32 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



took with us five Gauchos, who are active, handy men as a rule. 

 The population of the country is largely composed of Gauchos ; 

 in fact, they form the foundation of Patagonian life. 



They live by the horse, and the horse lives by them. They 

 drive mobs of cattle or of horses for owners across three degrees 

 of latitude to sell them. They have been born in the camp, live 

 in the camp, and will very likely die there also. In Patagonia 

 they treat their horses in a method very different to that which we 

 employ in our crowded country. There nature gives grass, water, 

 and the horse ; man tames the animal as little as possible from his 

 wild state, and forces an alliance with nature. At night the mares 

 are hobbled and the horses turned loose ; while the Gauchos light 

 their camp-fire and drink inatd through the bombilla. 



At the first light next morning they take it in turn to bring in 

 the troop, which they do with an astonishing swiftness. Some- 

 times, of course, the horses "clear," and then it is that the Gauchos 

 in charge find them by tracking. 



In a country intersected by deep canadones, which offer a secure 

 hiding-place in their many hollows, this is a difficult matter. The 

 tracks perhaps run easily through a belt of soft marsh, and then 

 are invisible upon a pampa of shingle and thorn. 



A true Gaucho must be able to do a number of things — to back 

 an untamed colt, to lassoo, to use the boleadores, which are heavy 

 stones attached together by a hide rope, and are to the Patagonian 

 what the boomerang is to the Australian aborigine. He must be 

 able to cook, to make horse-gear from the pelts of beasts, to find 

 his way without a compass from point to point, by instinct as it 

 were. 



The Gaucho shares with the poet the honour of being born, 

 not made. This proves that Gaucho work is Art, with a big A. 

 Take, for instance, the power of driving single-handed a big mob 

 of wild horses and keeping them compact. No one who has not 

 tried it can imagine what heartbreaking work it is to a beginner. 

 One learns to do it after a fashion in time, but never like the man 

 who has been bred to the craft. 



