282 



HA WAIL 



[letter xxx. 



they bask in the sun, though spasmodically and under excite- 

 ment they are capable of tremendous exertions in canoeing, 

 surf-riding, and lassoing cattle. 



While down below I joined three natives for the purpose of 

 seeing this last sport. They all rode shod horses, and had 

 lassoes of ox-hide attached to the horns of their saddles. I sat 

 for an hour on horseback on a rocky hill while they hunted the 

 woods ■ then I heard the deep voices of bulls, and a great 

 burst of cattle appeared, with hunters in pursuit, but the herd 

 vanished over a dip of the hill side, and the natives joined me. 

 By this time I wished myself safely at home, partly because my 

 unshod horse was not fit for galloping over lava and rough 

 ground, and I asked the men where I should stay to be out'of 

 danger. The leader replied, « Oh, just keep close behind 

 me ! " I had thought of some safe view-point, not of galloping 

 -on an unshod horse with a ruck of half-maddened cattle, but it 

 was the safest plan, and there was no time to be lost, for as we 

 rode slowly down, we sighted the herd dodging across the 

 open to regain the shelter of the wood, and much on the 

 alert. 



_ Putting our horses into a gallop we dashed down the hill 

 till we were close up with the chase ; then another tremendous 

 gallop, and a brief wild rush, the grass shaking with the surge 

 ■of cattle and horses. There was much whirling of tails and 

 .tearing up of the earth — a lasso spun three or four times round 

 the head of the native who rode in front of me, and almost 

 simultaneously a fine red bullock lay prostrate on the earth, 

 nearly strangled, with his foreleg noosed to his throat. The 

 other natives dismounted, and put two lassoes round his horns, 

 slipping the first into the same position, and vaulted into their 

 saddles before he was on his legs. 



He got up, shook himself, put his head down, and made a 

 blind rush, but his captors were too dexterous for him, and in 

 that and each succeeding rush he was foiled. As he tore 

 wildly from side to side, the natives dodged under the lasso, 

 slipping it over their heads, and swung themselves over their 

 saddles, hanging in one stirrup, to aid their trained horses to 

 steady themselves as the bullock tugged violently against them. 

 He was escorted thus for a mile, his strength failing with each 

 useless effort, his tongue hanging out, blood and foam dropping 

 from his mouth and nostrils, his flanks covered with foam and 

 sweat, till blind and staggering, he was led to a tree, wmere he 

 was at once stabbed, and two hours afterwards a part of him 



