90 



BUENOS AYRES. 



Their ridings though less wonderful, I am 

 told, than the Indian horsemanship, is ex- 

 ceedingly beautiful. Their activity in getting 

 free from the horse when he falls is quite 

 astonishing. They always contrive to alight 

 on their legs, and consider it quite a disgrace 

 to come to the ground in any other way, 

 whatever may be the pace of the horse or 

 the nature of the accident. They will play 

 all sorts of schoolboy antics on horseback, 

 though on foot they are always dull and in- 

 dolent. 



Two gaucho boys will gallop over the plain as 

 fast as their horses can go, the one holding the 

 tail of the other's horse with both hands, 

 turning his companion to the right or left, as 

 if he were steering a boat with a rudder — both 

 clinging, like monkeys, to their saddles. 



Not at any time of an over-mild disposition, 



