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Show How a Lasso Is Made. First, the rawhide is cut in thin strips as long as possible and half tanned with the hair on. Then these strips are soaked and stretched over a block. Then they are braided into a rope, care being taken, of course, to pull the strands as tight as possible. When the riara (lasso) is made it should be buried for a week, ten days or even a fortnight, in the sand. It takes up moisture from the ground without getting hard. Soaking it in water won't do, nor will anything else that I know of except, as I say, burying it. When the riata is resurrected it should again be left for a time stretched over a block, with a weight to hold it taut. Then the hair should be sandpapered off the outside, and when the riata is greased with mutton tallow and properly noosed it is ready for use. Every vaquero that pretends to take care of his apparatus will bury his rir-ta and stretch it every 6ix or eight months. San Francisco Examiner. |