288 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



the great difficulty consists in throwing the lasso, but rather in the 

 management of the animal when entangled. The Mexican saddle 

 has an upright pillar about 9 inches long in front ; this is called 

 " the horn," and one end of the lasso is secured by a round turn 

 being taken when the animal is caught. It is manipulated entirely 

 from this horn, as it can be slacked off, or drawn tighter, as the 

 occasion may require ; but there is considerable danger, as a 

 powerful animal may dash away before the hand of the lasso- 

 thrower is clear of the coil, in which case it might be caught 

 between the loose coils and the wooden pillar or horn. While I 

 was there, a man lost two fingers by catching them in this 

 manner, just as a buffalo jumped off, and the hard line cut them 

 oft' like a knife, against the still harder horn. 



The Americans show scant mercy to the buffalo, as they declare 

 that it consumes as much grass as would fatten two bullocks; 

 also, that the presence of many of these animals will attract the 

 Indians. I do not credit either of these statements, as the 

 buffaloes are not found upon the cattle ranches, but upon the 

 mountains far beyond. They have long since been driven from 

 the plains in the vicinity of man, and they have retired to higher 

 altitudes, where they are comparatively undisturbed. The Indians 

 are bound by law to remain upon their reservation grounds, and 

 they would have no chance of following upon the tracks of 

 buffaloes; it is merely an excuse for the destruction which is 

 rapidly annihilating the wild animals of the once interesting 

 " Far West." 



I have adhered throughout my description to the local misnomer 

 of "buffalo," but it must be borne in mind that the American 

 species is the true bison. 



In India there is the so-called Indian bison, but naturalists 

 deny the right of this animal to such an appellation, and designate 

 it as Bos Gaurus, commonly known in India as the gaur. 

 Although I have been five times a visitor to our magnificent 

 Indian Empire, I have never yet had an opportunity of shooting a 

 gaur ; the day may, I trust, arrive, as I hope to revisit the country 

 next winter, and instead of returning home in the spring, I shall 

 devote those months of the driest season to the jungles, when it is 

 far easier to discover the desired game. 



As I have never experienced the gaur personally, I cannot enter 

 into the details of its habits. It has decreased in numbers in the 

 Central Provinces, not only from the annual destruction by the 

 rifle, but from epidemics, to which all members of the bovine family 

 are peculiarly liable. I remember about forty years ago, when in 



