Ill THROWING THE BOLAS 47 



the greatest distance. The main difficulty in using either lazo 

 or bolas is to ride so well as to be able at full speed, and while 

 suddenly turning about, to whirl them so steadily round the 

 head, as to take aim : on foot any person would soon learn the 

 art. One day, as I was amusing myself by galloping and 

 whirling the balls round my head, by accident the free one 

 struck a bush ; and its revolving motion being thus destroyed, 

 it immediately fell to the ground, and like magic caught one 

 hind leg of my horse ; the other ball was then jerked out of 

 my hand, and the horse fairly secured. Luckily he was an old 

 practised animal, and knew what it meant ; otherwise he would 

 probably have kicked till he had thrown himself down. The 

 Gauchos roared with laughter ; they cried out that they had 

 seen every sort of animal caught, but had never before seen a 

 man caught by himself. 



During the two succeeding days, I reached the farthest 

 point which I was anxious to examine. The country wore the 

 same aspect, till at last the fine green turf became more weari- 

 some than a dusty turnpike road. We everywhere saw great 

 numbers of partridges (Nothura major). These birds do not 

 go in coveys, nor do they conceal themselves like the English 

 kind. It appears a very silly bird. Alnan on horseback by 

 riding round and round in a circle, or rather in a spire, so as to 

 approach closer each time, may knock on the head as many 

 as he pleases. The more common method is to catch them 

 with a running noose, or little lazo, made of the stem of an 

 ostrich's feather, fastened to the end of a long stick. A boy 

 on a quiet old horse will frequently thus catch thirty or forty 

 in a day. In Arctic North America-^ the Indians catch the 

 Varying Hare by walking spirally round and round it, when 

 on its form : the middle of the day is reckoned the best time, 

 when the sun is high, and the shadow of the hunter not very 

 long. 



On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather a different 

 line of road. Near Pan de Azucar, a landmark well known to 

 all those who have sailed up the Plata, I stayed a day at the 

 house of a most hospitable old Spaniard. Early in the morning 

 we ascended the Sierra de las Animas. By the aid of the 

 rising sun the scenery was almost picturesque. To the west- 



^ YiQdLxno's. Journey^ p. 383. 



