Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-07-08
TAIL TwIsTERs.
Cowboys Am vemeHueEa who Have iso
Need OF Using the Lasso.

G@WT@ BOYS Am Venezuela who Have hi@
Need OF Using the Lasso.
@0n the upper waters of the Orinoco
river in Venezuela is a region of high,
open plains called llanos, where wild
cattle Craze in countless thousands.'e
said Sidney Ascot. recently arrived in
New York from South America MANY
Of these cattle have no owners, but for
the most part they bear one or another
mans brand, President Crespo being
the largest individual owner. The
vaqueros that herd them have ways diff
ferent from any other cowboys that
have seen in North or South America.
The Venezuelan yaquero carries no
lasso, and his saddle has no horn in
front such as on the Mexican, the Tex
an and the Gaucho saddle serves as a
Delaying pin for the lasso after the
moose has been thrown about a crea.
lures neck or legs. In other respects
he is regulation South American COW.
boy, with jacket, wide-brimmed hat,
slashed trousers and a knife handy to
get at. His horse is a wiry, nervous
pony, more docile of temper than bron.
chos in general, and he rides MIN well
SIung from his saddle or tied about his
body are several strong thongs of rope
or leather, used in tying cattle, and
sometimes a rope with which to picket
his horse out to Craze, though oftenel
the horse is merely hobbled by tying to-
gether his forelegs
When the Venezuelan cowboy wishes
to catch bull or COW for branding, OF
for any purpose, he rides alongside it,
and with
dead run, stoops from his saddle.
grasps the creatures tail, and, with a
sharp, peculiar twist, sends the animal
rolling on its back. From the force
with which it falls the creatures horns
almost invariably pin its head to the
ground, giving the yaquero time to dis
mount and sits on its head, holding the
animal helpless to rise, while a com.
panion ties it's legs. The cattle of the
nanos are large and active, with sharp
widespreading horns. A mounted man
they fear, but a man on foot on a plain
where they are is in great danger from
them. They do not attack him, but
moved by curiosity, they crowd about
him until he is trampled to death.
1T is an exciting scene, the driving
of the cattle selected for export aboard
the steamers that come up the Orinoco
for them. The water of this river deep
ems rapidly from the shore so that the
boat can lie close to the bank A chute
is rugged from the bank to the boat.
with fences on the shore converging to
it in shape. The vaqueros hold the
cattle together, and drive them on to-
ward the chute. If one of the animals
can be driven upon the chute the others
press after, crowding one another
along into the cattle quarters until the
boats load is made UP. Ellis Grell, the
cattle king of Venezuela, has trained
OK that is of great service in helping to
get wild cattle aboard the boats. He is
already within the fences when the
herd is driven in, and he leads the way
through the chute, the other cattle fol-
lowing. He passes through the cattle
quarters out upon the afterdeck by
passage which is Immediately closed
behind him, while the others continue
to file into the hold until it is filed.
During the rainy season many cat
tie are drowned by sudden rises of the
river. In the great inundation of Octo-
Der, 1892, when the Orinoco waters rose |
90 feet-the highest rise recorded since
the seventeenth century-so many cat
tie were drowned that their floating |
bodies stopped navigation on the river, |
the upward bound steamer having to |
lay up at Bolivar until the carcasses had |
drifted past. The captain of the steam |
er Caratal describes the appearance of |
the drowned cattle he encountered in /
parts of the river as that of vast herds |
swimming with the current. For |
weeks the air was poisoned with the |
stencil of dead cattle caught among |
the trees of the OVERLOOKED banks. Tur-
ties, alligators, garfish, caribe fish /
gorged upon the carcasses, and vast |
numbers of vultures and buzzards
came into the valley. What the birds
and reptiles left the ants made way
with on the subsistence of the waters.
THE ranchmen of the upper 0rinoco
are the best fighting men in Venezuela,
and in the revolutions so frequent in
that country the side they take up arms
for is almost surely winner. Living
in a region where cattle and horses are
plentiful and low in value, they have
primitive and hospitaible customs. Let
a traveller arrive hungry at a ranch, and
if meat is not already in the house q
yaquero is sent out to knock an OK in
the head. The animals hide is taken
off, a few choice cuts of meat taken,
and the remainder of the carcass is left
for the vultures. Equally primitive,
and illustrative of the spirit of comfy
among the rancheros, is their method
Of travelling horseback between Bolivar
md Caracas. The old Spanish road, a
fairly well-constructed highway, con-
meets the two cities. The rancherO,
starting, for instance, from Bolivar,
with one horse, rides the animal until it
s tired out, then catches another horse
from the herds that feed along the road
side and turns his own loose to find its
way back home. The same is done with
third horse when a second is tired
Town, and this thing is repeated
the journey, each horse
-urned loose finding its way back to its
,wn range in the course of few days.
The journey of 400 miles is thus quick
V made, with the advantage to the traT-
,ler of fresh remounts as often as he
nay wish."-N. 7. Sum-
Match and Cigar.
There are several devices for COM
,ining match and cigar. One of these
S a sort of peg, made of inter, sulphur,
flour and gum arabic, which is