A native of Ornback, in the Bernese Oberland, named Fabrai, aged eighty, recently took out a license for chamois-hunting in the Upper Alps. A SAGACIOUS HORSE. A person named King has been exhibiting a horse at Windsor, which evinces a singular sagacity. He is a fine-looking black animal, about fifteen hands high, and rising fiveyears old. A half-crown, a shilling, a sixpence, and a half-sovereign, were thrown down upon a table, and ranged in any order the spectator liked. The spectator was requested to direct the horse to take up in his mouth any one of these four coins, in any order that he pleased to name. The horse instantly obeyed the direction, and brought to the spectator the half-sovereign, the sixpence, the shilling, and the halfcrown, as those coins were severally named. A pack of cards was produced and passed from hand to hand among the company. The horse drew a card from the pack every time the pack passed into different hands. He then carried it to his master, who placed it for about half a minute under his left eye, and this operation was repeated every time the horse drew a card. After he had drawn as many cards as there were spectators in the room, the cards were all placed at some distance from each other on the table, and the horse, on being directed by the spectator to restore to each individual the card which he had drawn out of his hand, restored them correctly to all, without any regard to the order in which he had drawn them. The court-cards were then spread out indifferently on the table. The spectators named any one of them they pleased, and the card was immediately selected by the horse, and brought to them in his mouth. A number of cards, with figures from 1 to 20 printed upon them in large characters, were then thrown on the table. The horse being asked, in any order you pleased, how many days there were in a week, how many weeks in a month, and how many months in a year, took up the figures 7, 4, and 12, respectively. Being asked how many days there were in a year, he first picked out the number 3, then a 6, and then a 5, and placed the three numbers toge.. ther, making 365. The owner of the horse, who for his station is a very intelligent man, requested a gentleman to lend him his watch. He placed it under the horse's eye for about a minute, and then the following scene took place between the horse and master: "Tell me what o'clock struck last? "The horse fetched a card with the number 3 on it. "Tell me what hour will strike next?"-The sagacious animal brought a card with the number 4. "Tell me how many minutes it wants to four?"-The horse brought a card marked 17, the exact time at which the watch stood when it was placed under the steed's eye. A gentleman was requested to drive a cork into a bottle as fast as ever he could; the horse immediately drew it out with his teeth. An egg was then put on the ground, and afterwards an egg from which the inside had been extracted. It was curious to observe the care with which the animal took up each with his mouth in order that he might avoid breaking them. It seemed as if he was balancing in his mind the degree of force which it was necessary for him to use to accomplish each of the three last tricks with safety. A succession of tricks was then performed to shew that the animal was equally remarkable for its flexibility of limb as for its apparent powers of memory and ratiocination (if we may be permitted to apply such terms to a brute animal). It twisted its front leg round its own neck, and subsequently interlaced its two hind legs together in the most surprising complexity. It then disentangled its twisted limbs, but not without some pain and difficulty. We closely watched the master of the horse and the horse itself during the performances which we have described, but we could not detect any signal, either of eye or whip, that passed between them. That some signals must be used is quite evident. The cleverness of the trick is that the signals escape detection. Mr. King (for such is the cognomen of the owner of this extraordinary animal) professes that he can tame any wild animal at first sight, but has hitherto tried his art on no other animals than those of English growth. There is a horse in the Queen's stables which will only allow one blacksmith in Windsor to touch his feet, and kicks and plunges in the most desperate manner when any other person approaches for that purpose. King went to his head, opened the beast's mouth, inserted his hand for a short time into it, and then went and put one of its feet into his pocket.