ve
them to languish in torment till next day, from an opinion that the
lengthened anguish bursts the lymphatics, and thereby facilitates the
separation of the skin from the carcass. Their priests have loudly
condemned this most barbarous practice, and have even gone so far, if
my memory do not deceive me, as to excommunicate such as persist to
follow it, yet all their efforts to put an entire stop to it have
hitherto proved ineffectual.

Besides great numbers of cattle which are slaughtered every year in
this manner, for their hides and tallow, it is often necessary, for
the uses of agriculture, and for other purposes, to catch them alive,
and without wounding them. This is performed with a most wonderful
and most incredible dexterity, chiefly by means of an implement or
contrivance which the English who have resided at Buenos Ayres usually
denominate a lash. This consists of a very strong thong of raw hide,
several fathoms in length, with a running noose at one end. This the
hunter, who is on horseback, takes in his right hand, being properly
coiled up, and the other end fastened to the saddle: Thus prepared,
the hunters ride at a herd of cattle, and when arrived within a
certain distance of a beast, they throw their thong at him with such
exactness, that they never fail to fix the noose about his horns.
Finding himself thus entangled, the beast usually endeavours to run
away, but the hunter attends his motions, and the horse being swifter,
the thong is prevented from being so much straitened as to break, till
another hunter throws another noose about one of his hind-legs. When
this is done, the horses being trained to the sport, instantly turn in
opposite directions, straining the two thongs contrary ways, by which
the beast is overthrown. The horses then stop, keeping both thongs
on the stretch, so that the beast remains on the ground incapable of
resistance; and the two hunters alight from their horses and secure
the beast in such a manner that they afterwards easily convey him to
wherever they please.

They catch horses by means of similar nooses, and are even said to
catch tigers in the same manner, which, however strange it may appear,
is asserted by persons of credit. It must be owned, indeed, that the
address both of Spaniards and Indians in this part of the world, in
the use of this lash or noose, and the certainty with which they throw
and fix it on any intended part of a beast, even at a considerable
dist