, was the crocodile's heart wrapped within a lock of wooll which grew upon a black sheepe, and hath no other color medled therewith, so that the said sheepe were the first lambe that the dam yeaned." And this dainty bit answered the same end as quinine with us, driving away quartan agues. The true crocodiles are found in the Old and New World, and especially abound in Asia and Africa. The alligators are peculiar to America, and the gavials appear to be limited to the Ganges, and other large rivers of continental India; but of all countries America abounds most in these scourges of the river, possessing no less than five species of alligators, and two of crocodiles. The water is the natural element of the class, and to it they hasten at A Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Source of the River Oxus. By Lieut. John Wood. |