Ranching in the Bad Lands. 7 



hardy, self-reliant, their life forces them to be both daring 

 and adventurous, and the passing over their heads of a few 

 years leaves printed on their faces certain lines which tell 

 of dangers quietly fronted and hardships uncomplainingly 

 endured. They are far from being as lawless as they are 

 described ; though they sometimes cut queer antics when, 

 after many months of lonely life, they come into a frontier 

 town in which drinking and gambling are the only recog- 

 nized forms of amusement, and where pleasure and vice 

 are considered synonymous terms. On the round-ups, or 

 when a number get together, there is much boisterous, 

 often foul-mouthed mirth ; but they are rather silent, self- 

 contained men when with strangers, and are frank and 

 hospitable to a degree. The Texans are perhaps the best 

 at the actual cowboy work. They are absolutely fearless 

 riders and understand well the habits of the half wild 

 cattle, being unequalled in those most trying times 

 when, for instance, the cattle are stampeded by a thunder- 

 storm at night, while in the use of the rope they are only 

 excelled by the Mexicans. On the other hand, they are 

 prone to drink, and when drunk, to shoot. Many Kan- 

 sans, and others from the northern States, have also taken 

 up the life of late years, and though these scarcely reach, 

 in point of skill and dash, the standard of the southerners, 

 who may be said to be born in the saddle, yet they are to 

 the full as resolute and even more trustworthy. My own 

 foremen were originally eastern backwoodsmen. 



The cowboy's dress is both picturesque and serviceable, 

 and, like many of the terms of his pursuit, is partly of 

 Hispano-Mexican origin. It consists of a broad felt hat, a 



