HANDLING CATTLE ON THE RANGE 119 



eight-strand reatas whose making took days of careful 

 work and used up the center of half a dozen of the 

 finest calf skins; quirts, the result of hours about the 

 camp fires (they were works of art) ; hair ropes ("me- 

 cates") spun from the very choicest mane hair taken 

 from some bunch of "broom tails" (mares) which the 

 boys rounded up on an afternoon and spent hours in 

 throwing in order to obtain the hair. 



Let there come an odd afternoon when the outfit is 

 not working and out from some one's bed roll comes a 

 set of hair spinners; from the bottom of the "chuck 

 wagon" a gunny sack of hair is dug up, and soon they 

 are busy making hair ropes. One man picks the hair 

 while two others spin the strands. By selecting the 

 colors of the hair, red, white or black, it is possible to 

 secure very handsome ropes of natural colors. When 

 the rope is finished it is washed in a bucket of water 

 in which is placed a handful of soda stolen from the 

 cook's can. This bleaches the white hair and when the 

 ends of the loose hairs have been singed off and a turk's 

 head worked in one end the rope is finished. 



Contrary to general opinion, the hair rope is valuable 

 neither for its great strength nor roping qualities. As 

 a catch rope it is a failure because it is too light to throw 

 well and offers too much surface to the wind. The rope 

 is not particularly strong and will not stand any severe 

 strain. Its chief value is for reins for hackamores in 

 handling young horses and for tie ropes for saddle 

 horses. There is a certain amount of spring or give in 

 hair ropes, and they do not slip through the hands so 

 readily as hard twisted ropes. 



One reads occasionally of old hair ropes made from 

 the hair of young women captured by Indians, which 



