THE STOCK-WHIP 177 



The stockwhip. This is an Australian develop- 

 ment of the switch. It consists of an 18-inch 

 wooden tapering handle, a keeper of kangaroo 

 hide, a lo-foot thong of kangaroo hide in a 

 tapering 12 or 16 plait, an 18-inch tail of green 

 hide, and a plaited cracker of sewing cotton. 

 At a range of twenty feet one flick knocked a 

 revolver out of my hand and lashed my wrist 

 to the thigh, making me a disarmed prisoner, 

 yet causing no more pain than the brush of a 

 fly's wing. It convinced me as to the useful- 

 ness of this weapon. 



III. THE WAYS OF RANGE HORSEMEN. 



On one occasion it was my privilege to 

 assemble seventy horsemen whose united ex- 

 perience of the stock-range covered the grass 

 lands of Asia from Mongolia to Hungary, 

 Eastern and Southern Africa, all states of 

 Australasia, Patagonia, the Argentine, the 

 Llano, and every state and province of the open 

 pasture in Mexico, the United States and 

 Canada. Among us we compiled a brief text 

 defining our ideas of range as distinguished from 

 civilised horsemanship. The text was printed 

 as a chapter on '' The Horse " in " The 

 Frontiersman's Pocket Book " (John Murray), 

 which I compiled and edited on behalf of the 

 Legion of Frontiersmen. The present volume 



