280 RESOURCES OF CALIFORNIA. 



in a district to which they suppose that any of their cattle have 

 strayed ; and they are usually the guests of the man upon 

 whose ranch the rodeo is given. 



When a cow is driven out, her calf follows. Every ran- 

 chero knows his cattle by the brand, which law and custom 

 require him to use. Of course, when a man has four or five 

 thousand head of cattle, he cannot recognize them all by 

 sight : he can only distinguish them by marks. He knows his 

 cows by their brands, and his calves by their following the 



COWSv 



The spring rodeos are the busiest seasons of the rancheros, 

 and are for them the chief occasions of general meeting, excit- 

 ing adventure, conversation, and festivity, in the course of the 

 year. Frequently three or four hundred men will meet at these 

 places, mounted on their best horses-, and ready for fun. All 

 th$ work of the rodeo is exciting. Lively scenes are enacting 

 at every moment, and in every direction. Calves will try to 

 get away from the herd, and escape to the hills. Cows which 

 have been driven out will endeavor to get back. These must 

 be chased by the horsemen. Frequently the lasso must be 

 used. Many of the vaqueros are fond of showing their skill 

 before so many spectators, and astonishing feats of horseman- 

 ship are performed. 



When a ranchero returns from a rodeo, with his cattle which 

 had strayed away, he drives them into his corral, and brands- 

 and marks his calves ; so that if they should return to their 

 former range, he will know them the next year. If those that 

 have been on other ranches are too numerous to be branded 

 and marked in one day, some of his vaqueros stay with them 

 on horseback, and herd them until all can be marked. When a 

 cow has become accustomed to a ranch, she likes to return to it. 

 After all the calves are marked, the owner does not care much 

 whither they go, provided that they do not stray beyond the 

 limits of the ranches, the rodeos of which he attends. It is 

 only in times of extraordinary scarcity of grass that the ranch- 



