374 



THE MODERN SYSTEM 



first to face the danger, and, when prudence 

 demands a retreat, they foUow his rapid 

 flight. 



In the thinly inhabited parts of South 

 America it is dangerous to fall in with any of 

 these troops. The wild Horses approach as 

 jiear as they dare : they call to the loaded 

 Horse with the greatest eagerness, and, if the 

 rider be not on the alert, and have not con- 

 siderable strength of arm, and sharpness of 

 spur, his beast will divest himself of his 

 burden, take to his heels, and be gone for 



ever. 



Captain Head gives the following account 

 of a meeting with a troop of wild Horses, 

 where the country is more thickly inhabited. 

 Some poor captured animals are supposed to 

 be forced along by their riders at their very 

 utmost speed : — As they are thus galloping 

 along, urged by the spur, it is interesting to 

 see the groups of wild Horses one passes. The 

 mares, which are never ridden in South Ame- 

 rica, seem not to understand what makes the 

 poor Horse carry his head so low, and look so 

 weary. 



An Englishman once attempted to ride a 

 mare, but he was hooted and pelted by the 

 natives, and thought himself fortunatevto escape 

 »vithout serious injury *. 



The little innocent colts come running to 

 meet him, and then start, away frightened: 

 while old Horses, whose white marks on the 

 Ha ks and backs betray their acquaintance 

 with the spur and saddle, walk slowly away 

 for some distance, then, breaking into a trot 

 as they seek their safety, snort and look behind 

 them, first with one eye and then with the 



♦ Sir Jnlin Carr, in his " Northern Summer," states that 

 t i« only a short time since mares began to be ridden in 

 Huss'a. 



other, turning their nose from right to left, 

 and carrying their long tail high in the air. 



The same pleasing writer describes the 

 system of Horse-management among the rude 

 inhabitants of the plains of South America. 

 They have no stables, no fenced pastures. 

 One Horse is usually kept tied at the door of 

 the hut, fed scantily at night on maize ; or at 

 other times several may be enclosed in the 

 corral, which is a circular space surrounded 

 by rough posts, driven firmly into the gi'ound. 

 The mares are never ridden, or attempted to 

 be tamed, but wander with their foals where- 

 ever they please. 



When the Gaucho, the native inhabitant 

 of the plains, wants Horses for himself or for 

 the supply of the traveller, he either goes with 

 his lasso to the corral, and selects those, pos- 

 sibly, who on the preceding day had for the 

 first time been backed, or he scampers across 

 the plain, and presently returns with an un- 

 willing, struggling, or subdued captive. When 

 the services of the animals have been exacted 

 he either takes them to the corral, and feeds 

 them with a small quantity of maize, if he 

 thinks he shall presently need them sl^s'ip 

 or he once more turns them loose on the 

 plains. 



Travellers give some amusing accounts of 

 the manner in which all this is effected — Miers 

 thus describes the lasso, isimple in its con- 

 struction, but all-powerful in the hands of the 

 Gaueijo. 



1 he la^so is a missle weapon used by every 

 native of the United Provinces and Chile. It 

 is a very strong plaited thong of equal thick- 

 ness, half an inch in diameter, and forty feet 

 long , made of many strips of green hide, 

 plai'ted like a whipthong, and rendered suppift 

 by grease. It has, at "iHie end, an iron ring 



