CUAP. IX.] WILD HORSES. 191 
Lim and render him for the future harmless. It was very inter- 
esting to see how art completely mastered force. One lazo was 
thrown over his horns as he rushed at the horse, and another 
round his hind legs: in a minute the monster was stretched 
powerless on the ground. After the lazo has once been drawn 
tightly round the horns of a furious animal, it does not at first 
appear an easy thing to disengage it again without killing the 
beast ; nor, I apprehend, would it be so if the man was by him- 
self. By the aid, however, of a second person throwing his lazo 
so as to catch both hind legs, it is quickly matiaged: for the 
animal, as long as its hind legs are kept outstretched, is quite 
helpless, and the first man can with his hands loosen his lazo from 
the horns, and then quietly mount his horse; but the moment 
the second man, by backing ever so little, relaxes the strain, the 
lazo slips off the legs of the struggling beast, which then rises 
free, shakes himself, and vainly rushes at his antagonist. 
During our whole ride we saw only one troop of wild horses. 
These animals, as well as the cattle, were introduced by the 
French in 1764, since which time both have greatly increased. 
It is a curious fact, that the horses have never left the eastern 
end of the island, although there is no natural boundary to pre- 
vent them from roaming, and that part of the island is not more 
tempting than the rest. The Gauchos whom I asked, though 
asserting this to be the case, were unable to account for it, ex- 
cept from the strong attachment which horses have to any loca- 
lity to which they are accustomed. Considering that the island 
does not appear fully stocked, and that there are no beasts of 
prey, I was particularly curious to know what has checked their 
originally rapid increase. That in a limited island some check 
wonld sooner or later supervene, is inevitable; but why has 
the increase of the horse been checked sooner than that of the 
cattle? Capt. Sulivan has taken much pains for me in this 
inquiry. The Gauchos employed here attribute it chiefly to 
ihe stallions constantly roaming from place to place, and com- 
pelling the mares to accompany them, whether or not the young 
foals are able to follow. One Gaucho told Capt. Sulivan that 
he'had watched a stallion for a whole hour, violently kicking 
and biting a mare till he forced her to leave her foal to its fate. 
Capt. Sulivan can so far corroborate this curious account, that 
