WILD HORSE HUNTING. 75 



itself, and soon made his appearance close to 

 the head of the supposed terrific animal, laugh- 

 ing very heartily, and called me to advance, 

 leading his horse ; both horses evinced much 

 aversion, and no wonder, for we found out 

 afterwards that a party of Indians had killed 

 three boas the evening before near the same 

 spot, and, dragging them into the path, had 

 pegged them head to tail in one long line, 

 and a formidable length the three united 

 appeared in the pale light. We were both 

 astonished at our horses being alarmed, as it 

 was the only instance we had either of us 

 ever seen of a horse being frightened at any 

 snake : a dog, likewise, is devoid of that fear. 



But, to return to our horse-hunt. We met 

 early at the same spot as overnight, and on 

 inspecting the trails, lassos, and banks of the 

 river, found everything undisturbed, and that 

 no animal had been near the spot ; so we 

 started for a savannah about four or five 

 miles distant, where we were assured that we 

 should either find the troop grazing, or recent 

 traces of them. 



It was of little importance their being ap- 

 proached up or down wind, as the object was 

 to drive them rapidly towards the river passes, 

 where the nooses were prepared for them ; 



