Horse-racing is esteemed as the greatest of all spectacles; and ranks as worthy of a national support. The Highest-Castes--even the Sovereign--attend. The Law-making Houses, the Great Officers of Administration, and the High-Bonzes, leave the duties of their exalted rank, and postpone the making and ordering of the Laws, to attend the _Races_. The Illustrious wives, daughters, and female relatives--even royalty--hasten to them, and esteem them as the best of all sports. Every Caste--thieves, beggars, jugglers, the very _scum_ of the cities; _loafers_, vagrants--rich, poor; men, women, children--every description of person, rush or crawl to the _Races_. Every sort of vehicle, every mode of conveyance is used: on horseback, on foot; in any way, the enormous multitudes crowd to the _Races_--it is the English Saturnalia (as an ancient Roman festival, noted for its licentiousness, was called)--I have heard the word _punned_ [jo-akd] _Satan-ail'ye_, by jesters--meaning the _Devil is in it_. Not a bad notion, having reference to the evil effects of the sport. On both sides of the space where the horses are to run, immense numbers of carriages of all descriptions, booths, stands and seats, are arranged, where the vast crowds stand, or sit, pushing, elbowing; whilst the horses are _trotted_ out, and the _race_ is duly prepared. At length, a great many horses, ridden by little men, looking like Apes, rush off at a signal; spurred, whipped, urged by the riders into madness, with eyes bloodshot, and nostrils distended, and every cord and muscle starting out and straining--whilst the multitudes of men and women stand up, shouting, leaping, screaming with excitement--sweep like a whirlwind along the course, and pass the goal! And thousands of gold are lost and won! By as little as a head, or a neck, one of the horses is declared to be winner! The name of the horse is sent all over the Barbarian world, and the _event_ is watched for by millions--because bets are made, not only upon the ground, but in every part. I can hardly explain to the people of our Central Kingdom, the excitement and the confusion of this scene. The most illustrious men and women are present; the great Bonzes are there--all classes, the lowest and highest, jumbled together, if not in contact, all carried away by the same wild passion. About the splendid equipages of the rich, mere human vermin crawl and fight for the crumbs and bones which fall, or are thrown from the feasting women and men, carousing in the carriages. In these, beautiful women laugh and bet with the men, drink the wines, and exchange a hundred smiles and jokes. Betting books are opened, and the women take bets and plunge into the vortex of the phrensy. The race is over, and thousands are impoverished, many utterly ruined.