anecdote of a
nobleman living in a castle not far from Edinburgh, who one evening
charged his courier to carry a letter to that city. The next morning
when he arose he found this valet sleeping in his antechamber. The
nobleman waxed wroth, but the courier gave him a response to the
letter. He had traveled 70 miles during the night. It is said that one
of the noblemen under Charles II in preparing for a great dinner
perceived that one of the indispensable pieces of his service was
missing. His courier was dispatched in great haste to another house in
his domain, 15 miles distant, and returned in two hours with the
necessary article, having traversed a distance of over 30 miles. It is
also said that a courier carrying a letter to a London physician
returned with the potion prescribed within twenty-four hours, having
traversed 148 miles. There is little doubt of the ability of these
couriers to tire out any horse. The couriers who accompany the
diligences in Spain often fatigue the animals who draw the vehicles.

At the present time in this country the Indians furnish examples of
marvelous feats of running. The Tauri-Mauri Indians, who live in the
heart of the Sierra Madre Mountains, are probably the most wonderful
long-distance runners in the world. Their name in the language of the
mountain Mexicans means foot-runners; and there is little doubt that
they perform athletic feats which equal the best in the days of the
Olympian games. They are possibly the remnants of the wonderful runners
among the Indian tribes in the beginning of this century. There is an
account of one of the Tauri-Mauri who was mail carrier between
Guarichic and San Jose de los Cruces, a distance of 50 miles of as
rough, mountainous road as ever tried a mountaineer's lungs and limbs.
Bareheaded and barelegged, with almost no clothing, this man made this
trip each day, and, carrying on his back a mail-pouch weighing 40
pounds, moved gracefully and easily over his path, from time to time
increasing his speed as though practicing, and then again more slowly
to smoke a cigarette. The Tauri-Mauri are long-limbed and slender,
giving the impression of being above the average height. There is
scarcely any flesh on their puny arms, but their legs are as muscular
as those of a greyhound. In short running they have the genuine
professional stride, something rarely seen in other Indian racers. In
traversing long distances they leap and bound like deer.

"Deerfoo