AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
3 
by the spur, it is interesting to see the groups of wild 
Horses one passes. The mares, which are never ridden in 
South America, seem not to understand what makes the 
poor Horse carry his head so low, and look so weary.* 
The little innocent colts come running to meet him, and 
then start away frightened: while the old Horses, whose 
white marks on the flanks and backs betray their acquaint- 
ance with the spur and saddle, walk slowly away for some 
distance, then, breaking into a trot as they seek their 
safety, snort and look behind them, first with one eye 
and then with the other, turning their nose from right to 
left, and carrying their long tail high in the air.” 
The same pleasing writer describes the system of horse- 
management among the rude inhabitants of the plains of 
South America. They have no stables, no fenced pastures. 
One Horse is usually kept tied at the door of the hut, fed 
scantily at night on maize; or at other times several may 
be enclosed in the corral , which is a circular space sur- 
rounded by rough posts, driven firmly into the ground. 
The mares are never ridden, or attempted to be tamed, but 
wander with their foals wherever they please. 
When the Gaucho, the native inhabitants of the plains, 
wants horses for himself or for the supply of the traveller, 
he either goes with his lasso to the corral , and selects 
those, possibly, who on the preceding day had for the first 
time been backed, or he scampers across the plain, and 
presently returns with an unwilling, struggling, or sub- 
dued captive. When the services of the animals have 
been exacted, he either takes them to the corral , and feeds 
them with a small quantity of maize, if he thinks he shall 
presently need them again, or he once more turns them 
loose on the plains. 
Travellers give some amusing accounts of the manner in 
which all this is effected — Miers thus describes the lasso, 
simple in its construction, but all-powerful in the hands of 
the Gaucho. 
“The Lasso is a missile weapon used by every native 
of the United Provinces and Chile. It is a very strong 
plaited thong of equal thickness, half an inch in diameter, 
and forty feet long; made of many strips of green hide, 
plaited like a whipthong, and rendered supple by grease. 
It has, at one end, an iron ring above an inch and a half 
in diameter, through which the thong is passed, and this 
forms a running noose. The Gaucho, or native Peon, is 
generally mounted on horseback when he uses the lasso. 
One end of the thong is affixed to his saddle girth: the 
* An Englishman once attempted to ride a mare, but he was hooted 
and pelted by the natives, and thought himself fortunate to escape 
without serious injury. 
Sir John Carr, in his Northern Summer, p. 44, states that it is only 
a short time since mares began to be ridden in Russia. 
remainder he coils carefully in his left hand, leaving about 
twelve feet belonging to the noose-end, in a coil, and a half 
of which he holds in his right hand. He then swings 
this long noose horizontally round his head, the weight of 
the iron ring at the end of the noose assisting in giving to 
it, by a continued circular motion, a sufficient force to pro- 
ject it the whole length of the line.” 
When the Gauchos wish to have a grand breaking-in, 
they drive a whole herd of wild horses into the corral. 
“ The corral was quite full of Horses,” says Captain Head, 
“most of which were young ones about two or three years 
old. The capitaz (chief Gaucho,) mounted on a strong steady 
Horse, rode into the corral and threw his lasso over the neck 
of a young Horse, and dragged him to the gate. For some 
time hewasveryunwillingto leave his comrades; but the mo- 
ment he was forced out of the corral, his first idea was to gallop 
away: however a timely jerk of the lasso checked him in 
the most effectual way. The peons now ran after him on 
foot, and threw a lasso over his fore-legs just above the 
fetlock, and twitching it, they pulled his legs from under 
him so suddenly, that I really thought the fall he got had 
killed him. In an instant a Gaucho was seated on his 
head, and with his long knife, and in a few seconds, cut 
off the whole of the Horse’s mane, while another cut the 
hair from the end of his tail. This they told me was a 
mark that the Horse had been once mounted. They then 
put a piece of hide into his mouth to serve for a bit, and a 
strong hide halter on his head. The Gaucho who was to 
mount, arranged his spurs, which were unusually long and 
sharp,* and while two men held the Horse by his ears, he 
put on the saddle, which he girthed extremely tight. He 
then caught hold of the Horse’s ear, and in an instant 
vaulted into the saddle; upon which the man who held the 
Horse by the halter threw the end to the rider, and from that 
moment no one seemed to take any further notice of him. 
“ The Horse instantly began to jump in a manner which 
made it very difficult for the rider to keep his seat, and 
quite different from the kick or plunge of an English 
Horse: however, the Gaucho ’s spurs soon set him going, 
and off he galloped doing everything in his power to throw 
his rider. 
• The manufacture of the Gaucho’s boots is somewhat singular. 
“The boots of the Gauchos are formed of the ham and part of the leg- 
skin of a colt taken reeking from the mother, which is said to be sacri- 
ficed for the sole purpose, just at the time of bearing when the hair 
has not begun to grow. At this stage, the skin strips off easily, and 
is very white and beautiful in texture and appearance. The ham 
forms the calf of the boot; the hock easily adopts itself to the heel, 
and the leg above the fetlock constitutes the foot; the whole making 
a neat and elegant half-boot, with an aperture sufficient for the great 
toe, to project through.” — Andrew’s Journey in South America, vol. i, 
p. 26. 
