Linux Network Administrator's Guide, 3rd Edition

Colophon

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The image on the cover of Linux Network Administrator’s Guide, Third Edition, is adapted from a 19th-century engraving from Marvels of the New West: A Vivid Portrayal of the Stupendous Marvels in the Vast Wonderland West of the Missouri River, by William Thayer (The Henry Bill Publishing Co., Norwich, CT, 1888). The cowboy has long been an American symbol of strength and rugged individualism, but the first cowboys, known as vaqueros, were actually from Mexico. In the 1800s, vaqueros drove their cattle north into America to graze. This practice gave ranchers in Texas ideas of moving herds away from cold weather, toward water sources, and eventually north to railheads so that their cattle could be shipped to eastern markets.

Cattle trails started from the southernmost tip of Texas and extended through Colorado, Arkansas, and Wyoming. Cowboys were hired by ranchers to brand and drive the cattle through dangerous countryside and deliver them safely to railheads. Cattle were often scared by bad weather and started stampedes powerful enough to make the ground vibrate. It was the cowboys’ responsibility to calm the herds and round up any cows and steers that had wandered off. One well-known technique for calming nervous cattle was singing ...