The real range would never have been safe for him.
A peculiar and distinctive feature of the cowboy's costume was
his "chaps" (chaparejos). The chaps were two very wide and
full-length trouser-legs made of heavy calfskin and connected by
a narrow belt or strap. They were cut away entirely at front and
back so that they covered only the thigh and lower legs and did
not heat the body as a complete leather garment would. They were
intended solely as a protection against branches, thorns, briers,
and the like, but they were prized in cold or wet weather.
Sometimes there was seen, more often on the southern range, a
cowboy wearing chaps made of skins tanned with the hair on; for
the cowboy of the Southwest early learned that goatskin left
with the hair on would turn the cactus thorns better than any
other material. Later, the chaps became a sort of affectation on
the part of new men on the range; but the old-time cowboy wore
them for use, not as a uniform. In hot weather he laid them off.
In the times when some men needed guns and all men carried them,
no pistol of less than 44-caliber was tolerated on the range, the
solid framed 45-caliber being the one almost universally used.
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