THROWING THE BOLAS. 57 



not larger than an apple, they are sent with such 

 force as sometimes to break the leg even of a horse. 

 I have seen the balls made of wood, and as large 

 as a turnip, for the sake of catching these animals 

 without injuring them. The balls are sometimes 

 made of iron, and these can be hurled to the great- 

 est distance. The main difficulty in using either 

 lazo or bolas is to ride so well as to be able at full 

 speed, and while suddenly turning about, to whirl 

 them so steadily round the head as to take aim : 

 on foot any person would soon leana 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 by the bolas. 

 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, T reached the far- 

 thest point which I 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 gi-eat num- 

 bers of partridges (Nothura major). These birds 

 do not go in coveys, nor do they conceal themselves 

 like the English kind. It appears a very silly bird. 

 A nian 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, 



