LASSOING HORSES. —MEXICAN PEONAGE. 
19 
At length a boy of fourteen, a Californian, whose graceful riding was the constant subject of 
admiration, piqued by repeated failures, mounted a fresh horse, and, followed by an Indian, 
launched fiercely at the stallion. His lariat darted from his hand with the force and precision 
of a rifle-hall, and rested on the neck of the fugitive. The Indian at the same moment made 
a successful throw ; hut the stallion was too stout for both, and dashed off at full speed, with 
both ropes flying in the air like wings. The perfect representation of Pegasus, he took a sweep, 
and, followed by his pursuers, came thundering down the dry bed of the river. The lazos were 
now trailing on the ground, and the gallant young Spaniard, taking advantage of the circum¬ 
stance, stooped from his flying horse and caught one in his hand. It was the work of a moment 
to make it fast to the pommel of his saddle, and by a short turn of his own horse he threw the 
stallion a complete somerset, and the game was secure. 
We travelled over a sandy plain a few miles, and descended into the wide bed of the Colo¬ 
rado, overgrown thickly with mezquite, willow, and cotton-wood. After making about ten 
miles, we encamped abreast of the ford, on a plateau covered with young willows, of which our 
horses were to lay in a sufficient supply to last them over the desert. Since writing the above 
we have found a good patch of grass, and our people have been ordered to cut a ration for each 
mule to carry along. 
The night was excessively cold and damp, and in the morning our blankets were covered 
with a little dew. For the first time the bugle calls were distinctly reverberated, showing the 
atmospheric change as we approach the coast and descend into the neighborhood of the sea- 
level. In New Mexico, even when surrounded by hills and perpendicular walls, the report of 
fire-arms and the sound of the bugle were unattended with any distinct echo. The reports 
were sharp and unpleasant—not rounded, as here, by the reverberation. 
The country from the Arkansas to this point, more than twelve hundred miles, in its adap¬ 
tation to agriculture, has peculiarities which must forever stamp themselves upon the population 
who inhabit it. All of North Mexico, embracing New Mexico, Chihuahua, Sonora, and the 
Californias, as far north as the Sacramento, is, as far as the best information goes, the same in 
the physical character of its surface, and differs hut little in climate or products. 
In no part of this vast tract can the rains from Heaven he relied upon, to any extent, for the 
cultivation of the soil. The earth is destitute of trees, and in great part also of any vegetation 
whatever. 
A few feeble streams flow in different directions from the great mountains which in many 
places traverse this region. These streams are separated, sometimes by plains, and sometimes 
by mountains, without water and without vegetation, and which may be called deserts, so far as 
they perform any useful part in the sustenance of animal life. The cultivation of the earth is 
therefore confined to those narrow strips of land which are within the level of the waters of 
the streams, and whenever practised in a community with any success, or to any extent, involves 
a degree of subordination and absolute obedience to a chief repugnant to the habits of our 
people. 
The chief, who directs the time and the quantity of the precious irrigating water, must he 
implicitly obeyed by the whole community. A departure from his orders, by the waste of 
water or unjust distribution of it, or neglect to make the proper embankments, may endanger 
the means of subsistence of many people. He must, therefore, be armed with power to punish 
promptly and immediately. 
The profits of labor are too inadequate for the existence of negro slavery. Slavery, as prac¬ 
tised by the Mexicans—under the form of peonage, which enables the master to get the 
services of the adult while in the prime of life, without the obligation of rearing him in 
infancy, supporting him in old age, or maintaining his family—affords no data for estimating 
the profits of slave labor as it exists in the United States. 
No one who has ever visited this country, and whp is acquainted with the character and value 
of slave labor in the United States, would ever think of bringing his own slaves here with any 
