438 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
every native of the provinces of Chili. It is a very strong, 
plaited thong, of equal thickness, half an inch in diameter, 
and forty feet long, made of strips of green hide, plaited 
like a whip-thong, and rendered supple by grease. It has 
at one end an iron ring, about one inch and a half in dia¬ 
meter, through which the thong is passed and forms a run¬ 
ning noose. 
“ The Guacho, or native Peon, is generally mounted on 
horseback when he uses the lasso. One end of the thong 
being affixed to his saddle-girth, the remainder he coils care¬ 
fully in his left hand, leaving about twelve feet, belonging to 
the noose end, in a coil, half of which he holds in his right 
hand. He then swings this loose 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 project it the whole length of the line.” 
The Guacho takes a wild horse by first mounting an 
animal which has been accustomed to the sport, and gallops 
over the plain in the direction where the herd of wild 
horses are, and, circling round, by degrees gets near to one 
of them : and as soon as he has approached sufficiently 
near, “ the lasso is thrown round the two hind legs, and as 
the Guacho rides round a little on one side, the jerk pulls 
the entangled horse’s feet laterally, so as to throw him on 
his side, without endangering his knees or face. Before the 
horse can recover the shock, the rider dismounts, and 
snatching his cloak from his shoulders, wraps it round the 
prostrate animal’s head. He then forces into his mouth 
one of the powerful bridles of the country, straps a saddle 
on his back, and bestriding him, removes the cloak ; upon 
which the astonished horse springs on his legs, and endea¬ 
vours by a thousand vain efforts to disencumber himself 01 
his new master, who sits quite composedly on his back, and 
