acting Gov.-General Molto
sent a commission to British India to purchase breeding-horses
and mares. A number of fine animals was brought to Manila, but the
succeeding Gov.-General, Weyler, disapproved of the transaction, and
the stock was sold to the public. Two stallions and two mares fetched
together P2,600, the prices of the others ranging about P700 each.

Pony-races took place at Santa Mesa (Manila) every spring. They
were organized by "the Manila Jockey Club," usually patronized by
the Gov.-General of the day, and the great meet lasted three days,
when prizes were awarded to the winners. Ponies which had won races
in Manila fetched from P300 to P1,000. The new racecourse is at Pasay.

In Cebu also there were pony races every autumn on the racecourse
facing the _Cotta_ and the Government House.

Since 1898 the American authorities have imported thousands of horses
from the United States for the public service, and American dealers
have brought quantities of them from Australia and the United States
for private sale. All their fodder, however, has to be procured from
America in pressed bales, as they cannot thrive on the food of the
country. It is thought, however, that a plant, called _Teosinte_,
which is now being cultivated, will be suitable for horse-fodder when
the animals become thoroughly acclimatized.

The ordinary native has no notion of the proper treatment of ponies,
his idea being, generally, that this highly nervous animal can be
managed by brute force and the infliction of heavy punishment. Sights,
as painful as they are ridiculous, are often the result of this
error. Unfortunately, the lower-class native feels little attachment
to any animal but the Buffalo, or _Carabao_, as it is called here,
and the family pig.

Buffaloes six years old are considered in the prime of life
for beginning work, and will continue at hard labour, when well
pastured and bathed, for another six years. At 12 years of age a
carefully worked buffalo will still serve for light labour for about
five years. It is an amphibious animal, and if left to itself it
would pass quite one-third of its life in water or mud, whilst it
is indispensable to allow it to bathe every day. When grazing near
flooded land it will roam into the water up to its neck and immerse
its head for two minutes at a time, searching for vegetable food
below the surface. Whilst undisturbed in the field it is usually
accompanied by five or six white herons,