183i.J THE PUMA. 2r,9 



dad, on the sea-coast, where a rich Haciendero gave us lodgincrs. 

 I stayed here the two ensuing days, and although very unwell, 

 managed to collect from the tertiary formation some marine 

 shells. 



24th. — Our course was now directed towards Valparaiso, 

 which with great difficulty I reached on the 27th, and was there 

 confined to my bed till the end of October. During this time I 

 was an inmate in Mr. Corfield's house, w hose kindness to me I do 

 not know how to express. 



I will here add a few observations on some of the animals and 

 birds of Chile. The Puma, or South American Lion, is not 

 uncommon. This animal has a wide geographical range ; being 

 found from the equatorial forests, througiiout the deserts of Pata- 

 jTonia, as far south as the damp and cold latitudes (53° to 54") 

 of Tierra del Fuego. I have seen its footsteps in the Cordil- 

 lera of central Chile, at an elevation of at least 10,000 feet. 

 In La Plata the puma preys chiefly on deer, ostriches, bizcacha, 

 and other small quadrupeds ; it there seldom attacks cattle or 

 horses, and most rarely man. In Chile, however, it destroys 

 many young horses and cattle, owing probably to the scarcity of 

 other quadrupeds : I heard, likewise, of two men and a v.oman 

 who had been thus killed. It is asserted that the puma always 

 kills its prey by springing on the shoulders, and then drawing 

 back the head with one of its paws, until the vertebrae break : 

 I have seen in Patagonia, the skeletons of guanacos, with their 

 necks thus dislocated. 



The puma, after eating its fill, covers the carcass with many 

 large bushes, and lies down to watch it. This habit is often the 

 cause of its being discovered ; for the condors wheeling in the 

 air, every now and then descend to partake of the feast, and 

 being angrily driven away, rise all together on the wing. The 

 Cliileno Guaso then knows there is a lion watching his prey — 

 the word is given — and men and dogs hurry to the chase. Sir 

 F. Head says that a Gaucho in the Pampas, upon merely seeing 

 some condors wheeling in the air, cried " A lion !" I could 

 never myself meet with any one who pretended to such prwers 

 of discrimination. It is asserted, that if a puma has once been 

 betrayed by thus watching the carcass, and has then been hunted, 



