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 122 the chisel through it, or whether there was any other annoyance or difficulty attached to the operation; because some people may say that if the annoyance in cutting the toe is as great as that of shoeing, they prefer rather ‘to bear those ills they have, than fly to others they know not of.’ By rasping the toe once or twice a week it may always be kept in good form, and then no cutting would be required.

‘Aberlorna’ has happily known how to compress a large amount of useful observation into the twenty-five lines which his letter occupies; some people cannot say more to the real point in as many columns.

The next statement of this gentleman, who went about the world with his eyes open, is that ‘he does not remember seeing any lame horses except in the towns, and these were generally, if not always, I observed, shod. The (country? ) roads were for the most part sand, full of rough stones, and in some places causewayed for miles. Anyhow they were pretty rough going.’ So, then, it really is a fact that in the towns, where horseshoes would have been brought into fashion by Europeans, and where the road surface would be smoother, shod horses went lame, whilst the unshod ones went sound on long journeys over worse roads. ‘Truth is stranger than fiction.’

Another thing which many readers would probably be glad to hear from this gentleman is, whether by ‘causeways’ are to be understood roads