If we seek other parts of the world we shall find cattle-ranges like those of the United States. In South America there are two great regions of this kind. One of these is in Venezuela. Here are great open plains called llanos, covered with rich, thick grass on which millions of cattle feed. The same is the case with the pampas of Argentina, vast prairies over which cattle roam in countless numbers.
On those great plains dwell the brothers of the cowboy, daring riders whose lives are spent in the care of the grazing herds. The Gauchos, as the cattlemen of Argentina are called, are not the sons of civilized fathers like our cowboys. They are a race by themselves, bold and hardy, but ignorant, many of them part Indian. But they are born and bred to the saddle and no riders can surpass them in handling their swift horses.
Of the other countries where great herds of cattle are to be found we may name South Africa and Russia. Mongolia, in the Asiatic part of Russia, is a land of vast plains, called steppes. This may have been the first region in which cattle were kept. As far back as history goes the herdsmen of this great region have been roaming about with their cattle, horses and other animals, living in tents, and moving from place to place seeking new fields of grass when the old ones are cropped. This was their life thousands of years ago and this is their life to-day, and they seem no more civilized now than they were then.
We do not care to talk about the killing of these fat herds. That has nothing to do with Home-Life, except in so far as we find their meat on our tables, for the killing is mostly done in great sheds and pens built for that purpose. It will be enough to say that the animals we have been talking about are of the greatest use to man. They work for him, they feed him with their milk and flesh, and after their death nearly every part of them is of use. From their skins leather is made and we walk upon their hides in our shoes. From the bones glue and gelatine are obtained, and when the bones are ground they are used to fertilize our fields. In fact use is made of nearly all parts of the animal and hardly a scrap of it goes to waste.
An Ox-team on a Florida Plantation
IN THE BULL RING
The bull is not a nice animal to deal with. It is often surly and savage, and few of us care to be in the same field with it. In some parts of the world its courage is made use of in a brutal kind of sport. In former times what was called bull-baiting was very common in England, and might be to-day only for the laws. A bull was driven into a closed-in place and dogs were sent in to fight with him. Sometimes, to make him furious, pepper was blown into his nose before he was set free.
At times a dozen or more dogs were sent in at once. At other times the bull was tied to a stake by a rope of some length, and bulldogs were set upon him, one at a time. They were trained to seize the fierce animal by the nose, which was called "pinning the bull." But the best fun to the lookers-on was when the bull lowered his head to the ground, caught a dog on his horns and tossed him a long distance away. Bull-baiting was kept up until 1835, when laws were passed to stop this cruel sport.
But bull-fighting, which has long been very common in Spain, is still kept up in that country. In ancient times fights between bulls and men were common in Greece and Rome, but in modern times they have been held only in Spain and its colonies. They may be seen to-day in the cities of Spain and Mexico.