Arizona republican., 1896-12-15
A MEXICAN RODEO.
An Affair Involving Time, Noise, Pro-
 fanity and Mescal.

1 ldC6ly WlLuoSSou d M0AlCdH lOuco, which is always a more or less tragic affair. The Mexican seldom permits himself to be wrought into state of tense excitement, but on the occasion i of a rodeo he lays his national calm 1 and restfulness aside and enters into the business with vim which sur prises the northern cowboy and in spires him with disgust.
 The work of the Mexican vaQuero, | though pursued with fury, is not very l systematic, so that a great deal more time is consumed than is really neces- sary. The rodeo that I saw was at Sasah1, a Mexican customs post live miles south of La Osa. The cattle had, in fact, been rounded up the night before, so that nothing remained to be done but to "part them out,' as they say in the south, or to ''cut them out, in the language of the northwestern cowboy. But under Mexican management the parting out of the cattle is feature of the rodeo which involves much time and threatens disaster.
 Between 800 and 1000 head of cat tie were gathered on a flat of several hundred acres, to be divided into twp general lots, each including several brands. The night before fifty va queros had camped about the herd and had beguiled the monotony of the darkness by frequent visits to an adjacent mescal emporium.
 Mescal is an alcoholic stimulant not commonly understood and generally misrepresented. It is less fervid and potent than whiskey. A peculiar1ty about it is that the more one drinks of it over night the greater the necessity for more is apparent in the morning. so that an endless chain of inebriety is easily established, and is only broken when pesos and realeS are no more. In this respect it is something like friendship.
 The price of mescal in Mexico, though, brings it within range Of all classes, from the presidente to the peon, so that drunk easily becomes continuous and indefinite.
 This observation upon mescal will explain why this rodeo was invested with an additional source of interest and excitement.
 The ceremony was begun by Mexl- can dashing into the herd and return ing a moment later with calf drag eing at the end of the riata. It was ear-marked, branded and turned back into the herd. This was continued un- til all calves and mavericks had been invested with symptoms of ownership Then they had to be worked over
 +lo h11c nf art ing out began. But notwithstanding his lack of system, the Mexican IS fal more expert than the American COW boy in the use of his riata and the management of his horse.
 Now the play grew furious. Sixt! or seventy vaqueros established a cor don about the herd and a dozen other dashed into it. The cattle destined flo one lot were permitted to pass the cor don. Sometimes a maddened steer O an inexperienced calf would break tn line. and then race would begin, al ways ending with the overthrow an return of the animal, sometimes wit his horns knocked off by the violenc of his fall, which was frequentl brought about by the tailing process poTlOTIu0u Ouly Uy dll OAp0ie'
 When horse became exhausted b the exercise his owner gave him res by riding him to the cantina where h. not the horse, passed an hour or tW in the absorption of mescal- The pro prietor of the cantina told me that rodeo in that vicinity was worth to hi1 daily a sum equal to the profit on te gallons of mescal.
 In the afternoon the herd had nt been apparently diminished but
 could not see much of it for 1t was el veloped in sea of yellow dust
 could hear only the trample of horse the treble of bawling calves, the s prano of cows and steers and the ba of bulls. There was the whistling , sriatas in this whirlwind of dust aI noise, punctuated by the comprehe sive though not blasphemous protanl of the vaqueros. There is in fact profanity which covers so wide fle as that of the Mexican. It embrac not only the object in discussion b extends backward to ancestors of u third and fourth generation, forWa to equally remote descendants al sideways to all collateral relatives.
 lacks the steam and effectiveness
 American blasphemy for which reas most Mexican cowboys have recogniz the necessity of a course in one bran
 of the English language and liter ture. One therefore hears variety
 profanity at a Mexican rodeo.
 Finally the herd was divided and t
 cattle from interior ranches were dr
 en southward. The rest of the he
 with their vaqueros that night, Ii
 the Three Norman Lions, kept wat
 and ward over the field. .'-Tucs
 Star