and when thus fettered, take to their new pace
as if it were not altogether uncongenial, and
gambol off in a frolicsome, imbecile, rocking-
horse style, to the great amusement of
bystanders.

Hundreds of thousands of heads of branded
cattle roam over the vast prairies of Texas.
Every animal must be branded before it is
turned adrift; then it feeds itself, and multiplies
without cost and with little risk to the owner.
To ensure this sort of property against theft,
the laws are strict, and the penalty for breach
of them is heavy. Each owner has his own
registered mark or brand, and when cattle
exchange hands, they are required to be
rebranded, so that a theft is easily detected. In
Texas and the Far West, where traffic and barter
of horses is very common, one may see an
otherwise splendid mustang barred and scarred with
the marks of its various owners, till it looks
like a new form of zebra.

Living in a country which has only to be
"tickled with a harrow to laugh with a harvest,"
where giant flocks and herds "realise" at a
wonderful rate, where abundance of animal
food may be had for the shooting, and delicious
fruits for the gathering, it is no wonder that the
planter takes to hunting as his one amusement,
almost his one occupation. The Texan gentleman
has no trouble over his crops; his harvests
rarely fail him. His land produces the finest
cotton, and an average crop of twenty bushels
of Indian corn per acre, fifteen bushels of
wheat, and one hogshead of sugar, besides
molasses. He has nothing to do in his country
life but to amuse himself; and with early and
constant practice in self-defence it would be
strange indeed did he not prove the mighty
hunter that he is.

No Texan household is complete without a
score or more of dogs. The father of my young
friend kept fifty or sixty of his own, for whose
exclusive use a " beef" was killed every week,
besides their other food. Then at certain seasons
he had visiting him as many as a hundred
dogs. These did not come to him in packs of
hounds which had their appointed kennels and
keepers; though many of the wealthy planters
do keep regular packs of deer-hounds, bear-
hounds, and fox-hounds, of good " old country"
parentage. Over and above these regular packs,
the hundred dogs added to those of his household
were the companions of the gentleman's
guests, and might be as various as is the
population of the country. Each dog would have
its own character and accomplishment, in virtue
whereof it had been distinguished by its master's
favour and promoted to its rank of comrade.
"Love me, love my dog," in Texas means no less
than " Invite me, invite my dogs." So it is that
at one Texan country-house a party of sportsmen
will assemble to go off on a hunting expedition,
each bringing several horses, a dozen or
two of dogs, and a few attendants. In such a
house at such a time, the dogs are everywhere.
Great burly bull-dogs, gentle enough among
friends, mastiffs, pointers, setters, and mongrel
curs of rare idiosyncrasies, are leaping or
sprawling over all the floors, whisking their great
heavy tails about, and by Iheir rough caresses
flooring all the toddling children, black and white,
of the establishment. The servants dare not
lose sight of the food for a moment, nor leave
unguarded and open any door that leads to
victual. At the particular house of which I
speak, one day the black-faced, white-gilled,
white-gloved Sambo was in the act of summoning
the general and his guests to the dining-
room, just as another ebony attendant made a
rush to the kitchen for something forgotten,
leaving the door open in his haste. The general's
family and their guests entered from the front
of the house, followed, of course, by an expectant
troop of keen-nosed quadrupeds. But these
had been less keen than their victorious kindred,
who had already stormed the garrison in the
rear, and were sacking it. What a sight for
hungry sportsmen. Off dashed Scamp on the
appearance of his master, making a straight
bolt between his legs with a roast turkey in his
mouth. Springer and Scuff had a boiled turkey
on the floor, and were snarling over the plump
mounds of meat they had torn from its breast-
bone. Flash, Pouncer, and Biggs, with their
fore legs and bodies half over the table, were
gnawing at the prime joint of the feast, and
little Wasp was on the table running from one
dish to another, her nose dripping with gravy.
Lily, Crawler, Diver, Major, Tearem, Tiny, and
Graceful, were all ready for the attack, but
having arrived on the field a moment too late,
caught sight of their masters, and assumed an
expression of the meekest innocence, doing their
best to look as if they had been abstaining out
of high moral considerations, and now claimed
to be rewarded for their virtue. To this end
they all wagged their tails and their very bodies
till they were in danger of wagging themselves in
two. As for the guests, they were all used to
these little incidents, and as it would be breach
of etiquette to kick a neighbour's dog, it was
only where a man happened to stumble against
one of his own transgressing favourites that a
culprit did not get off with impunity, and with
whatever he could carry away for his more
private refection. " We'll soon have something
more," said the host; the guests declared their
willingness to wait; and probably the only
disconcerted person in the household would be Mrs.
Candace, the cook, who had been just about to
light her pipe and lie on the door-step for her
evening gossip. " Texas" means, as aforesaid,
"Plenty" and there is at all times "plenty" on
hand. Plenty in the larder, plenty in the meat-
house, plenty in the dairy, plenty in the poultry-
yard. To guillotine a few more fowls, and
plunge them into boiling water that their
feathers may be stripped off the more quickly, is
only the work of two minutes. Meantime the
irate Candace has waylaid the unlucky Mercury
who left the dining-room unguarded, and, seizing
his elaborately arranged wool in her double
grip, has pommelled his pate against the white-
washed wall until his crop grows grey with his