376 The Laso ; its Origin and its Use. ^OcT. 



It is not a little singular, that this missile — if such a term may be 

 appropriately applied to the laso, which is of the highest antiquity — 

 should at the present day be considered as peculiar only to the natives 

 of South America. The earliest traditionary records we possess of the 

 human race, teach us that, in similar states of society, the wants of 

 man are ever the same, while the means which necessity urges him to 

 adopt for their gratification have, in every part of the globe, been marked 

 b}'^ the same uniform character of identity. Among a pastoral people, 

 the use of the laso must, at an early period, have been found of the 

 same importance as the bow among the hunter- tribes, who, in an inferior 

 grade in the scale of civilization, supported a precarious existence on the 

 supplies of the chase. Thus it is we discover that its use has been 

 known to the Nomadic tribes of Central Asia from time immemorial ; 

 and if we prosecute our researches still further, we shall, at the present 

 day, discover it among the wandering tribes of the Ukraine, in Walla- 

 chia and IVIoldavia, and even in Hungary, where a more advanced state 

 of civilization has narrowed the field of its operation. 



In proof of the antiquity of the laso, we may be allowed to quote 

 Herodotus. In his catalogue of the different nations who, under Xei'xes, 

 formed the invading army of Greece (Polymnia), the historian enume- 

 rates the Sargatians, who brought 8,000 cavalry into the field, and were 

 brigaded with the Persians who constituted the flower of the army. 



" There is a Nomadic tribe, called the Sargatians — a Persian nation, 

 and using the same language : they have, however, a costume which 

 partakes at once of the Persian and the Pactyean. They use no arras, 

 whether of brass or iron, excepting daggers ; but Ihcy use cords made of 

 the Iwisled thongs of hides. The following is their mode of Jighiing when 

 in presence of an enemy. Theij throw out their cords, which have running 

 nooses at the end ; whatever the noose may fall upon, whether horse or 

 man, the Sargatian draws towards him, and immediately puts to death." 



Judging from the force of tlieir contingent, we may presume them to 

 have been a considerable people, although modern geographers are 

 divided as to the exact position of their country. But, in reading this 

 description of their mode of figliting, written 450 years before the birth 

 of Christ, we may literally apply it to the manners of the guacho of the 

 present day, the inhabitants of a continent the very existence of which, 

 in the days of Herodotus, and for many centuries afterwards, was 

 unknown. This missile is of two kinds — the bolas, and the laso pro- 

 perly so called. The former consists of three leaden balls attached to 

 three thongs, about three feet in length, and joining at the centre. It is 

 generally launched, and is uncommonly sure in its operation. In pur- 

 suing his game, the guacho, on approaching within thirty yards of his 

 victim, commences whirling the bolas in an horizontal position around 

 his head, and having given to them the necessary momentum, with 

 unerring aim they fly from his arm, coil around the legs of the flying 

 animal, and bring him to the ground. 



It was in this manner that General Paz, the leader of the unitarian 

 party, was lately made prisoner on the Pampas. Although surprised 

 by a party of Buenos Ayrean cavalry, the general had time to mount a 

 swift horse, and, in all probability, in any other country, would have 

 escaped ; but a guacho spui-red after him, and hurling with unerring aim 

 his bolas at the legs of the general's charger, brought him down, and 

 captured the rider. 



