438 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



every native of the provinces of Chili. It is a very strong, 

 plaited thong, of equal thickness, half an inch in diameter, 

 and forty feet long, made of strips of green hide, plaited 

 like a whip-thong, and rendered supple by grease. It has 

 at one end an iron ring, about one inch and a half in dia- 

 meter, through v^hich the thong is passed and forms a run- 

 nins^ noose. 



" The Guacho, or native Peon, is generally mounted on 

 horseback when he uses the lasso. One end of the thong 

 being affixed to his saddle-girth, the remainder he coils care- 

 fully in his left hand, leaving about twelve feet, belonging to 

 the noose end, in a coil, half of which he holds in his right 

 hand. He then swings this loose noose horizontally round 

 his head, the weight of the iron ring at the end of the noose 

 assisting in giving to it, by a continued circular motion, a 

 sufficient force to project it the whole length of the line." 



The Guacho takes a wild horse by first mounting an 

 animal which has been accustomed to the sport, and gallops 

 over the plain in the direction where the herd of wild 

 horses are, and, circling round, by degrees gets near to one 

 of them : and as soon as he has approached sufficiently 

 near, " the lasso is thrown round the two hind legs, and as 

 the Guacho rides round a little on one side, the jerk pulls 

 the entangled horse's feet laterally, so as to throw him on 

 his side, without endangering his knees or face. Before the 

 horse can recover the shock, the rider dismounts, and 

 snatching his cloak from his shoulders, wraps it round the 

 prostrate animal's head. He then forces into his mouth 

 one of the powerful bridles of the country, straps a saddle 

 on his back, and bestriding him, removes the cloak ; upon 

 which the astonished horse springs on his legs, and endea- 

 vours by a thousand vain efforts to disencumber himself of 

 hif' new master, who sits quite composedly on his back, and 



