THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 69 



died miles further, expecting to reach it on the 

 second day. 



It is, of course, among the wild races inhabiting 

 vast level tracts, such as are suitable to the habits and 

 constitution of the horse, that the power of holding 

 out long in the saddle is most assiduously and most 

 generally cultivated. There are tribes and nations 

 who may be said to spend the greater part of their 

 lives on horseback : the Kirghis, for instance, in Cen- 

 tral Asia ; the Guachos, or countryfolk of European 

 descent, who inhabit the immense Pampas, or plains 

 of South America ; and, in a still higher degree, the 

 Indians of the same regions. The Pampas, though 

 fertile, are totally uncultivated, and yield the scattered 

 inhabitants no other nourishment than water, and the 

 flesh of the unappropriated herds of cattle and horses 

 that roam over them in countless multitudes. Their 

 hardy inhabitants are thus portrayed by Sir Francis 

 Head : 



" The life of the Guacho is very interesting. Born 

 in the rude hut, the infant receives little attention, but 

 is left to swing from the roof in a bullock's hide, 

 the corners of which are drawn towards each other by 

 four strips of hide. In the first year of his life he 

 crawls about without clothes, and I have more than 

 once seen a mother give a child of this age a sharp 

 knife, a foot long, to play with. As soon as he walks, 

 his infantine amusements are those which prepare him 



