The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955 Page: 205
650 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Horsemen and Brothers
sheepskin. It served also as a bed, for its components could be
spread out as a mattress upon which the gaucho slept rolled up
in his poncho. As it had no horn, the end of the reata was tied
fast to the surcingle ring.
The llaneros of Venezuela had a different method. Their gear
was so poor and rotten it could not be trusted to bear the strain
of roping, so they braided the end of their reata into the horse's
tail, and let the animal stand the shock.
The South Americans antedated us in the cattle business by
some hundreds of years for, by the seventeenth century, wild stock
had increased so quickly on the pampas that big expeditions were
organized to hunt them for their hides and tallow. These outfits
often had remudas of as many as a thousand head and were
accompanied by mile-long trains of lumbering ox-carts, each sus-
pended on two groaning wooden wheels, nine feet in diameter.
When a herd was sighted, the mounted gauchos pursued them
and hamstrung as many cattle as they could with their facones-
long knives that every gaucho carried stuck in the back of his
belt, just as our punchers wore six-shooters. After as many cattle
were crippled as possible, the riders returned to slit their throats
at leisure, skin them, and try out the tallow.
During these long excursions, often lasting six months to a
year, almost the only amusements were emu hunts. The riders
fanned out in a large circle and, closing in, drove the big birds
to a central spot. Finally, in a last fast dash, they swung their
boleadoras, a weapon inherited from pre-Columbian Indians, and
launched them at the fleeing emus. Then, dismounting, they tore
out the tail feathers to sell to Europe, where they were popular.
When, after months of this strenuous labor, the ox-carts were
stuffed with all the fat, feathers, and hides they could carry, the
expedition began its long, dangerous trek back to civilization,
and was frequently forced to fight off Indian attacks.
The gaucho, who more often than not had a strain of Indian
blood, was a man of iron and rawhide, fearless, almost indestruct-
ible, and a superb horseman. Even his games tended to increase
his skill and hardihood. One of them, called "Pato" (the duck),
became so rough, and so many contestants, as well as bystanders,
were killed, that it was banned by law.
Their most daring stunt was the Salto de la Maroma, which haso205
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 58, July 1954 - April, 1955, periodical, 1955; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101158/m1/246/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.