WESTERN CATTLE LANDS. 339 



on each side of these are great leather flaps or " tapideros," to 

 protect his feet from cold and from the sagebush through 

 which he is constantly galloping. The body of the saddle 

 stretches back behind the cantle and serves to support the 

 oilskin " slicker " or loose overcoat, without which he never 

 moves forth any more than he would dispense with gloves, or 

 leave behind the enormous six-shooter that he wears half- 

 concealed beneath his right skirt. Under his saddle are folded 

 a pair of blankets, which protect his horse's back by day and 

 form his own bed by night. (And here it may not be out 

 of place to insert a parenthesis, to the effect that the only cer- 

 tain preventive of sore backs in a hilly country is a carefully 

 folded blanket under the saddle. I give this as the result 

 of experiments in many climes and countries and I venture 

 to offer it now especially to my fellow-sportsmen of Exmoor 

 Forest.) 



A cowboy has at his command seldom less than half a dozen 

 horses, or even more during the progress of the spring and 

 autumn " round-ups " a necessity which will be easily under- 

 stood when it is borne in mind that his mounts are too often 

 mere ponies, weighing, it is calculated, not more than four 

 times as much as the sum total attained by himself, his spurs, 

 his six-shooter, tapideros, saddle, and impedimenta generally ; 

 for a cowboy, equipped for the field, probably bears about with 

 him all that he possesses in the world, unless it be a " satchel " 

 (as a handbag of whatever bulk is termed in American par- 

 lance), which he has left in the nearest town, and which may 

 contain his eastern suit of clothes and photographs of the old 

 folks at home. The work that each horse in turn is called 

 upon to perform, though it may extend over only half a day, is 

 generally quite sufficient to entitle him to three days' rest, 

 especially as during that time his only food is prairie grass, 

 which may or may not be at -hand in any quantity. Each 

 year, however, it should be added, is a more general disposition 

 shown in favour of the stronger horses of Oregon and Washing- 

 ton, large importations of which have been brought across the 



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