1832.] THROWING THE BOLAS. 43 



whirl them so steadily rouud the head, as to take aim : on foot any 

 person would soon learn 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. 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 oiit that they had seen every sort of 

 animal caught, but had never before seen a man caught by himself. 



During the two succeeding days, I reached the furthest 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 great numbers 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 man on horseback by riding rouud 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, made 

 of the stem of an ostrich's feather, fastened to the end of a long 

 stick. A boy on a quiet old horse will frequently thus catch thirty 

 or forty in a day. In Arctic North America * the Indians catch 

 the Varying Hare by walking spirally round and round it, when on 

 its form : the middle of the day is reckoned the best time, when the 

 sun is high, and the shadow of the hunter not very long. 



On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather a different line 

 of road. Near Pan cle Azucar, a landmark well known to all those 

 who have sailed up the Plata, I stayed a day at the house of a most 

 hospitable old Spaniard. Early in the morning we ascended the 

 Sierra de las Aninias. By the aid of the rising sun the scenery was 

 almost picturesque. To the westward the view extended over an 

 immense level plain as far as the Mount, at Monte Video, and to 

 the eastward, over the mammillated country of Maldonado. On 

 the summit of the mountain there were several small heaps of 

 stones, which evidently had lain there for many years. My com- 

 panion assured me that they were the work of the Indians in the 

 old time. The heaps were similar, but on a much smaller scale, to 

 * Heavne's Journey, p. 383. 



