I was this afternoon surprised at a feat of dexterity of one of the commandant’s sons, a boy of about fourteen years of age. I had often heard of the manner of catching the wild cattle in the Sertam; the person employed for the purpose pursues on horseback, with a long pole, having a goad at one end, the animal which he is desirous of bringing to the ground, until he overtakes it—he then pierces its side between the ribs and the hip-bone, which, if it is done at the moment the beast raises its hind feet from the ground, throws it with such violence, as sometimes to make it roll over. Some oxen had often trespassed upon the commandant’s maize; one of the boys could no longer bear this quietly, he therefore mounted one of his father’s horses, of which there were several very fine ones, took one of the long poles and set off without a saddle, and in his shirt and drawers, to attack the animals. He drove them out of the maize, reached one of them with the goad at the right moment and threw it down, but before he could turn his horse, another had attacked him, running his horns into the fleshy part of one of the horse’s thighs. The boy had taken the precaution of putting a bridle on to his horse, otherwise, if he had mounted with a halter only, he would most probably have suffered much more. One of his brothers came to his assistance, and drove the oxen quite away. The facility with which the beast was thrown, proved that practice and quickness were more requisite than strength in this operation.