Bolas.—­The bolas consists of three balls, composed either of lead or stone; two of them are heavy, but the third is rather lighter:  they are fastened to long elastic strings, made of twisted sinews, and the ends of the strings are all tied together.  The Indian holds the lightest of the three balls in his hand, and swings the two others in a wide circle above his head; then taking his aim, at the distance of about fifteen or twenty paces, he lets go the hand-ball; all the three balls whirl in a circle, and twine round the object aimed at.  The aim is usually taken at the hind-legs of the animals, and, the cords twisted round them, they become firmly bound.  It requires great skill and long practice to throw the boas dexterously, especially when on horseback.  A novice in the art incurs the risk of dangerously hurting either himself or his horse, by not giving the balls the proper swing, or by letting go the hand-ball too soon.  (Tschudi’s ‘Peru.’)

Lasso.—­It is useless that I should enter into details about making and wielding the lasso, for it is impossible to become Moderately adept in its use, without months of instruction and practice.

Amstringing.—­Animals are hamstrung by riding at them, armed with a sort of spear; the blade of which is fixed at right angles to the shaft, and has a cutting edge.

Hawking is a disappointing pursuit, owing to the frequent loss of hawks; and can hardly be carried on except in a hawking country, where the sportsman has a better chance than elsewhere, both of recovering and replacing them; it is impracticable except where the land is open and bare; and it is quite a science.  There are some amateurs who will not hear a word of disparagement about their hawks, but the decided impression that I bear away with me from all I have learnt, is, that the birds are rarely affectionate or intelligent.

FISHING.

Fishing-tackle.—­Fish-hooks are made of iron, not steel, wire.  While the piece of wire is straight, it is laid along a little groove in a block of wood, and there barbed by the stroke of a chisel, slantwise across it.  The other end is flattened by a tap of the hammer, or roughened, that it may be held by the whipping; then the point is sharpened by a file, and finished on a stone.  The proper curvature is next given, and then the hook is case-hardened (see “Case-hardening"); lastly, the proper temper is given, by heating the hook red-hot, and quenching it in grease.

A traveller should always take a few hooks with him:  they should be of the very small and also of the middling-sized sorts; he might have a dozen of each sort whipped on to gut; and at least a couple of casting-lines, with which to use them:  also several dozens of tinned iron fish-hooks, of various sizes, such as are used at sea; and plenty of line.

Fishing-lines.—­Twisted sinews will make a fishing-line.  To make a strong fine line, unravel a good silk handkerchief, and twist the threads into a whipcord. (See also “Substitutes for String.”)