Evening star., 1925-08-09
lightly Among Lawess Cattle Men of South America

Saturday afternoon row of knives
and guns may be seen upon the shelf
behind the bar. If a man is unwilling
to part with his weapon, he must stay
outside and be served through iron
bars.
But sometimes fights are staged on
more orderly lines. They then take
on the dignity of duels. The men face
one another, each with his poncho
wrapped around his left arm and his
heavy rawhide riding whip in his left
hand knife held in the right hand fiat
in the palm, some inches of the blade
projecting. They circle around one
another, watching for an opening, on
guard with riding whip and cape.
The point of aim is invariably the
enemys stomach, and, the target
found, a quick upward rip ends the
matter. Very occasionally an artist
in knife fighting will try only to dis
figure by slicing at the opponents
nose or face. If he succeeds. the
other will become what is known as
lame" just as the cowboys talk of
steer or horse, and an object of ridi
cule among his fellows.
The fighting, as / have tried to
show, is mostly among the men them
selves, and foreigner may go among
them unmolested But sometimes a
newcomer brings trouble on himself.
Such one was young Englishman |
knew, who came to big ranch in
Entire Rios to learn the cattle bust
ness. The morning after his arrival
he rode into the corral very immacu-
late in glossy polo boots and smartly
cut cord breeches.
They were handling calves that day.
and the Englishman noticed cowboy
roping the calves, as he thought, too
roughly. He spoke to the fellow, but
the man took no notice. swung his
lasso, and brought calf head over
heels
Get out of the corral" said the
Englishman, angrily.
The cowboy calmly roped another
calf. The Englishman now drew his
revolver and approached the offender.
will you get out?" he shouted.
The cowboy looked him over from
head to foot, spurred his horse, came
forward with two quick sideways
jumps, freed his boleadores weighted
ropes used for tying around the legs
of ostriches), hit the Englisman over
the head. knocked him senseless from
his horse, dismounted, took his re-
volver from him, stuffed 1t in his belt.
and rode laughing from the corral.
Needless to say, the young English
mans reputation in the district was
gone for life.
Old-timers in Argentina do not in
volve themselves in such predicaments.
They realize that these cowboys, with
their strong grain of Indian blood. are
just children of nature, and treat
them as such.
The Argentine never speaks rudely
to hiseneighbors. even when he intends
TO pick a quarrel. His manner is al
ways suave and polished. He con-
siders rudeness of speech boorish to a
degree.
SO in handling him hard words sell
dom produce good results and should
never be used when a man is drunk.
for an Argentine cowboy inflamed
with liquor is like a mad dog and in
capable of self-control. At such times
there are only two things to do with
him-shoot or smile.
THE peon cowboy, lineal descendant
of old Gaucho stock, is the most
picturesque personality in Argentina.
He is also the foundation stone of the
country's prosperity. Proud, quick
tempered, high-couraged born in the
saddle, nimble alike with lasso or
land of great open spaces where 81
100000 cattle Craze.
The horse is the Argentine cow
boys god. Every cowboy possesses his
own horse and his own saddlery Even
the workless tramp who comes a sun
set to the Estancia gate and claims,
according to the custom of the coun-
try, food and shelter for the night,
rides his own horse. He would be in
i l.
The peon saves nothing of his
wages. The great part is extorted
from him by the keeper of the local
store, an autocrat with a monopoly.
who makes from so to 100 per cent
profit on every article he sells. The
remainder goes to the local Sunday
races or on taba, the great gambling
game of the camp" played with a
hook bone of a steer.
Above all, the peon loves a morn.
ing's horse-breaking, and as his man
ner of tanning horse is very different
from anything l have seen in any
other part of the world I will try to
give description of it. 1t was away
up in the north that l saw for the first
time an exhibition of potro riding.
We were returning from a cattle in
spection. when my host pointed to a
Not one of those horses has had a
man on his back he said. Like to
see the boys riding"
He gave a sign. A dark skinned,
wiry-looking fellow came forward,
hand on the fastening of his lasso A
moment later the cowboy began gal
Looping among the horses with his
lasso whirling around his head. A
young black colt was marked down.
The lasso fell unerringly around the
colts neck.
Then the fight began. The colt was
a high-couraged animal and fought
for his freedom every inch, plunging,
rearing, twisting in and out among his
fellows. Another peon, coming with
second lasso, flung it around the colts
legs. A quick jerk and the colt lay
stretched upon the ground.
First the bocado was apphed-a
strip of rawhide tied tightly around
the colts lower jaw. Then the colts