On the Rowel Spur 57 



less until, by easy stages, the form of spur much as we have 

 now was arrived at. 



The spurs of the nineteenth century will be briefly 

 described in a separate section. 



There remains to be described a form of spur which, 

 from its size and weight and imposing appearance, has always 

 been readily sought by collectors, and of which specimens are 

 to be found in nearly every museum. I refer to Mexican 

 spurs. The old-fashioned Mexican spur had two great charac- 

 teristics ; one a large circular heel-plate, generally ornamented 

 with perforations to save weight, and the other a peculiarly 

 shaped opening in the thick curved neck — which opening, for 

 want of a better word, I will call kidney-shaped. This last is 

 an invariable characteristic of spurs of Mexican origin, and 

 can be seen more or less clearly in the cow-boys' spurs of 

 the present day. The object of the opening was, no doubt, to 

 save weight, and the shape has been copied from one genera- 

 tion to another. The round heel-plate, now more or less gone 

 out, but always seen in the older spurs, is a survival of the 

 Moorish influence. The Moors left many traces of their influence 

 among the Spaniards, and this round heel-plate is one of them. 

 It does not seem to have lasted so very long in Spain itself, 

 but it was taken to Mexico by Cortes and his followers, and 

 has remained there to the present day. The rowels are many 

 pointed and very large, the sides straight and heavy, and 

 frequently covered with leather. These spurs all are very much 

 alike, and the illustration on Plate 35 is fairly typical of them 

 all. In the more modern Mexican spurs the round heel-plate 



