1832.] THROWING THE BOLAS. 



any person would soon learn the art. One day, as I was amusing 

 myself by galloping and whirling the balls round my head, by accident 

 the free one struck a bush ; and its revolving motion being thus 

 destroyed, it immediately fell to the ground, and like magic caught 

 one hind leg of my horse ; the other ball was then jerked out of my 

 hand, and the horse fairly secured. Luckily he was an old practised 

 animal, and knew what it meant ; otherwise he would probably have 

 kicked till he had thrown himself down. The Gauchos roared with 

 laughter ; they cried out that they had seen every sort of animal 

 caught, but had never before seen a man caught by himself. 



During the two succeeding days, I reached the furthest point which 

 t was anxious to examine. The country wore the same aspect, till at 

 last the fine green turf became more wearisome than a dusty turnpike 

 road. We everywhere saw great numbers of partridges (Nothura 

 major). These birds do not go in coveys, nor do they conceal them- 

 selves like the English kind. It appears a very silly bird. A man on 

 horseback by riding round and round in a circle, or rather in a spire, so 

 as to approach closer each time, may knock on the head as many as he 

 pleases. The more common method is to catch them with a running 

 noose, or little lazo, made of the stem of an ostrich's feather, fastened to 

 the end of a long stick. A boy.on a quiet old horse will frequently thus 

 catch thirty or forty in a day.' In Arctic North America* the Indians 

 catch the Varying Hare by walking spirally round and round it, when 

 on its form : the middle of the day is reckoned the best time, when the 

 sun is high, and the shadow of the hunter not very long. 



On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather a different line of 

 road. Near Pan de Azucar, a landmark well known to all those who 

 have sailed up the Plata, I stayed a day at the house of a most hospitable 

 old Spaniard. Early in the morning we ascended the Sierra de las 

 Animas. By the aid of the rising sun the scenery was almost pictur- 

 esque. To the westward the view extended over an immense level 

 plain as far as the Mount, at Monte Video, and to the eastward, over 

 the mammillated country of Maldonado. On the summit of the 

 mountain there were several small heaps of stones, which evidently 

 had lain there for many years. My companion assured me that they 

 were the work of the Indians in the old time. The heaps were similar, 

 but on a much smaller scale, to those so commonly found on the 

 mountains of Wales. The desire to signalize any event, on the highest 

 point of the neighbouring land, seems an universal passion with man- 

 kind. At the present day, not a single Indian, either civilized or wild, 

 exists in this part of the province ; nor am I aware that the former 

 inhabitants have left behind them any more permanent records than 

 these insignificant piles on the summit of the Sierra de las Animas. 



The general, and almost entire absence of trees in Banda Oriental is 



remarkable. Some of the rocky hills are partly covered by thickets, 



and on the banks of the larger streams, especially to the north of Las 



Mrnas, willow-trees are not uncommon. Near the Arroyo Tapes I 



* Hearne's "Journey," p. 383 



