1832-3. 



LAZO AND BOLAS. 



51 



of wood, and as large as a turnip, for the sake of catching 

 these animals without injuring them. The balls are some- 

 times made of iron, and these can be hurled to the greatest 

 distance. The main difficulty in using either lazo or bolas, 

 is to ride so well, as to be able at full speed, and while sud- 

 denly turning about, to whirl them so steadily round the 

 head, as to take aim : on foot any person would soon learn 

 the art. One day, as I was amusing myself by galloping and 

 whirling the balls round my head, by accident the free one 

 struck a bush ; and its revolving motion being thus destroyed, 

 it immediately fell to the ground, and like magic caught one 

 hind leg of my horse ; the other ball was then jerked out of 

 my hand, and the horse fairly secured. I^uckily he vms, an old 

 practised animal, and knew what it meant ; otherwise he 

 would probably have kicked till he had thrown himself down. 

 The Gauchos roared with laughter ; they cried they had seen 

 every sort of animal caught, but had never before seen a 

 man caught by himself. 



During the two succeeding days, I reached the furthest 

 point which I was anxious to examine. The country wore 

 the same aspect, till at last the fine green turf became more 

 wearisome than a dusty turnpike road. We every where 

 saw great numbers of partridges {Tinamus rufescens). These 

 birds do not go in coveys, nor do they conceal themselves 

 like the English kind. It appears a very silly bird. A man 

 on horseback by riding round and round in a circle, or rather 

 in a spire, so as to approach closer each time, may knock on the 

 head as many as he pleases. The more common method is 

 to catch them with a running noose, or little lazo, made of 

 the stem of an ostriches feather, fastened to the end of a 

 long stick. A boy on a quiet old horse will frequently thus 

 catch thirty or forty in a day. The flesh of this bird, when 

 cooked, is delicately white. 



On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather a difi'er- 

 ent line of road. Near Pan de Azucar, a landmark well 

 known to all those who have sailed up the Plata, I stayed a 

 day at the house of a most hospitable old Spaniard. Early 



