accomplishing his threat, said to his servant, "Go, and cut off the tail of that horse of mine: it is better to lose a part of him than the whole. When deprived of his tail he will be laughed at by all who see him, but he will at least be secured from thieves. I would rather be derided myself for using a horse without a tail, than have all my bones and limbs jolted to pieces, like pepper in a mortar, by any other trotting beast." To mutilate the tail of another person's horse, is a bitter and not uncommon kind of revenge amongst the lower orders of Spaniards; it is also thought an insufferable insult for one man to call another _un rabon_, a horse without a tail. To keep horses in good condition, or make them so, it is of much importance that they be kept extremely clean; for if their skin is covered with dust, their mane uncombed, their tail full of scurf, and their hair matted together, the perspiration is obstructed by the pores being stopped up, and consequently they, by degrees, grow lean and scraggy, or get the mange. On this account, the Spaniards and Abipones, who are most careful of their property, though less solicitous than Europeans about combing, washing, and rubbing down their horses, and unprovided with instruments for those purposes, take great care to prevent their growing dirty, though they have no other stable than the open plain, day and night, during every part of the year. If thistles, thorns, and other prickly plants of that kind stick to their tails, they carefully extricate them by anointing their hair with tallow. After performing a journey, when the harness is taken off, they wash and wipe the back of the horse, which is bathed in perspiration, and lest the coldness of the air should cause it to swell, keep it covered, for some time, with a horsecloth. Moreover the health and liveliness of horses are best preserved by taking care that their pastures be not situated very far either from clear lakes or limpid rivers, where the horses may drink and bathe at their pleasure; for in the winter months the cold air makes them lean and mangy, and the frequent droughts produce the same effect in the summer season, unless they have an opportunity of laving and swimming.