MODERN ROBINSON CRUSOES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2179, 28 November 1895, Page 50

MODERN ROBINSON CRUSOES.

Romancers entrance ub with the imaginary pleasures of Crusoe life ; but tho opinions of those who have undergone the experience of an existence cut oil from civilisation are worth considering. That those who have tried the experiment, though from necessity, do not find it altogether disagreeable the following goes to prove : — The crew of a seal-fishing smack, wrecked amongst a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, remained, under very primitive conditions, for several years on one of the most commodious islands, subsisting on wild pigs, birds,

AND SEA ELEPHANTS. Yot, when at length taken from this inhospitable spot by an American schooner, on

in the shape of broken-kneed and decaying cattle. An inspector of polios at Bpsom, who was Consulted about this oase, was very stoat in hiß conviotion that this oould be the only assumption posEible. 11 Bvery year," said ha, " the horse thieves Camp here on the off-ohance of making a haul. They regard Epgom as one of their pitches ; just as Aldershot, Newmarket, DonCaster, Ascot, and any place where horses are to be found in large numbers are pitches in their season. They bring with them eight or ten nogs of different sizes and heights ; and then they look cut for similar nagp, bat of an infinitely greater worth, to be swopped. It is needless to say that if they oan steal a horse without parting with one of their own they are only too ready to do so." On being asked if it was not possible to trace such a theft easily, the constable shook his head and smiled. "No," said he, "!to trace a stolen horse is one of the most difficult things in the world. They can alter him in an hour so that bis own master could not pick him oat of three. If i he has a white foreleg, they dye it quickly to the colour of the rest of his body. Any marking on the back or the face is treated in the same way. If the horse has a long tail, they give him a short one ; if he has a short tail, tbey pin on a long one. The same thing is done with the mane. You would be astonished how difficult it is to identify a horse at any time. Bat when one is dressed like this it is next door to impossible." That horse-stealing ia a polite profession not only in the provinces bub in London is cot to be denied. A job-tnaster in St. John's Wood was tellir.g quite recently of a thtfe which throws a Btrong light upon one nuthod employed by those roguee. . A man came to him in the morcirg and said that he wished a hack to be sent at 3 o'clock in the afternoon to hiß house in Belsiza I Avenue. The horse was dulj sent ; but the boy who le'l it did not notice that the customer was waiting-, not in the garden of the house, but on the pavement before it. Things going ' thus smoothly, the man mounted the back atd rode away, telling the Jad to como back at 5 o'clock. When the boy returned, he found neither horse nor man, and ringing at the bell of the house, he was told that no horse had been hired there, since there was no gentleman in the family and had not been for some years. It was at this point that the stable-boy fir it began to smell a rat. Ha hurried back to his master, and told him the tale. The master communicated with the police, and notices of tbo theft were sent to all outlying police stations. Three day 3 after an nnufually sharp inspector at Kingston | cbicived a horse offored for sale at the fair there which was remarkable enough to draw hss attention. The brate's foreleg had been j dyed, but so badly was the work done that white peoped out through the brown, while other evidences of alteration, bnt all very clumsily performed, could not bnt arouse guspi'-ion. News of the fcheffc at So. John'B Wood had jast reached the Kingston office, and this being cc, the inspector had no hesitation in seizing the animal and searching for its ostensible owner. Again, however, was the thief alert ; he absconded, and" left his plunder to tbe police. The sabsfquent chase after this man was an exciting ono. Horse policemen scoured the roads in all directions. The pursuit was maintained for many hours, but it was not until dawn next day that the horse-thief was captured as he limped, all duty and madbegpatteied, into Siainep, and was there escoi ted to the station. He is now undergoing a courso of the waters at Portland, j and his health, we may be glad to know, is ■ entirely restored. These little stories prove to us that, bowever noble the horse may be as an animal, those who deal in him are often consummate rogues. In no trade are so many frauds perpetrated daily as in the horse trade. Take a lame, broken animal to an astute borse restorer and he can perform miracles with him. Punch's picture cf " the "property of an officer going abroad " is not one whit exaggerated. Many of the tricks performed are villainous cruelties. NoDe is more cruel than the removal of the nerve from tbe leg of a horse that has been lamed. This operation is one of tho easiest possible. A horse goes lame in one of his forelegs. The canny dealer, finding that fair means cannot cure the animal, proceeds to extract the nerve from the limb — a prccess which causes the poor beast to suffer exquisite agony, but never fails to restore him to temporary roundness. Notbiog is more deceptive, however, than this resulting cure. In two or, three months at the latest, the horss will thro it off its entire hoof. A well-known •whip as&ured U3 the other day that he was lately driving a pair of horses alosg a road in Kent when one of them threw the hoof of bis foreleg 20ft ahead of him. Of course, nothing remained but to phoot him, and to execrate the scoundrel who had performed the operation, To administer narcotics to vicious horses is not an old trick ; and the same may be «aid for the internal application of various drugs to make them seem spirited and full of go. Nor is there the slightest reliance to be placed on the guarantees received at some of the auctions. A horee whoss shoulder is | gOB e-will often appear to be perfectly sound 80 long as he is cold. Bat watm him up to bis work, and he will go as lame as a man with a wooden leg. Should a discontented buyer, who is otly a fair horseman, return a hack to one of the yards and say that he ia jiot qniet to ride, the prcpiietcr of the yard calls out a firet rate jockey, who, of course, jmasters tho brate easily. Even iudgea are unable sometimes to spot a " crook." But %he man who knows absolutely nothing about horee6 is a positive joy to any jobber.

A severe rheumatic piin in the left shoulder ' Jiad troubled Mr J. H. Loper, a well-known druggist of Dcs Moines, lowa, for over s'-x months. At times the pain was so severe that fee could not lift anything. With all he conlS do he could not get rid of it until he applied Chamberlain's Pain _ Balm. " I only made three applications of it," he says, " and have" jriuce been free from all pain." He nore recommends it to persons similarly afflicted, It is Cor sale by all leading chemiati.