THE YOUNG 
io make a noose of some six feet in length, 
he grasps the ring with his right hand, 
whirls the noose several times round his 
head and hurls it with unerring aim, sel- 
dom failing in placing it around the 
horse's neck. The noose immediately 
runs up tight, when a dexterous twist 
causes a coil of the lasso to encircle its 
nose, and the interruption of the respira- 
tion which ensues brings the horse to a 
dead halt. The vaquei'o then springs 
from his steed, carefully approaches the 
captured animal, bandages its eyes with 
his handkerchief, and speedily relieves it 
of the pests which would otherwise liter- 
ally devour it. 
Somewhat akin to the lasso is the bolas 
of the Indians of the Pampas, Patagonia, 
and other parts of the great American 
continent. This formidable weapon is 
composed of two thongs formed of several 
strands of raw hide, i3laited together, and 
measuring from four or five to nine feet 
in length. At one extremity of each 
thong is a ball of stone, iron, "or copr)er, 
a.s the case may be, the latter being tlie 
most valuable on account of its superior 
weight, and therefore the smaller size 
which the balls may be made, and the 
consequent greater handiness of the wea- 
pon. When stone is used, the bolas are 
about as large as a cricket-ball, and are 
fashioned with great care by the Indian 
women, the grinding of one stone to a 
circular shape making a good hard day's 
work. The balls are then placed in bags 
of leather, which have a number of holes 
round their mouths, into which the thongs 
are plaited and interlaced, the other ends 
being connected together by a short piece 
of raw hide. The Indian twists the bolas 
round his body in such a way that it can 
be immediately detached when oppor- 
tunity occurs for its use. He then, with 
a preliminary whirl around his head, 
launches it at the mark, be it man or 
beast, and such is tlie dexterity with 
which it is thrown, that he can either 
cause it to slay outright by twisting 
round the neck of the victim and choking 
him or dashing out his brains with the 
heavy balls, or he can content himself 
with simply breaking a limb or merely 
twining the thongs around the body and 
causing the balls to fall in such a way as 
to hamper the movements of the swifest 
animal, and give the hunter time to ap- 
proach and secure it. 
John Chinaman's method of taking- 
ducks is a sample of the ingenuity and 
wiliness which form a staple part of the 
character of the " heathen Chinee." John 
sees a flock of ducks disporting them- 
selves on the surface of tlie river, and, 
getting above stream, cautiously launches 
a gourd from the bank, which is soon car- 
ried into the midst of the feathered 
bipeds. Of course, a vast amount of 
SCIENTIST. 275 
quacking immediately ensues ; but pre- 
.sently the ducks' suspicions are overcome, 
and they allow the successive gourds that 
John sends out to make their way amongst 
them with less and less comment. Now 
is John's opportunity, and, placing over 
his head a gourd, which he has carefully 
hollowed and provided with loopholes for 
looking through, he wades cautiously 
into the stream, and presently is in the 
midst of the feathered convoy, the whole 
of his body being concealed beneath the 
water. The ducks see nothing suspicious 
in the arrival of the new gourd, and one 
after one they are dragged beneath the 
water without a sound, and fastened to 
the girdle of our friend, who in this way 
reaps a splendid harvest. 
The unfortunate duck is made the vic- 
tim of another fraud in swampy fens. 
There, on the broad sheets of water which 
form the distinctive feature of these dis- 
tricts, the trapper builds a long tunnel of 
wicker-work, which is bedaubed with 
clay, half concealed with rushes, and 
made to look as innocent as possible. 
Then he sets afloat two or three care- 
fully-trained decoy ducks, w^hich, getting 
amongst the flock of wild ones, gradually 
lead them to the mouth of the tunnel. 
In this work the decoys are assisted by 
dogs trained to run along the banks, and, 
by their barking, frighten the wild birds, 
and drive them in the required direction. 
Led by the decoys, they are only too glad 
to take refuge in the innocent-looking 
tunnel, but at the other end the hunter is 
waiting for them, and, once within the 
mouth of the deceitful haven, they have 
passed far towards that bourne from 
which no duck returns. 
Here is a plan adopted by the peasants 
on the French side of the Pyrenees for 
the capture of the flocks of birds of pas- 
sage which at certain periods of the year 
pass through the country which the^'^ in- 
habit, and generally for taking all kinds 
of birds that fly in flocks in that part of 
Europe, it is customary for the inhabi- 
tants of the villages to combine together 
to erect a number of tripods, which rise 
to a height superior to that of any of the 
trees in the neighborhood, and on the 
top of each is placed a hunter, ])rovided 
with a sort of kite in the shape of a spar- 
row-hawk. At some considerable dis- 
tance from the tripods are a number of 
nets, suspended between the trees so as 
to form a vertical wall of net- work, rising 
to a height of thirty, forty, fifty, or sixty 
feet and upwards. Upon the ground, in 
a little hut is another hunter, lying at 
full length, and peering through a small 
hole left in the front of his shelter- 
place. As soon as a flock of birds is 
descried, it is allowed to get between the 
line of tripods and the nets, when first 
one hunter and then another launches 
