A VISIT TO THE COUNTRY. 361 



rals, varying in extent from one to four acres each, and formed by upright poles some seven feet 

 lii^li, set close together, and fixed firmly in the ground. Each had ut least two entrances one 

 opening from the principal grazing field, the other communicating with another corral, or 

 Mnaller pasture-ground. Mounted guasos guarded every entrance to prevent the escape of any 

 unimal not intruded, and others similarly provided were stationed round the sides of the main 

 corral, into which a portion of the herd had been driven. Scarcely docs the proprietor designate 

 ili.- .1. st ination of a quadruped before a lasso reaches its neck ; and the horseman who has secured 

 it hurries to the appointed place, others lashing it onward with the ends of their lassoes if 

 resistance be made. In this manner the distribution is both expeditiously and safely effected ; 

 the power which their lassoes and the management of their horses give guasos for quickly sub- 

 duing the most dangerous cattle, inspiring them with the self-confidence essential to prompt 

 action. Yearlings to be marked, and others intended for oxen, are last dealt with, and are led 

 to a corral apart, where either or both operations are subsequently performed with equal celerity. 

 On both sides of the entrance leading to the meadow a line of horsemen is ranged, lassoes 

 in hand ; a few others remaining within the corral to prevent the escape of more than one 

 animal at a time, and to drag or drive it out should it hold back. As the cattle cannot see 

 the guasos outside, no sooner do the guards at the entrance withdraw a step, than one makes a 

 dash for it. But he scarcely clears the corral in fancied freedom, before one lasso has secured 

 the fore feet, two others the hinder ones, and the horsemen, starting in opposite directions at the 

 instant of throwing, bring the creature to the ground stretched to the utmost extent of its legs. 

 The capataz stands ready with a branding-iron and keen blade ; and in less time than one could 

 even tell of it, the young ox, not fairly recovered from the shock of his fall, is freed from the 

 lassoes, and bounds over the plain maddened and smarting under the double wounds inflicted. 

 How guasos manage to loose the lassoes without approaching their victim is not easily com- 

 prehended. Such is the fact; and I could but regard it as accomplished by a sleight perhaps 

 more difficult to acquire than the placing of it securely around either horn or limb as you direct, 

 even when both animals are at full speed. This is the closing drama of the rodeo. There 

 are others for the purpose of changing the cattle from one pasturage or rather from one set of 

 ravines to another ; but in these cases they are rarely driven to the plain, and the occurrence 

 is of no interest beyond the immediate hacienda. As a thousand animals may be thus dis- 

 posed of in a day, the duration of the rodeo is readily estimated for most haciendas, though 

 there are some in which the formation of the ground greatly facilitates or impedes the operation. 

 The matanza, or slaughtering of those which have been fattened, takes place in December, 

 January, and February, when there are no rains ; and the dry air greatly hastens the prepara- 

 tion of charqui, or dried beef. For this purpose a large open corral is used, on two or more 

 sides of which shambles are formed of brushwood, where the men may work. Instead of bring- 

 ing the cattle to a ring, and then rendering them senseless by a blow with an axe, they are 

 lassoed head and heels. The four feet are next tied together, and while thus prostrated the 

 butcher uses his knife. When the blood ceases to flow, a pair of oxen drag the carcass to the 

 shambles on a hide, each stall having its occupant or occupants engaged in various processes, 

 from flaying to cutting up. An animal is not suspended to bleed or to be skinned, but is 

 turned from side to side on the ground, as the workmen require. Nor is there any subdivision 

 of labor. Each man, aided by a boy perhaps, takes charge of a carcass, working at it until the 

 bones are left bare, the feet deposited in one place, head in a second, tallow in a third, fat, 

 bones, and offal in as many more. The meat is then sliced, with sharp knives, from lumps 

 into flakes about half an inch thick by a yard or more in length, the operator dividing it 

 uniformly from the outside. When the ox is entirely cut up, the strips of flesh are laid on cane 

 wickers ; and in order to make them more tender as well as to hasten the drying, the boys 

 tread them for an hour with their bare feet. A little coarse salt is finally sprinkled over the 

 strips, and they are left in the open air to cure; nor are they taken in or covered until thor- 

 oughly deprived of moisture, unless the season is advanced and night-dews are heavy, in which 

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