100 TAMING HORSES. 



possessed of taming, in a few hours, wild horses. 

 The Alcade seemed to be of a morose, surly tem- 

 per, and answered me, saying, he did not believe 

 in witches, nor miracles, and though he said he re- 

 spected the President's document, yet he believed 

 he had been imposed upon, &c. He appeared not 

 even disposed to give me a trial. He had a 

 brother-in-law, a Spaniard, a genteel, wealthy gen- 

 tleman: this man was very much disposed to fa- 

 vor my undertaking. He possessed numerous 

 herds of wild horses. He gave me one of his 

 houses to live in, whilst I staid in the town, for I 

 had my wife and family with me. About six 

 o'clock, (this was in Febuary, 1826,) whilst we 

 were all sitting at the door, taking the air, a wild 

 deer came bouncing by us. It had been chased 

 out of the woods by a leopard or a tiger. The 

 large spotted tiger and leopard are both natives of 

 this country, and are often seen within half a mile 

 of the towns in the Guanteca. The deer ran down 

 opposite the Alcade's house : there, a man threw a 

 rope upon it, and caught it. I immediately went 

 to the man, bought the deer, and told him to tie it 

 and bring it up to my house. He accordingly did 

 so. I untied it, and shut it up in a room, where it 

 remained all night. The next morning, before 

 sun-rise, I went to it, and began the operation of 

 gentling; and, at nine o'clock, I made it follow 