-From a Correspondent of "The Times.” COURSING. The season for this favourite sport can hardly be said to commence before the 1st of November, although a few meetings of importance take place in October. Of these we give the details of the most influential, with an assurance that the business of the leash shall henceforward have our best attention, and the returns of the sport at the different clubs throughout the kingdom be carefully reported in our Coursing Register : BIGGAR CLUB meeting at pEPPERKNOWES.-october 8, 9, and 10. Mr. Ramage, Judge. The Biggar Club opened the season on the 8th, 9th, and 10th ult. coursing each day over Lord Douglas's estate in the neighbourhood of Lanark. The weather was beautiful, the hares numerous on some spots, and the trials were, many of them, exceedingly punishing to the dogs. The show of puppies at this meeting was the largest and finest ever exhibited in this club. At the dinner on the 8th, a handsome silver basket was presented to Adam Sim, Esq. of Cultermains, in testimony of the universal feeling of gratitude for his unceasing attention as honorary treasurer of the club. The Silver Flask, for Puppies of 1839. Mr. White's bl. b. Scrape Mr. Tod's r. b. Jeanie Mr. Walker's r. d. Winkle Mr. A. Graham's bl. d. Fire King Marquis of Douglas's f. w. b. Coquette beat Mr. Dickson's bl. d. Dan Dinmont. Lord Douglas's b. and w. d. Magic. Lord Douglas's bd. d. Hartree. Mr. Woddrop's b. and w. d. Mendick. Mr. Beresford's b. b. Dido. Lord Douglas's w. d. Snow. Mr. Dickson's b. and w. d. Dusty Miller. Mr. Dickson's Fly beat Mr. Tod's Jeanie, and won the flask. SOUTH LANCASHIRE CLUB (Southport). Meeting, October 21st and 22d.—The Club turned out on Wednesday, on the banks at Crossons, the property of that excellent patron of coursing, Sir Peter Hesketh Fleetwood: the weather was favourable in the extreme, the assemblage large and respectable, and the sport excellent: sixty courses were run, including the "no-goes," and forty hares killed. Mr. M'George, of Darlington, officiated as judge, and by the promptitude and correctness of his decisions gave general satisfaction. The Annual Dinner Stakes were won by Mr. Ogden's Touchstone; the St. Leger, by Mr. Robinson's Ringlet; the Produce Stakes, by Mr. Eden's Exciseman; the Churchtown Stakes, by Mr. Slater's Snap; the Consolation Stakes, by Mr. Easterly's Beppo; the Crossons Stakes, by Mr. Beke's Colonel; and the Rossall Stakes were divided between Messrs. Eden and Hunt. The details of the running will be given in the Coursing Register. It was stated in the newspapers of the past month, that some chevalier d'industrie had succeeded in doing Lang, the celebrated gunmaker of the Haymarket, out of a brace of his best fowling-pieces. There was a story affiliated to Lord Norbury, the Democritus of the Irish bench, that a strapping young Galway "blazer" having been arraigned before him for an affair of felonious gallantry in the case of a shocking old woman of threescore and ten, the judge told him he richly deserved to be hanged for his infamous taste. Now, whatever fate may overtake the swindler in re Lang, there is no disputing the excellence of his taste malgré his defect of principle. FISHING EXTRAORDINARY.—As Thomas Boswell, the fisherman at Great Marlow, was angling with two gentlemen, on Monday week, in the Thames, one of the gentlemen, Mr. Peacock, caught a jack, weighing 20 lb., with a perch-hook No. 5, and shortly after another, weighing 10 lb. The larger monster was one yard and four inches long, and eighteen inches in girth. It is the more remarkable, as the water was clear as crystal, and no sport expected. LARGE SALMON.-On Saturday-week a fishing-tackle maker, named John Morgan, residing in the parish of Brobury, when angling in the river Wye, near Broadwarline Bridge, hooked a very fine salmon, which, although Morgan is advanced in years, and has but one hand, he succeeded in drawing to terra firma with all safety. The fish was in very fair condition for the time of year, and weighed 26 lb. ENORMOUS PIKE.-On Saturday-week Master Gerrard Hoare, son of Archdeacon Hoare, whilst angling in a piece of water belonging to C. Newberry, Esq., at Godstone, hooked a pike, and, after a considerable time, succeeded (with assistance) in landing it, when it was found to measure three feet ten inches long, twenty-eight inches in circumference, and weighed 28 lb. A short time since another was taken from the same pond by Smith, Esq., which weighed 261b.