re brought together by being passed through a ring, to which the long
riding-whip is also fastened. The head-band and reins are commonly
composed of narrow slips of untanned calf or sheep-skin, plaited
together, and ornamented with silver buckles. The saddle is short and
narrow, and exceedingly awkward to riders unaccustomed to it. The front
bolster is four or five inches high, and inclines backward; the hind one
is lower, and is curved forward in the form of a half-moon; the
intervening space just affording sufficient room for the thighs of the
rider, who, in a saddle of this construction, is so firmly fixed that he
cannot possibly fall. These saddles have, however, one great
disadvantage, viz., that if the horse starts off at a gallop, and the
rider has not time to throw himself back in his seat, he is forced
against the front saddle-bolster with such violence that some fatal
injury is usually the consequence. Under the saddle is laid a
horse-cloth, called the _pellon_, about a yard long, and a yard and a
half wide. The common sort of pellones are composed of two rough
sheep-skins, sewed together. In the finer kind, the raw wool is combed
out, and divided into numberless little twists, of about the length of
one's finger; so that the pellon resembles the skin of some
long-haired animal. The finest Peruvian pellones are made of a mixture
of sheep's wool and goat's hair. Between the saddle and the pellon are
fastened the saddle-bags (_alforjas_), which, on long journeys, are
filled with provisions and other necessaries. These bags are made
either of leather or strong woollen cloth; finally, the trappings of a
Peruvian horse are not complete without the halter (_haquima_), which
is ornamented in the same manner as the bridle. The halter-strap
(_cabresto_) is wound round the front bolster of the saddle, and by it
the horse may be fastened whenever the rider alights, without the use
of the reins for that purpose. At first a foreigner is apt to regard
the equipments of a Peruvian horse as superfluous and burthensome; but
he is soon convinced of their utility, and, when the eye becomes
familiar to them, they have a pleasing effect.

The pure-bred Peruvian horse is more elegantly formed than his
Andalusian progenitor. He is of middling size, seldom exceeding
fourteen hands high. He has a strong expanded chest, slender legs,
thin pasterns, a short muscular neck, a rather large head, small
pointed ears, and a fiery eye. He is s