Hunting with Hounds 207 



ally myself, and was with many of the men 

 who were all the time riding in the most fa- 

 mous hunts; men, too, who were greatly im- 

 pressed with the exhibitions of rough riding 

 then being given by Buffalo Bill and his men, 

 and who talked of them much ; and yet I never, 

 at the time, heard of an instance in which one 

 of the cowboys rode to hounds with any 

 marked success.* In the same way I have 

 sometimes in New York or London heard of 

 men who, it was alleged, had been out West 

 and proved better riders than the bronco- 

 busters themselves, just as I have heard of 

 similar men who were able to go out hunting 

 in the Rockies or on the plains and get more 

 game than the Western hunters; but in the 

 course of a long experience in the West I 

 have yet to see any of these men, whether ' 

 from the Eastern States or from Europe, ac- 

 tually show such superiority or perform such 

 feats. 



It would be interesting to compare the per- 

 formances of the Australian stock-riders with 

 those of our own cowpunchers, both in cow- 



1 It is, however, quite possible, now that Buffalo Bill's 

 company has crossed the water several times, that a number 

 of the cowboys have by practice become proficient in riding 

 to hounds, and in steeple-chasing. 



