176 



MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA, WEST INDIES. 



of vaqueros. or " cowboys," each liaAaag in charge hundreds of horned cattle, or else 

 from eight to ten atajos, or over 200 horses. These herdsmen, employed on farms 

 of 10,000, 20,000, or even 30,000 cattle, are, for the most part, Indians or half- 

 castes differing greatly from other Mexicans. They are a half-savage race of 

 " centaurs," who capture the untamed horse or overturn the strongest bull with a 

 throw of the lasso, and whose loves, combats, and heroic adventures are a favourite 

 subject with romance writers. But generations flow on and industries change. 

 Formerly the ox and the horse roamed the prairie like the aurochs or bison, and the 

 cowboys were rather hunters than keepers. After capturing and branding the 



Fig. 7-1. — Chief Ageicultxjeal Pboduce in Mexico. 

 Scale 1 : 30,000,000. 



Tob.icco. 



Maize le-oil^i. 



M ig'iey, Cactus. Cochineal. 



^v 



Baniiias. 



Caoutciiouc. 

 - 620 Miles. 



Forests. Lands little cultivated. 



animil with its owner's initials, they again released it till it had to be recaptured 

 for the shambles, or to be transferred to the dealer. Even the breed of ponies 

 known as miisfangs or knlinos had reverted to the wild state, living in the bush far 

 from running waters, and in summer, when all the meres were dry, slaking their 

 thirst by chewing the thornless cactus. But at present m;my farmers have intro- 

 duced a more orderly system of stock-breeding, develo]3ing new breeds by 

 crossings with European, American, and even Asiatic animals. Thus the Indian 

 zebu and the carahao, or buffalo of the Philippine Islands, have been introduced 

 with good results in the Mexican cattle-farms. The Andalusian horses brought 



