ictures of fatness and impertinence and go. They never
have any vice because the Burman is never cruel to them; they are never
well trained, partly because he does not know how to train them, partly
because they are so near the aboriginal wild pony as to be incapable of
very much training. But they are willing; they will go for ever, and
are very strong, and they have admirable constitutions and tempers. You
could not make a Burman ill-use his pony if you tried, and I fancy that
to break these little half-wild ponies to go in cabs in crowded streets
requires severe treatment. At least, I never knew but one
hackney-carriage driver either in Rangoon or Mandalay who was a Burman,
and he very soon gave it up. He said that the work was too heavy either
for a pony or a man. I think, perhaps, it was for the safety of the
public that he resigned, for his ponies were the very reverse of
meek--which a native of India says a hackney-carriage pony should
be--and he drove entirely by the light of Nature.

So all the drivers of gharries, as we call them, are natives of India or
half-breeds, and it is amongst them that the work of the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals principally lies. While I was in
Rangoon I tried a number of cases of over-driving, of using ponies with
sore withers and the like. I never tried a Burman. Even in Rangoon,
which has become almost Indianized, his natural humanity never left the
Burman. As far as Burmans are concerned, the Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals need not exist. They are kinder to their animals
than even the members of the Society could be. Instances occur every
day; here is one of the most striking that I remember.

There is a town in Burma where there are some troops stationed, and
which is the headquarters of the civil administration of the district.
It is, or was then, some distance from a railway-station, and it was
necessary to make some arrangement for the carriage of the mails to and
from the town and station. The Post-Office called for tenders, and at
length it was arranged through the civil authorities that a coach should
run once a day each way to carry the mails and passengers. A native of
India agreed to take the contract--for Burmans seldom or never care to
take them--and he was to comply with certain conditions and receive a
certain subsidy.

There was a great deal of traffic between the town and station, and it
was supposed that the passenger traff