THE BtlRKO. . 187 



to lose his prize, started immediately for the 

 alcalde, in hopes of inducing that functionary 

 to lend Mm the aid 06 the law ; but during 

 his absence I caused the shoulder of the ani- 

 mal to be shorn, so that the venia became dis- 

 tinctly visible. ' As soon as the discovery was 

 made known to the colonel and his judge, 

 they made a precipitate exit, as though con- 

 scious of detected fraud. 

 . But while I fully acknowledge the preten- 

 sions of the mule, as an animal of general 



I 



meek and unostentatious mem 



ber of the brute family 



as it is famiharly called by the natives, el burro. 

 This docile creature is here emjAatically the 

 ' poor man's friend,' beino: turned to an infi- 

 nite variety of uses, and always submissive 

 under the heaviest burdens. He is not only 

 wiade to carry his master's grain, his fuel, his 

 "^ater, and liis luggage, but his wife and his 

 children. Frequently the whole family is 

 stowed away together upon one diminutive 

 donkey. In fact, the chief riding animal of 

 Jlie peasant is the lurro, upon which saddle, 

 bridle, or halter, is seldom used. The rider, 

 seated astride his haunches instead of his 

 hack, guides the docile beast with a bludgeon 

 ^vhich he carries in his hand. 



Nothing, perhaps, has been more system- 

 atically attended to in New Mexico than the 

 raismg of sheep. When the territoiy was at 

 ^e zenith of its prosperity, ranchos were to be 

 i^et with upon the borders of every stream, 



