412 UNGULATA. 



and the new-comers saw, to their astonishment, that the neighborhood 

 was swarming with wild horses. The descendants of these Spanish 

 derelicts are now spread in every part of the pampas, and have been 

 seen in troops of ten thousand. They possess much of the form of the 

 Spanish horse, but are not speedy : they are capable of enduring im- 

 mense fatigue, and are frequently ridden sixty or seventy miles without 

 drawing bit, while they have been known to be urged on by the cruel 

 spur of the Gauchos more than a hundred miles a day, at the rate of 

 twelve miles an hour. They know no pace between the walk and the 

 gallop, and at the end of the day's journey are turned loose on the plains. 

 The mares are never ridden, and when the Gaucho or native Indian 

 of the South American plains wants a horse, he sets out armed with 

 his lasso, mounted on a horse that has been used to the work. He 

 gallops alongside a troop of the wild horses, and as soon as he comes 

 sufficiently near his prey, the lasso is thrown round the two hind-legs, 

 and as the Gaucho rides a little on one side, the jerk pulls the entangled 

 horse's feet laterally, and throws him on his side, without endangering 

 his knees or his face. Before the horse can recover the shock, the rider 

 dismounts, and snatching his poncho or cloak from his shoulders, wraps it 

 round the prostrate animal's head. He then forces into his mouth one 

 of the powerful bridles of the country, straps a saddle on his back, 

 and bestriding him, removes the poncho ; upon which the astonished 

 horse springs on his legs, and endeavors by a thousand vain efforts to 

 disencumber himself of his new master, who sits quite composedly 

 on his back, and, by a discipline which never fails, reduces the horse 

 to such complete obedience, that he is soon trained to lend his whole 

 speed and strength to the capture of his companions. 



When the Gauchos have a grand breaking-in, a whole herd is driven 

 into the corral. A young horse is lassoed by the neck and dragged out; 

 some men on foot lasso his fore-legs and throw him ; in an instant a 

 Gaucho is seated on his head, and, with his long knife, in a few seconds 

 cuts off the whole of the horse's mane, while another cuts the hair from 

 the end of his tail : this is a mark that the horse has been once mounted. 

 They then put a piece of hide into his mouth to serve for a bit, and a 

 Strong hide halter on his head. The Gaucho who is to mount arranges 

 his spurs, which are unusually long and sharp, and while two men hold 

 the horse by his ears, he puts on the saddle, which he girths extremely 

 tight. He then catches hold of the horse's ear, and in an instant vaults 



