ACROSS THE ANDES 143 



ward onto firm ground. These gauchos were 

 a most picturesque set. They were riding 

 good horses, strong and hardy and wild, and 

 the men were consummate horsemen, utterly 

 indifferent to the sudden leaps and twists of 

 the nervous beasts they rode. Each wore a 

 broad, silver-studded belt, with a long knife 

 thrust into it. Some had their trousers in 

 boots, others wore baggy breeches gathered in 

 at the ankle. The saddles, unlike our cow 

 saddles, had no horns, and the rope when in 

 use was attached to the girth ring. The stir- 

 rups were the queerest of all. Often they were 

 heavy flat disks, the terminal part of the stirrup- 

 leather being represented by a narrow metal, or 

 stiff leather, bar a foot in length. A slit was 

 cut in the heavy flat disk big enough to admit 

 the toe of the foot, and with this type of stir- 

 rup, which to me would have been almost as 

 unsatisfactory as no stirrup at all, they sat 

 their bucking or jumping horses with complete 

 indifference. 



It was gaucho land through which we were 

 travelling. Every man in it was born to the 

 saddle. We saw tiny boys not only riding but 

 performing all the duties of full-grown men in 

 guiding loose herds or pack-animals. No less 

 characteristic than these daredevil horsemen 



