WILD HORSE HUNTING. 



73 



in vain searched " through the forest and o'er 

 the meadows " for several weeks, the grati- 

 fying intelligence arrived, that they had been 

 seen in company with a troop of wild " Cim- 

 arron " horses, which had long infested the 

 neighbouring forests, where they kept close 

 all day, and only went out to the savannahs 

 by night, returning to covert at sunrise. An 

 old " Tigrero" {anglice, panther hunter,) ac- 

 companied me to the ground, and having 

 examined it, and it proving suitable to his 

 views, it was resolved that a party should 

 meet an hour before sunset, to make prepa- 

 rations for a hunt early the next morning. 

 He then marked the most suitable trees on 

 the opposite side from the trail, remarking, 

 that if a 44 Cimarron " horse saw a notch on a 

 tree, he would avoid it. At the appointed 

 time he met our party, and told us he had 

 seen a troop drinking in the great river, and 

 had purposely frightened them to keep them 

 from our preparations. The party then pro- 

 ceeded to fasten the end of a lasso round 

 some suitable strong branch, about twelve 

 feet from the ground; leaving the noose 

 somewhat like a hare or rabbit-wire, but 

 about five feet diameter, and kept open by 

 the surrounding bushes : in like manner, five 



