36 OBSERVATIONS OF A RANCH IV OMAN 



Mexican style of horse-racing traceable, of 

 course, directly to Indian manners and cus- 

 toms which is unique. The horses in this 

 section almost invariably possessing some 

 American blood if sufficiently speedy for the 

 Mexican's favourite diversion lend their own 

 beauty to the scene. The wide, dusty road 

 is lined with country waggons, pedestrians, 

 caballeros, chiefly native, every face tense 

 with excitement. The jockeys usually two, 

 or at most three are bare-footed and bare- 

 headed, their loose locks sometimes bound 

 Indian fashion. White cotton drawers and 

 shirts comprise the costume. The frantic 

 steeds rear and plunge, the dark-skinned 

 Mexicans sticking to their bare backs like 

 centaurs. Then, amid the roar of the crowd, 

 away they go, disappearing in a cloud of dust. 

 But anything more unlike the typical caballero 

 can scarcely be conceived of. 



Before quitting this subject of Far Western 

 horsemanship, it may not be out of place to 

 remark that, on first confronting specimens 

 of it in the streets of a large city, it was hard 

 to convince me that the riders were not, one 

 and all, drunk. When affected by women, 



