212 THE HOUSE AND HIS EIDER, 



got rid of by any intelligent staff officer affixing to a rope, 

 whenever lie wished for reconnoitring to tether his 

 horse, a stone, a piece of wood, or any other heavy sub- 

 stance, which he would unlash and leave behind him so 

 soon as his object on foot had been accomplished. 



3. In Mendoza, San Luis, Santiago, Buenos Ayres, and 

 all other cities in the provinces of Rio de la Plata, in 

 Chili, and in Peru, whenever a young dandy, calling 

 upon his innamorata, is informed that she is " en casa," 

 that is at home, he dismounts, extracts from his waistcoat 

 pocket a beautiful pair of slight hobbles (weighing only 

 two ounces), which by two silver buttons he affixes to the 

 fetlocks of his high-bred horse, who, swishing with his 

 long tail the innumerable flies that assail him, and looking 

 at every animal that canters by him, stands stock still, 

 until within the house all the compliments of the season 

 have been paid, and all the songs to the guitar exhausted. 



In those countries every cavalry soldier carries a pair 

 of such hobbles for his horse, not in his pocket, but as an 

 ornament dangling from the throat-lash of the bridle. 



By this invention a horse is not so thoroughly secured 

 as by that used by the Cossacks ; and accordingly, if he be 

 overfed, very fresh, and greatly alarmed, he has power in 

 a very awkward gait to move away. 



On active service, however, where horses have more 



