382 The Wilderness Hunter. 



ally myself, and was with many of the men who were all 

 the time riding in the most famous hunts ; men, too, who 

 were greatly impressed with the exhibitions of rough riding 

 then being given by Buffalo Bill and his men, and who 

 talked of them much ; and yet I never, at the time, heard 

 of an instance in which one of the cowboys rode to hounds 

 with any marked success.* In the same way I have some- 

 times in New York or London heard of men who, it was 

 alleged, had been out West and proved better riders than 

 the bronco-busters themselves, just as I have heard of 

 similar men who were able to go out hunting in the Rockies 

 or on the plains and get more game than the western hun- 

 ters ; but in the course of a long experience in the West I 

 have yet to see any of these men, whether from the 

 eastern States or from Europe, actually show such 

 superiority or perform such feats. 



It would be interesting to compare the performances of 

 the Australian stock-riders with those of our own cowpunch- 

 ers, both in cow-work and in riding. The Australians have 

 an entirely different kind of saddle, and the use of the rope 

 is unknown among them. A couple of years ago the famous 

 western rifle-shot, Carver, took some cowboys out to Aus- 

 tralia, and I am informed that many of the Australians 

 began themselves to practise with the rope after seeing 

 the way it was used by the Americans. An Australian 

 gentleman, Mr. A. J. Sage, of Melbourne, to whom I had 

 written asking how the saddles and styles of riding com- 

 pared, answered me as follows : 



* It is, however, quite possible, now that Buffalo Bill's company has crossed the 

 water several times that a number of the cowboys have by practice become proficient 

 in riding to hounds, and in steeple-chasing. 



