although not larger than an apple, they are sent with such force as
sometimes to break the leg even of a horse. I have seen the balls made
of wood, and as large as a turnip, for the sake of catching these
animals without injuring them. The balls are sometimes made of iron,
and these can be hurled to the greatest distance. The main difficulty
in using either lazo or bolas is to ride so well as to be able at full
speed, and while suddenly turning about, to whirl them so steadily
round the head, as to take aim: on foot any person would soon learn the
art. One day, as I was amusing myself by galloping and whirling the
balls round my head, by accident the free one struck a bush, and its
revolving motion being thus destroyed, it immediately fell to the
ground, and, like magic, caught one hind leg of my horse; the other
ball was then jerked out of my hand, and the horse fairly secured.
Luckily he was an old practised animal, and knew what it meant;
otherwise he would probably have kicked till he had thrown himself
down. The Gauchos roared with laughter; they cried out that they had
seen every sort of animal caught, but had never before seen a man
caught by himself.
During the two succeeding days, I reached the furthest point which I
was anxious to examine. The country wore the same aspect, till at last
the fine green turf became more wearisome than a dusty turnpike road.
We everywhere saw great numbers of partridges (Nothura major). These
birds do not go in coveys, nor do they conceal themselves like the
English kind. It appears a very silly bird. A man on horseback by
riding round and round in a circle, or rather in a spire, so as to
approach closer each time, may knock on the head as many as he pleases.
The more common method is to catch them with a running noose, or little
lazo, made of the stem of an ostrich's feather, fastened to the end of
a long stick. A boy on a quiet old horse will frequently thus catch
thirty or forty in a day. In Arctic North America [1] the Indians
catch the Varying Hare by walking spirally round and round it, when on
its form: the middle of the day is reckoned the best time, when the sun
is high, and the shadow of the hunter not very long.
On our return to Maldonado, we followed rather a different line of
road. Near Pan de Azucar, a landmark well known to all those who have
sailed up the Plata, I stayed a day at the house of a most hospitable
old Spaniard. Early in the morning we ascended the Sierra de las
Animas. By the aid of the rising sun the scenery was almost
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