The Knife: The countryman's knife is one of the European cultural legacies left by the first conquistadors of the Plata region. The weapon's characteristics and mode of use is more Flemish than Hispanic: carried in the boot, on the waist by the kidneys with the handle facing right. The knife, more than any other object, garment or instrument, whether used as an instrument or as a weapon, was most representative of the gaucho, almost a part of him. The various types of knives whether the dagger, the large knife, the true knife or the saddle and loin knives all were samples of various manifestations throughout the ages. To imagine a gaucho without his knife is by far more difficult than to imagine him without a horse. For him the knife was everything: fork and knife for eating, for picking his teeth, for killing cattle, for tanning hides, for butchering, curing, castrating, trimming the horse's hair, or paring the hoofs of the horse. The knife was also useful in the arts and crafts including braiding, embossing, repousse and leather strapping. "The knife more than a weapon was an instrument that was useful in all profession; one could not survive without it: as the trunk is to the elephant, the knife is the arm, the head, the finger, everything to the gaucho." (Sarmiento)