ILLUSTRATIONS (15). WILD DOG. 85 



astronomical observations. The Caribs, in their long expedi- 

 tions from the missions of Carony to the plains of Rio Branco, 

 and even to the Brazilian frontier, are obliged to traverse the 

 crests of Pacaraima and Quimiropaea. The second group of 

 mountains, which separates the valley of the Amazon from 

 that of La Plata, is the Brazilian, which approximates to the 

 promontory of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in the province of 

 Chiquitos, west of the Parecis hills. As neither the group of 

 the Parime, which gives rise to the cataracts of the Orinoco, 

 nor the Brazilian group, is directly connected with the chain of 

 the Andes, the plains of Venezuela and those of Patagonia 

 are directly connected with one another.* 



(15) p. 6 — '■''Herds of wild dogs ." 



In the Pampas of Buenos Ayres the traveller meets with 

 European dogs, which have become wild. They live grega- 

 riously in holes and excavations, in which they conceal their 

 young. When the horde becomes too numerous, several 

 families go forth, and form new settlements elsewhere. The 

 European dog barks as loudly after it has become wild, as 

 does the indigenous American hairy species. Garcilaso 

 asserts that, prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, the Peru- 

 vians had a race of dogs called Perros gozques; and he calls 

 the indigenous dog Allco. In order to distinguish this animal 

 from the European variety, it is called in the Qquichua 

 language Runa-allco, Indian dog, or dog of the natives. 

 The hairy Runa-allco appears to be a mere variety of the 

 shepherd's dog. It is, however, smaller, has long yellow- 

 ochry coloured hair, is marked with white and brown spots, 

 and has erect and pointed ears. It barks continually, but 

 seldom bites the natives, however it may attack the whites. 

 When the Inca Pachacutec, in his religious wars, conquered 

 the Indians of Xauxa and Huanca (the present valley of 

 Huancaya and Jauja), and compelled them by force to submit 

 to the worship of the sun, he found that dogs were made 

 the objects of their adoration, and that the priests used the 

 skulls of these animals as wind instruments. It would also 

 appear that the flesh of this canine divinity was eaten by 

 the believers. f The veneration of dogs in the valley of the 



* See Humboldt's geognostic view of South America, in his Relation 

 historique, t. iii. pp. 188 — 244. 



f Garcilaso de la Yega, Commentaries Reales, P. i., p. 184. 



