CHAPTER IX. 



Domestic Animals and their Condition — Indifference on the sub- 

 ject of Horse-breeding— Co^ta^/os de S/i^a— Popularity and 

 Usefulness of the Mule— Mode of harnessing and lading 

 Mules for a Journey — Arrieros and their System— The Mdera 

 or Bell-mare — Surprising feats of: the Muleteers and Vaqueros 

 — The Lazo and its uses — Ridiculous Usages of the country in 

 regard to the Ownership of Animals — Anecdote of a Mexican 

 Colonel — The Burro or domestic ass and its Virtues — Shep- 

 herds and their Habits— The Itinerant Herds of the Plains- 

 Sagacity of the Shepherds' Dogs— The Sheep Trade— Destruc- 

 tion of Cattle by the Indians— Philosophical noiions of the 

 Marauders— Excellent Mutton— Goats and their Utility— Wild 

 Animals and their Character — A * Bear Scrape'— Wol\^es, 

 Panthers, Wild Birds and Reptiles— The Honey-bee, etc. 



Nothing that has come within my sphere 

 of observation in New Mexico, has astonish- 

 ed me more than the httle attention that is 

 paid to the improvement of domestic animals. 

 While other nations have absolutely gone mad 

 in their endeavors to better then breeds of 

 horses, and have ransacked the four quarters 

 of the world for the best blood and purest 

 pedigrees, the New Mexicans, so justly cele- 

 brated for skilful horsemanship, and so much 

 devoted to equestrian exercise, that they have 

 been styled a race of centaurs, leave the 

 propagation of their horses exclusively to 



