84 SUBJECT CONTINUED. 



quietly withdraws his head heneath the shell ; in 

 vain the hungry brute roars and rages, it is all 

 nothing to the tortoise, he turns a deaf ear to the 

 clamour, and goes quietly to sleep. Thus cased 

 in an impenetrable coat of mail, he has only two 

 enemies to fear. One of these is the boa con- 

 strictor, that dreadful serpent which has been known 

 to swallow a live tortoise ; but a boa large enough 

 for such a feat is happily not often seen. The 

 other enemy is man, who takes up the tortoise and 

 carries him away ; but man also seldom traverses 

 those wilds. Yet, still, when he does appear, it 

 is as a terrible enemy to the tiger. The Gaucho, 

 who inhabits with his brethren the wildest parts of 

 Paraguay, frequently sets forth to attack the ani- 

 mals that shelter amid the fastnesses of those un- 

 trodden deserts. Mounted on a well-trained courser, 

 and carrying in his hand a long rope with a noose at 

 the end, he urges his fiery steed into a troop of wild 

 horses, and catches one of them by the aid of his 

 rope. He then dismounts, whirls another rope 

 around his prey, who becomes completely entangled 

 and, without putting on either a stirrup or bridle 

 he springs upon the back of the impatient animal, 

 which rages and paws the ground and darts away 

 with the rapidity of lightning. But this is only for 

 a moment : the creature, indignant at his burden, 

 soon stops, begins to prance, rolls in the dust, and, 

 endeavours to unhorse him; but the Gaucho keeps his 

 seat, and again the fiery courser rages onward, rush- 

 ing up steep rocks, and swimming rapid streams, 

 clearing precipices, and leaping over obstacles that 

 would destroy a less practised rider; at length, 



