162 



CHILI. 



with shrubs and young trees, and full of hollow 

 places, and sunk roads, the chace was diversified 

 by many leaps, in which although the poor cow 

 did well at first, the horses, ere long, gained upon 

 her, and the nearest guasso perceiving that he was 

 just within reach, let fly his lasso. The cow was 

 at such a distance that it required the whole 

 length of the rope to reach her, and the noose had 

 become so contracted by the knot slipping up to- 

 wards the end, that it was barely large enough to 

 admit the horns ; had the cow been one foot more 

 in advance, the circle would have become too 

 small, and this feat is considered the perfection of 

 the art. When the rider saw the noose fixed, he 

 stopped and turned his horse, upon which the 

 poor cow, her head nearly wrung off^, was cast to 

 the ground with great violence. The second 

 horseman dashed along, and on passing the cow, 

 instead of throwing his lasso, merely stooped on 

 one side, and laid the noose, which he had con- 

 tracted to a small circle, over her horns. This 

 done, the guassos turned their horses'' heads and 

 trotted back with their unwilling prize, not hav- 



