OEIRAS TO PARNAGUA 211
short
distance from Oeiras, we passed through some of the national fazendas,
and on one of them had an opportunity of seeing the method adopted by
the vaqueiros for catching the cattle, which roam about in large herds
nearly in a wild state. In the southern provinces, it is well known
that the cattle are caught by the lasso and bolas, the open country of
those districts allowing their free use, which is not the case in the
north. The instrument used here is a slender pole about nine feet long,
a little thicker at one end than at the other; into the thicker end, a
quadrangular pointed piece of iron is fixed, projecting only about half
an inch; mounted on horse-back, with this pole in his hand, the
vaqueiro selects with his eye the animal he wishes to take, and
pursuing it at full gallop, he soon overtakes it, and striking it on
the hip with the armed end of the pole, while it is going at full
speed, he easily upsets it, and before it can rise again, the vaqueiro
has dismounted, and secured it; in this manner nearly all the cattle
are taken in this province. There are no fences between the different
properties, but every fazendeiro has a brand, with which all his horses
and cattle are marked before they are allowed to roam at liberty, and
by which they are, of course, easily recognised. The cattle of Piauhy
supply for the most part the markets of Maranham, Bahia, and Pemambuco;
droves are also occasionally sent into the province of Minas Geraes;
they are generally of a large size, and vary very much in colour,
though brown is the prevailing one; their horns are long, pointed, and
wide-spreading. We stopped a night at one of these national fazendas,
which was entirely devoted to the rearing of horses, and the principal
vaqueiro informed me that it produced annually about 400 foals. The
horses of Piauhy are in general small, and not long-lived, seldom
exceeding ten or twelve years; those used on the cattle farms, owing to
the violent exercise of hunting the cattle, do not last so long. The
riding horses are broken in with great care, and some of the paces
which they are taught are very pleasant; they are never shod, and this
is less necessary here than in many of the other provinces, for the
roads are generally level and soft. The price of a good working horse,
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