16 RANCH LIFE AND THE HUNTING-TRAIL 



ains, from the Rio Grande to the Saskatchewan, the same terms are in 

 use and the same system is followed ; but on the Pacific slope, in Califor- 

 nia, there are certain small differences, even in nomenclature. Thus, we 

 of the great plains all use the double cinch saddle, with one girth behind 

 the horse's fore legs and another farther back, while Californians prefer 

 one with a single cinch, which seems to us much inferior for stock-work. 

 Again, Californians use the Spanish word "lasso," which with us has been 

 entirely dropped, no plainsman with pretensions to the title thinking of 

 any word but "rope," either as noun or verb. 



The rope, whether leather lariat or made of grass, is the one essential 

 feature of every cowboy's equipment. Loosely coiled, it hangs from the 

 horn or is tied to one side of the saddle in front of the thigh, and is used 

 for every conceivable emergency, a twist being taken round the stout 

 saddle-horn the second the noose settles over the neck or around the legs 

 of a chased animal. In helping pull a wagon up a steep pitch, in drag- 

 ging an animal by the horns out of a bog-hole, in hauling logs for the 

 fire, and in a hundred other ways aside from its legitimate purpose, the 

 rope is of invaluable service, and dexterity with it is prized almost or 

 quite as highly as good horsemanship, and is much rarer. Once a cow- 

 boy is a good roper and rider, the only other accomplishment he values is 

 skill with his great army revolver, it being taken for granted that he is 

 already a thorough plainsman and has long mastered the details of cattle- 

 work ; for the best roper and rider alive is of little use unless he is hard- 

 working, honest, keenly alive to his employer's interest, and very careful 

 in the management of the cattle. 



All cowboys can handle the rope with more or less ease and precision, 

 but great skill in its use is only attained after long practice, and for its 

 highest development needs that the man should have begun in earliest 

 youth. Mexicans literally practice from infancy ; the boy can hardly tod- 

 dle before he gets a string and begins to render life a burden to the hens, 

 goats, and pigs. A really first-class roper can command his own price, 

 and is usually fit for little but his own special work. 



It is much the same with riding. The cowboy is an excellent rider in 

 his own way, but his way differs from that of a trained school horseman 

 or cross-country fox-hunter as much as it does from the horsemanship of 

 an Arab or of a Sioux Indian, and, as with all these, it has its special 

 merits and special defects schoolman, fox-hunter, cowboy, Arab, and 

 Indian being all alike admirable riders in their respective styles, and each 

 cherishing the same profound and ignorant contempt for every method but 

 his own. The flash riders, or horse-breakers, always called "bronco 



