272 



GAUCHOS. 



practising with a string and a noose, on a 

 chicken or a puppy, until of strength to pur- 

 sue, on horseback, the bull and the ostrich. 

 In short, their feats of horsemanship, and the 

 activity and strength they display with the lasso, 

 when mounted, can hardly be surpassed. 



Home has, for them, few pleasures. It is on 

 the plain, when armed with his knife and his 

 bolas* for catching ostriches, that the indolence 

 of the gaucho is thrown aside, and his physical 

 energies developed. The wars which the pro- 

 vinces carry on with the Indians, as well as 

 with each other, make him always a soldier. 

 His spirit is now excited by civil contests, as 

 well as by a never-ending war with the com- 

 mon foe. 



But it is only those inhabitants of the plain in 



* Three balls attached to as many separate thongs 

 united near the hand. 



