they were tanned white and cut with a deep cuff or gauntlet from which
hung a little fringe to flutter in the wind when he rode at full speed
on horseback.

The cowboy's hat was one of the typical and striking features of his
costumes. It was a heavy, wide, white felt hat with a heavy leather
band buckled about it. There has been no other head covering devised so
suitable as the Stetson for the uses of the Plains, although high and
heavy black hats have in part supplanted it today among stockmen. The
boardlike felt was practically indestructible. The brim flapped a little
and, in time, was turned up and perhaps held fast to the crown by a
thong. The wearer might sometimes stiffen the brim by passing a thong
through a series of holes pierced through the outer edge. He could
depend upon his hat in all weathers. In the rain it was an umbrella; in
the sun a shield; in the winter he could tie it down about his ears with
his handkerchief.

Loosely thrown about the cowboy's shirt collar was a silk kerchief. It
was tied in a hard knot in front, and though it could scarcely be said
to be devoted to the uses of a neck scarf, yet it was a great comfort to
the back of the neck when one was riding in a hot wind. It was sure to
be of some bright color, usually red. Modern would-be cowpunchers do not
willingly let this old kerchief die, and right often they over-play it.
For the cowboy of the "movies," however, let us register an unqualified
contempt. The real range would never have been safe for him.

A peculiar and distinctive feature of the cowboy's costume was his
"chaps" (chaparejos). The chaps were two very wide and full-length
trouser-legs made of heavy calfskin and connected by a narrow belt
or strap. They were cut away entirely at front and back so that they
covered only the thigh and lower legs and did not heat the body as
a complete leather garment would. They were intended solely as a
protection against branches, thorns, briers, and the like, but they were
prized in cold or wet weather. Sometimes there was seen, more often on
the southern range, a cowboy wearing chaps made of skins tanned with
the hair on; for the cowboy of the Southwest early learned that goatskin
left with the hair on would turn the cactus thorns better than any other
material. Later, the chaps became a sort of affectation on the part of
new men on the range; but the old-time cowboy wore them for use, not as
a uniform. In hot weather he laid them off.