AEABTAN AND AUSTRALIAN SYSTEMS, 16 



rate. The result is, that nine-tenths of the Australian 

 horses are vicious, and especially given to the trick of 

 "buck-jumping." This vile vice consists in a succes- 

 sion of leaps from all-fours, the beast descending with 

 the back arched, the limbs rigid, and the head as low 

 down between the legs as possible. Not one horseman 

 in a hundred can sit three jumps of a confirmed buck- 

 jumper. Charles Barter, who was one of the hardest 

 riders in the Heythrope Hunt, in his " Six Months in 

 Natal," says, " when my horse began buck-jumping I 

 dismounted, and I recommend every one under the same 

 circumstances to do the same." 



The Guachos on the South American Pampas lasso a 

 wild horse, throw him down, cover his head with one of 

 their ponchos, or cloaks, and, having girthed on him one 

 of their heavy demi-piqued saddles, from which it is 

 almost impossible to be dislodged, thrust a curb-bit, 

 capable of breaking the jaw with one tug, into the poor 

 wretch's mouth, mount him with a pair of spurs with 

 rowels six inches long, and ride him over the treeless 

 plains until he sinks exhausted in a fainting state. But 

 horses thus broken are almost invariably either vicious 

 or stupid; in fact, idiotic. There is another milder 

 method sometimes adopted by these Pampas horsemen, 

 on which, no doubt, Mr. Earey partly founded his 

 system. After lassoing a horse, they blind his eyes with 

 a poncho, tie him fast to a post, and girth a heavy saddle 

 on him. The animal sometimes dies at once of fright 

 and anger : if not, he trembles, sweats, and would, after 

 a time, fall down from terror and weakness. The Guacho 

 then goes up to him, caresses him, removes the poncho 

 from his eyes, continues to caress him ; so that, accord- 

 ing to the notion of the country, the horse becomes 

 grateful and attached to the man for delivering him from 



