THE MUSTANGS. 233 



' Waal, it ain't over ten mile, but a mighty 

 bad road at that Here, Joe, saddle up, and 

 bring round two mustangs.' 



The mustangs are small compact horses, sel- 

 dom exceeding fourteen- and -a -half hands in 

 height, descended from Spanish stock, originally 

 brought into Mexico on its conquest by the 

 Spaniards. They run wild in large herds on the 

 grassy prairies in California and Texas, and are 

 just lassoed when needed. I may perhaps men- 

 tion, en passant, that a lasso is from thirty to forty 

 feet long, and made of strips of raw hide plaited 

 together. When a mustang is to be caught, an 

 experienced hand always keeps the herd to wind- 

 ward of him ; sufficiently near he circles the 

 lasso round his head, and with unerring certainty 

 flings it over the neck of the horse he has selected. 



The end of a lasso being made fast to a ring in 

 the saddle, as soon as the horse is captured, the 

 rider turns his steed sharp round, and gallops 

 off, dragging the terrified and choking animal 

 after him. The terrible noose becomes tighter 

 and tighter, pressing on the windpipe, until, un- 

 able to offer further resistance, the panic-stricken 

 beast rolls in agony, half suffocated, on the prairie. 

 Never after this does the horse forget the lasso- 

 the sight of it makes him tremble in every limb. 



