The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1910-09-09
WILD MEMS WEAPONS


way to America. The origin of the
word is Latin, "laqueus;" there is
Portuguese 'laco;" we "lasso" or
lace" our boots every morning
presuming that we do not spend the
day in SLIPPERS. But, apart from that,
1t is not easy to see that the lasso
could have had value without the
horse. 1t Is the instrument of riders
on horseback. There were no horses
in America, according to all who
claim to speak with authority, until
the Spaniards arrived there. The ap-
partition of their cavalry was so
strange as to strike terror into the
hearts of the natives, who deemed
horse and man some fearful comro-
site animal The most skilful artist
in the world with the lasso Is that
compound-whos shall say what is the
exact mixture of the Ingredients
of Spaniard and Indian that is known
as Mexican, especially the Mexican of
the Southwestern States of the Union;
but we read Of various tribes of the
Red Indians, probably quite free
from any infusion of European blood,
to whom the lasso had become so ia
miliar weapon, so trusted in cases
of emergency, that they not only
used it on the galloping bison and
overthrow him on the prairie, but ac-
tually lassoed the tunnels of the
steam engines when the trains began
to invade their land. 1t is possible
that the result may have been to give
a little shake to their confidence. but
their skill in the use of the moose
has abundant witness.
The MeXicans deXterity has to be
seen to be believed. At full gallop
he will send the loop to encircle at his
will the neck, the horn, the leg of the
steer laundering along beside him.
His little horse knows the game as
perfectly as he does, throwing himself
back on his launches into the best
possible position to stand the shock
and the strain which he knows will
arrive when the rope is drawn tight,
of which one end is about the steer
and the other is fastened to the horn
of the big Spanish saddle. The horse
stands firm and the steer tumblee.
Sometimes the Mexicans will ride
down and lasso the coyote or the wild
turkey, for the turkey likes his legs
better than his wings as means of
locomotion, and will seldom fly again
after he has once been flushed and
marked down. The actual evolution
of the lasso may be imagined easily
at first a big loop Of rope thrown
about the head of an animal beside
which the rider galloped, then the
free-running moose at the end of a
single rope. But the accuracy of
aim with the loop is the wonder.
After all, it cannot be nearly so sub
tie an affair as the boomerang throw,
for though perhaps the Mexican eX-
cells. the white cowboy is nearly, If
not quite, his match. But the things
that a Mexican can do with a rope or
bit of rawhide are marvellous. He |
will fit a fresh rawhide "riata"
around the nut of a screw that has |
stuck, and unscrew it, when the hide |
has hardened, though the white me-
chanic, with his specially-made |
wrench, has failed You may be told |
that tale-and it is a credible one
by many who have worked on the |
in the Mexican Republic.
The best moose story is a British |
one. Like many of the best stories, |
it is a 'bus-driver's story, and, like |
all the best stories, it is an old story. |
Bus A and bus B were together in a |
block. The driver of bus A had the |
end of his whip hitched up into a |
little moose and kept playing with it,
putting his finger through it and |
dragging it tight, then loosening it !
again. He also kept saying moth
ng" and looking nowhere in partic-
ular; nevertheless, the driver of bus |
B began glazing at him, and his face
grew more and more crimson, until
finally the winged fords broke forth |
Homerically, and he cursed the player
with the moose as only one 'bus-driver
can curse another. Still the driver
IF bus A kept saying nothing, and as
as ever kept playing with
MS moose. Then the fare" who sat
beside the driver of bus A leaned |
forward and asked him. whats the
matter with that man." indicating