— Sussex Express. THE GAME LAWS.-We think it important that the following cases, decided by the judges as recently as the first of July last, should be generally known. With the exception of the first-mentioned case, the local commissioners relieved the appellants; but the judges decided they were all liable to the charges for game certificates in double duty. -Three persons charged with game certificates on account of having been seen beating for game, assisting a gentleman who had a certificate, but who had a spaniel with him which was not his own property. A person who admitted he had, with a gun, accompanied a gentleman out shooting, but denied having fired or killed any game. Parties who kept greyhounds charged for a certificate on account of having attended a coursing-meeting at the invitation of a gentleman who had a certificate, but who did not use his own dogs. Party charged for a gamecertificate on account of having followed a private pack of harriers; he contended that he was not liable, as there was neither a killing nor taking of game while he was out. A person who was charged for a game-certificate on account of having followed a pack of harriers; he contended he was not liable, on the ground of a person having been present who was joint-owner of the hounds, and who had a certificate. [There were thirteen similar cases on the same day, and it was agreed the decision of the one should govern the rest.] A person who usually trusted to the collector to procure him a certificate, and paid the duty with his other taxes, charged for a certificate on account of his having sported without first obtaining it, although it was admitted there was no intention or idea of defrauding the revenue. LITERATURE AND THE FINE ARTS. SCENES AND SPORTS IN FOREIGN LANDS. By Major E. Napier. London: Henry Colborn, Great Marlborough Street. 2 Vols. 1840. As it was very late in the eleventh hour (the evening of the 27th ult.) when we received these most pleasant-looking tomes, it is utterly out of our power to give even the slightest abridgement of their contents. The author tells us, in his preface, that a portion of them appeared in a contemporary periodical. If such were the case-and of course the author is likely to have been in the secret-then may thy light shine for ever before men, O Colburn! for thou art the "glorious Apollo," whose ray has at length given these to our eyes: albeit, we are wont occasionally to hunt amid the "dim obscure," and grope amongst the murky obfuscations of the journal indicated. The glance that we have found time to take, while occupied in cutting the sheets, revealed snatches of tales done in the true spirit; and illustrations of scenes, of which it is evident the artist might have written " quorum pars magna fui." We shall, at no distant day, do justice to Major Napier's "Scenes and Sports:" in the meantime, we present him here to our readers in his "INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. "On first entering the army, at an early age, I joined my regiment in India. A strong natural taste for the sports of the field was here brought to maturity, and steadily followed up in that seventh heaven' of the sportsman. It would be tedious to trace during its whole course the progress of the neophyte, in the cunning of his craft,' in that far land, from the moment when having crossed the surf,'* a green, beardless, and red-cheeked novice, he displays his budding propensity to imitate the mighty hunter of old, the great Nimrod, by knocking over long-tailed parroquets amongst the groves of tall cocoa-nut trees at Poonamallee, or stalking for grey Paddy birds amidst the swampy expanse of the surrounding rice-fields, to that proud era of his sporting career when he beholds extended at his feet, pierced by his now unerring rifle, the kingly carcass of the royal tiger; or when, with foot firmly planted on the reeking body of the bristly savage, he exultingly withdraws from its bloody sheath the sharp head of his well-tried boar-spear. Through all the different acts of these intervening stages did I pass during a long and Bedouin-like residence, principally amongst the jungles of the Deccan, a life endeared by the most pleasing associations and if tried friends, boon companions, and a perpetual recurrence of spirit "An expression equivalent to entering or leaving India, as a person is never supposed to venture across this tremendous barrier of the Coromandel coast, unless on such momentous occasions." |