70 CENTRAL AMERICA. 



follows : — first the leader, then the animal, 

 and behind another hunter bearing such a 

 press and weight on the bull as to keep him 

 from charging in front, or performing any 

 other eccentric movement. The partial con- 

 finement of one leg, together with the ex- 

 haustion produced by such a hot gallop, made 

 the bull submit to his fate with a sullen 

 resignation. Not so the black cow ; she was 

 thin and in good running condition, and 

 as they had not tied her leg up she was erect 

 and looked like a great black spider in the 

 centre of a net, as there were half a dozen 

 lassos at least diverging from her to the 

 horses'* tails. No person would approach her, 

 and they did not seem to know the process 

 used in South America on like occasions. 

 The way is, to lasso the animal over the 

 hind-quarters, and making it move, get the 

 hind-legs within the noose of the lasso ; when 

 riding off at a sharp gallop will throw the 

 animal a heavy fall. The cow was thrown 

 w^ith great violence, and a hind-leg tied to 

 her single horn and broken stump before she 

 had recovered from her second fall ; she was 

 also tethered to a horse's tail, and an Indian 

 behind her, keeping her back ; her leg was 

 then just so far liberated as to allow her 



