June 4, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
885 
apart from that, it is not easy to see that the 
lasso could have had value without the horse. 
It is the instrument of riders on horseback. 
There were no horses in America, according to 
all who claim to speak with authority, until the 
Spaniards arrived there. The apparition of 
their cavalry was so strange as to strike terror 
into the hearts of the natives, who deemed 
horse and man some fearful composite animal. 
The most skilful artist in the world with the 
lasso is that compound—who shall say what is 
the exact mixture of the ingredients?—of 
Spaniard and Indian that is known as Mexican, 
especially the Mexican of the Southwestern 
States of the Union; but we read of various 
tribes of the Red Indians, probably quite free 
from any infusion of European blood, to whom 
the lasso had become so familiar a weapon, so 
trusted in cases of emergency, that they not 
only used it on the galloping bison and over¬ 
threw him on the prairie, but actually lassoed 
the funnels of the steam engines when the trains 
began to invade their land. It is possible that 
the result may have been to give a little shake 
to their confidence, but their skill in the use of 
the noose has abundant witness. 
The Mexican’s dexterity has to be seen to be 
believed. At full gallop he will send the loop 
to encircle at his will the neck, the horn, the 
leg of the steer blundering along beside him. 
His little horse knows the game as perfectly as 
he does, throwing himself back on his haunches 
into the best possible position to stand the 
shock and the strain which he knows will arrive 
when the rope is drawn tight, of which one end 
is about the steer and the other is fastened to 
the horn of the big Spanish saddle. The horse 
stands firm and the steer tumbles. Sometimes 
the Mexicans will ride down and lasso the 
coyote or the wild turkey, for the turkey likes 
his legs better than his wings as means of loco¬ 
motion, and will seldom fly again after he has 
cnce been flushed and marked down. The 
actual evolution of the lasso may be imagined 
easily—at first a big loop of rope thrown about 
the head of an animal beside which the rider 
galloped, then the free-running noose at the 
end of a single rope. But the accuracy of aim 
with the loop is the wonder. After all, it can¬ 
not be nearly so subtle an affair as the boom¬ 
erang throw, for though perhaps the Mexican 
excels, the white cowboy is nearly, if not quite, 
his match. But the things that a Mexican can 
do with a rope or bit of raw hide are marvelous. 
He will fit a fresh raw hide “riata” around the 
nut of a screw that has stuck, and unscrew it, 
when the hide has hardened, though the white 
mechanic, with his specially-made wrench, has 
failed. You may be told that tale—and it is a 
credible one—by many who have worked on the 
railways in the Mexican Republic. 
The best noose story is a British one. Like 
many of the best stories, it is a ’bus-driver’s 
story, and, like all the best stories, it is an old 
story. ’Bus A and ’bus B were together in a 
block. The driver of ’bus A had the end of his 
whip hitched up into a little noose and kept 
playing with it, putting his finger through it 
and dragging it tight, then loosening it again. 
He also “kept saying nothing” and looking 
nowhere in particular; nevertheless, the driver 
of ’bus B began glaring at him, and his face 
grew more and more crimson, until finally the 
winged words broke forth Homerically, and he 
cursed the player with the noose as only one 
’bus-driver can curse another. Still the driver 
of ’bus A kept saying nothing, and as innocently 
as ever playing with his noose. Then the “fare” 
who sat beside the driver of ’bus A leaned 
forward anck asked him, “What’s the matter 
with that man?” indicating the driver of ’bus B; 
what’s he so angry with you about? You’re 
not doing him any harm.” 
“Matter with ’im?” said the noose-player 
scornfully. “Why, ’e ain’t got no sense o’ 
humor; that’s what’s the matter with ’im. Ts 
father was ’ung.”—Westminster Gazette. 
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