FRENCH STBALES AND THEIR OCCUPANLS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1285, 6 January 1860, Page 4

FRENCH STBALES AND THEIR OCCUPANLS.

Muttering my sentiments respecting ignorant "restorers," I descended the hill to the west, and soon reached a "handsome" gateway, with aporter'i lodge on either side. This is the "haras," or stud, established by government for the improvement of tho breed oi horses in Biittany. A Frenchman cannot breed a foal without the assistance oi the paternal Government. On entering the gate, you see a board with "Parlez au concierge" printed on it, and, to your astonishment, the "concierge" appears in the shape of a coquuettishly dressed young lady, who answers all questions. Her office must be no tine* cure in spring. The quadrangle is laid out in grass plats and gravel walks, and the stsbles run down either side. At the entrance of each you see a groom dressed in the Government uniform, who politely accompanies you round the establishment, and tells you the history and performances of each horse. The srables are lofty and well ventilated, but the hones are all tied up in considerably lower than these in use in England for working horses. Among a lot of big headed, loose-jointed, leggy, shallowcarciied Norman and Breton carriage-horses, I recognised at once a Yorkshire grey, with his clean, bony, flat legs, straight back, deep carcase, and fine ihoulders. The cart-horses were particularly bnd, and such as no man in England would breed from. They would be laughed at at Woodbridge fair. I I could not help wondering why the paternal Government, if it must interfere, does not take the trouble of obtaining the best horses, A few Suffolk chestnuts, such as might be bought for from 3 to 500 pounds a-piece at Woodbridge, would be worth all the variety of three-cornered brutes that have been collected together, as if the object were to stock a menagerie with strange specimens of equine nature. Down the other side of the same stable were the thorough-bred horses, tied up in (tails not four feet high. Some of them were English, and the groom informed that a miserable cat of a thing, which he called "Monarch," was the ■"winner of this year's Derby ! One old cat-hammed Arab, but witn the look of the desert about him, had belonged to Abd-el-Koder. I noticed also some barbs with enormous heads, thick jaws, and sides scored with the cicatrice of wounds inflicted by the sharp stirrups of their Moorish riders. Among these a Breton mountaineer cut no bad figure. He was not unlifte an Arab, looked handy and active, and had tuat intelligent expression in his eyes which may be generally observed in those who must havq thesaid eyes always about them, whether they be natives of the deserts of Africa, the highlands of Scotland and Wales, or the mountains, of Brittany What most rsuprised me in thia exhibition, was the extraordinary want of spirit in the animals, they were separated by low stalls, as I have already obterved, and the groom, when he wanted them to ','go over," gave them a thwack of ,a wooden pitchfork on the croup but they submitted without a kick , orl a wince, just as an English hard worked carthorse might. I was amused, too, with the French groomlanguage, of which my guide made large use. VCelui-la court qpmme le diable, 'cr-r-re nora de Dieu ! II a gagile dix prix. Ah ! jChainea,u 1" and then .would come down'the pitchfork, and the horse who was caressed in , this affectionate style had scarcely the spirit, even to, lay back his ears. , Horse» like these ,in England, treated, in such away, wpuld pat ;each ojther, and. knock out the groom'i brains. The grooming \ra» wretched, and J. could see "some, of the hordes eatujg the stnvwr, with which their racks were filled. This may account for • their singjilar Wftnt' I pf,spifjit.,!/Arac"eh,orse fed upon straw is doubjtless.a/verydifferent.animal from one fed t upjon hay t and oats, and in a verp few /generations tha quality.pfth^'fbod must , tell upon the,"breedii The English" thoroughbred hprso has doubtless,;, been made, what he is'by hundred of years of JSnglishfood grooming, and training, and jif, the French, wanfcito rival us in our breed of horses,* they, nyust"nQ'(<> v ,feed their itys upon straw, them'jup'in st»l]s,_ arid/let them stand t with dirty. staring co&tt t — A- Walking Toyr %n Brittany, $y, J. M. Jephtqn, <F.,S. Jh v.; v >.; i

ouart'W Md^at^dambfrdge btf .the bofty^of John'MMteM;%H6 r 'liftd cdinmittta idicide by'liknging: He^left metier addwsfeed ,'io - W«' wife) ur',V?hioH %»^"'T6fTriU,^mMied 'agaitf; »I pity'Hlie 'W fortfin*tp' ! 'namph*t ever conies' t&laerVyou^'rocßEj'^e jnfeKt^» s well%«f*'tojid iim'def '*" lwrrow'; 'tiieire fhg*ttniflk r ft«ftft

Ifftfc try>ts^stlie <v irie l^NoH&b l thW%6re 'youleft^o •nW^enough'Hd«^te; 3 thes'e s feV: ! lin#<... >When rt the J wlnd bl6wr J 'tad-the' ! s>K>w 'fiills , meditate u^on'thesefew $ines> and<r»ay, <$'d forgW- lift sin's, ©'tkkehjm'tb'tbftt lie&Venly^Bt'M^* th.ire^ is all joyilndliapbin^s.' 'Ke&ithls, 166k' at-Wwgll.^nd ydu knd#'ill 1» thiTtrtltVso t«P «« 'O^di' >> Mystinie v }ii i getting ihort now, «o I write no Snow, [ I go and pray to my heavenly Fatherjto,forgivfl 3iy »in«, and yours, and thoia.conneoted with us. No more on earth from your loving ftnd uhappy lrasband,!r-rThe JurylieUirned the following vordiot:." That the deceased destroyed himself while in a, fit of insanity, . brought on^ through the bad conduct of ' his wif^, aiid they "thought she ought to be called before the jury and severely censured by the' coroner."' * The ooroner.tiiought' it- would b'e.bit-. ter that the cens'url should be conveyed to'the in writinK by him, and the 'jury concurred. "■" ' ' -'•

1 SHOOTnto A TtOKB AT THE OjitX.—A» Mr. Wji &> B. Shepstone was proceeding* towards '<$ueeii»town on Saturday/last, July £3, ,he encountered ajlarge'tiger ih> the Queens-road,- which' lie fortunately shot.' We have been favoured with the following particulars ''extracted from a letter addressed to a friend in.Grahriimstpwn':— "Fort ßrown, July 23,1$69.—A s weVere coming 1 up this ride of the Ecca, ftt' the first turn of the rood, about half-past 2 p.m., what should we see ty the 'distance ''of about 50 yards, walking in the middle of, the road/ but a splendid tiger. When he saw us he stood still, and quietly surveyed us, but move out, of the roadie' would, not. I then said to Mengo, 'It is, time for .action,' as that gentleman mean* mischief ; but, to my horror, my gun-tackle was packed away 1 in the saddle-bags. I told Mengo to get it.' Just as I got 1 the powder, which' occupied sometime, the tiger moved slowly off into'the bush, and we rode up the old road to avoid contact'^h the bush. We'were then riding disgusted at our want of forethought in' not having the gun loaded, and hence loosing so splendid a skin, when Mengo,, b.ri looking round, said quietly, ' Oh ! here' he is criming after, ujd i My gun was still unloaded, and he only/ftbout 40 yards behind us. I therefore had to be particular as" to thequantity of powder I put into my .rifle, 1 -so as to make a' true and mortal shot ; every time 1 I dropped my eye he came nearer. Mengo was some 1 time finding the caps which I had to put upon, keeping my eyes fixed 1 on the tiger; but before I could get the second cap on* he slunk away into the bush, whore Twas not going to follow him. It appeared to me he was" protecting something he had just killed. I then rode on, and when nearly at the top of the hill turned and Saw a ■ingle horseman coining from town, and feared 'the tiger might attack him. Mengo immediately concurrejl with me that we had better go back, and we y did »o, when we saw our foe sitting on his haunches in the old waggon road. He looked at me as coolly as ' possible, and then looked towards the person coming from town, • who proved to be Dr. Grey. I sat down on the edge of the scarped road and prepared po take aim, thVtiger being about 150 yards off. He rose just as I pulled the trigger, and fell on his back lifeless. " The bullets entered the left shoulder-blade and shattered it, one having gone along his throat into his head. He was about the handsomest I ever saw — a fine male. When he lay on -the ground he looked like a golden model. It was as ,much as Mengo and I could do] to carry him a short distance ; and as we had no spare horse we were obliged to skin him, but I have kept the skin and the head. It was one just, in his prime, and good 9 feet in length." — Graham's Town Journal.

The Small-Pox in London. — The small-pox appears to be very prevalent in London, so much bo, indeed, that the parishes are called upon to take energetic measures in preventing the spread of the disease, and in Marylebone the official* have already determined to adopt, the precaution of having additional separate hospitals. The Small-pox Hospital is so full that another patient cannot be received, and such an occurrence has not taken place for.years. Neglect of vaccination is said to be one cause of the prevalence of the dangerous epidemic, while other t persons hold that the vaccine virus has partially lost its value. Be that as it may, however, the disease has got to a dangerous height in the metropolis, and » house to house..visitation is recommended, together •with the adoption of such other remedies as it is believed will tend to check the disorder.

New York Newspaper ENTERPBisE. — A mammoth paper has been published at New York, entitled the New York Illuminated Quadruple Constellation, — it consists of eight pages, each page being 4 feet 3 inches long by 3 feet in breath ; each page contains 13 columns of matter, each 3 feet 11 inches in length, so that each page contains 50 feet 11 inches, making for the entire paper, 404 feet 4 inches, equal to 4888 inches of 'printed matter. The price of this mammoth of newspapers is 50 cents, or 2s. Id. and it contains a profusion of woodcuts, stories, and a wonderful variety of intelligence of all sorts. It was published in honor- of the newspaper national anniversary of the 4th July, and is the greatest curiosity ever seen in the way of newspaper printing.