These Wander
About Single, Or Two And Three Together, And Are Very
Savage.
I never saw such magnificent beasts; they equalled
in the size of their huge heads and necks the Grecian marble
sculptures.
Capt. Sulivan informs me that the hide of an
average-sized bull weighs forty-seven pounds, whereas a
hide of this weight, less thoroughly dried, is considered as
a very heavy one at Monte Video. The young bulls generally
run away, for a short distance; but the old ones do not
stir a step, except to rush at man and horse; and many
horses have been thus killed. An old bull crossed a boggy
stream, and took his stand on the opposite side to us; we
in vain tried to drive him away, and failing, were obliged
to make a large circuit. The Gauchos in revenge determined
to emasculate him and render him for the future
harmless. It was very interesting to see how art completely
mastered force. One lazo was thrown over his horns as he
rushed at the horse, and another round his hind legs: in a
minute the monster was stretched powerless on the ground.
After the lazo has once been drawn tightly round the horns
of a furious animal, it does not at first appear an easy thing
to disengage it again without killing the beast: nor, I
apprehend, would it be so if the man was by himself. By the
aid, however, of a second person throwing his lazo so as to
catch both hind legs, it is quickly managed: for the animal,
as long as its hind legs are kept outstretched, is quite
helpless, and the first man can with his hands loosen his lazo
from the horns, and then quietly mount his horse; but the
moment the second man, by backing ever so little, relaxes
the strain, the lazo slips off the legs of the struggling beast,
which then rises free, shakes himself, and vainly rushes at
his antagonist.
During our whole ride we saw only one troop of wild
horses. These animals, as well as the cattle, were introduced
by the French in 1764, since which time both have greatly
increased. It is a curious fact, that the horses have never
left the eastern end of the island, although there is no natural
boundary to prevent them from roaming, and that part
of the island is not more tempting than the rest. The Gauchos
whom I asked, though asserting this to be the case,
were unable to account for it, except from the strong attachment
which horses have to any locality to which they are
accustomed. Considering that the island does not appear
fully stocked, and that there are no beasts of prey, I was
particularly curious to know what has checked their originally
rapid increase. That in a limited island some check
would sooner or later supervene, is inevitable; but why had
the increase of the horse been checked sooner than that of
the cattle? Capt. Sulivan has taken much pains for me
in this inquiry. The Gauchos employed here attribute it
chiefly to the stallions constantly roaming from place to
place, and compelling the mares to accompany them, whether
or not the young foals are able to follow. One Gaucho told
Capt. Sulivan that he had watched a stallion for a whole
hour, violently kicking and biting a mare till he forced
her to leave her foal to its fate. Capt. Sulivan can so far
corroborate this curious account, that he has several times
found young foals dead, whereas he has never found a dead
calf. Moreover, the dead bodies of full-grown horses are
more frequently found, as if more subject to disease or
accidents, than those of the cattle. From the softness of
the ground their hoofs often grow irregularly to a great
length, and this causes lameness. The predominant colours
are roan and iron-grey. All the horses bred here, both tame
and wild, are rather small-sized, though generally in good
condition; and they have lost so much strength, that they
are unfit to be used in taking wild cattle with the lazo: in
consequence, it is necessary to go to the great expense of
importing fresh horses from the Plata. At some future
period the southern hemisphere probably will have its breed
of Falkland ponies, as the northern has its Shetland breed.
The cattle, instead of having degenerated like the horses
seem, as before remarked, to have increased in size; and
they are much more numerous than the horses. Capt. Sulivan
informs me that they vary much less in the general
form of their bodies and in the shape of their horns than
English cattle. In colour they differ much; and it is a
remarkable circumstance, that in different parts of this one
small island, different colours predominate. Round Mount
Usborne, at a height of from 1000 to 1500 feet above the sea,
about half of some of the herds are mouse or lead-coloured,
a tint which is not common in other parts of the island.
Near Port Pleasant dark brown prevails, whereas south of
Choiseul Sound (which almost divides the island into two
parts), white beasts with black heads and feet are the most
common: in all parts black, and some spotted animals may
be observed. Capt. Sulivan remarks, that the difference in
the prevailing colours was so obvious, that in looking for
the herds near Port Pleasant, they appeared from a long
distance like black spots, whilst south of Choiseul Sound
they appeared like white spots on the hill-sides. Capt. Sulivan
thinks that the herds do not mingle; and it is a singular
fact, that the mouse-coloured cattle, though living on the
high land, calve about a month earlier in the season that
the other coloured beasts on the lower land. It is interesting
thus to find the once domesticated cattle breaking
into three colours, of which some one colour would in all
probability ultimately prevail over the others, if the herds
were left undisturbed for the next several centuries.
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