134 TALL YARNS. 



books do not get criticised in South America as they might do in 

 Australia, and therefore it is more safe to describe impossible 

 feats with the lasso, and the wonderful success of brutal whips, 

 spurs, bits, and men, which never produce good horses in any 

 other country. 



178. — We cannot understand why so many English writers 

 on the horse have given credence and publicity to such clumsy 

 and mischievous romances. 



We will copy one from Basil Hall's journey to Peru and 

 Mexico, which we take because it is a fair sample of the rest, and 

 has been published, as if it were true, by many writers, including 

 Youatt, and the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. 



170. — "When a Gaucho wishes to take a wild horse, he 

 mounts one that has been used to the sport, and gallops over the 

 plain. As soon as he comes sufficiently near his prey, the lasso 

 is thrown round the two hind legs, and as the Gaucho rides 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 

 his face. Before the horse can recover the shock the rider 

 dismounts, and snatching his poncho or 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 poncho, upon 

 which the astonished horse springs on his legs, and endeavours by 

 a thousand vain eflfoi'ts to disencumber himself of his new master, 

 who sits quite composedly on his back, and by a discipline which 

 never fails, reduces the horse to such complete obedience, that 

 he is soon trained to lend his whole speed and strength in the 

 capture of his companions." 



280. — Now, in the first place, let the English reader remember 

 that the Gaucho's horse is described as a poor starved thing, 

 merely caught and worked 'without any proper feeding, until used 

 up, and that the wild horses on the dry plains of Peru and 

 Australia, are not soft, fat things, but are as hard, and often in 

 far better condition for work than the horse the Gaucho rides. 

 How then are they overtaken so easily by one of their own jieers, 

 loaded with a man and all sorts of heavy paraphanalia on his 

 back ? 



