i6o 
BANDA ORIENTAL 
CHAP. 
meat, and as soon as it is given him, he skulks away as if 
ashamed of himself. On these occasions the house-dogs are 
very tyrannical, and the least of them will attack and pursue 
the stranger. The minute, however, the latter has reached the 
flock, he turns round and begins to bark, and then all the 
house-dogs take very quickly to their heels. In a similar 
manner a whole pack of the hungry wild dogs will scarcely 
ever (and I was told by some never) venture to attack a flock 
guarded by even one of these faithful shepherds. The whole 
account appears to me a curious instance of the pliability of 
the affections in the dog ; and yet, whether wild or however 
educated, he has a feeling of respect or fear for those that are 
fulfilling their instinct of association. For we can understand 
on no principle the wild dogs being driven away by the single 
one with its flock, except that they consider, from some con¬ 
fused notion, that the one thus associated gains power, as if in 
company with its own kind. F. Cuvier has observed that all 
animals that readily enter into domestication consider man as 
a member of their own society, and thus fulfil their instinct of 
association. In the above case the shepherd-dog ranks the 
sheep as its fellow-brethren, and thus gains confidence ; and 
the wild dogs, though knowing that the individual sheep are 
not dogs, but are good to eat, yet partly consent to this view 
when seeing them in a flock with a shepherd-dog at their 
head. 
One evening a “ domidor (a subduer of horses) came for 
the purpose of breaking-in some colts. I will describe the 
preparatory steps, for I believe they have not been mentioned 
by other travellers. A troop of wild young horses is driven 
into the corral, or large enclosure of stakes, and the door is 
shut. We will suppose that one man alone has to catch and 
mount a horse, which as yet had never felt bridle or saddle. I 
conceive, except by a Gaucho, such a feat would be utterly 
impracticable. The Gaucho picks out a full-grown colt ; and 
as the beast rushes round the circus, he throws his lazo so as 
to catch both the front legs. Instantly the horse rolls over 
with a heavy shock, and whilst struggling on the ground, the 
Gaucho, holding the lazo tight, makes a circle, so as to catch 
one of the hind legs, just beneath the fetlock, and draws it close 
to the two front legs: he then hitches the lazo, so that the 
