8 STATES OF THE RIVER PLATE. 



bound together by cross bars securely lashed. Occasion- 

 ally, indeed frequently, a point of two, three, or half-a- 

 dozen animals will break away from the lot, and then 

 away go the skirmishers of the party of drovers, lassoes 

 whirling in the air, at headlong gallop, to come up with 

 the runaway beasts ; a vain attempt would it be to turn 

 them, so the lasso is thrown, the noose goes over the 

 animal's horns, the well-trained horse answers to the rein, 

 he gallops to one side and comes suddenly to a stop ; the 

 animal is swung round, a second lasso is thrown by another 

 horseman ; one takes one side, the other the other ; the 

 enraged animal rushes to and fro, but he is checked by 

 the lassoes ; and so, by the dragging of the lasso-men and 

 his own mad rushes, he is worked on to the remainder of 

 the herd. At other times, he is hamstrung by a third 

 person, and left until the herd being penned, they return 

 to kill and skin him. 



The process of penning the cattle being in due course 

 achieved, the slaughter commences, and the operation is 

 effected as follows : 



To the corral or pen, there is a narrow neck, eight to 

 ten feet long, closed with cross bars at the end, the lower 

 bar being sufficiently high to admit a low truck to be run 

 under it, in and out, with its burthen ; the top bar consists 

 of a roller. By this neck there is a stage, on which stands 

 the lasso-man ; the truck being run in, the lasso-man 

 takes the noose and coils of the lasso, swings it and throws 

 it over the horns of one of the animals ; a horseman 

 outside has the end of the lasso attached to the saddle 

 (recado) of his horse : the signal is given as soon as the 

 lasso is cast, the horseman moves rapidly on, the lasso 

 running on the roller bar, drawing the animal into 

 the neck of the pen and on to the truck, bringing the 

 horns 'taut' against the roller bar. The slaughterer 



