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THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



water, their snowy iinderparts reflected 

 in quivering outlines. Lapwings 

 screamed and cackled in resentment of 

 our visit and frequently frightened 

 away flocks of waterfowl which we were 

 stalking. 



Apparently our Sci/talopus was not 

 a bird of the open highlands. We even 

 began to wonder if it existed at all, 

 because, so far, the most thorough 

 search had failed to reveal any trace of 

 it. There remained, however, the high 

 pdraino above, and fo this we next 

 turned our attention. 



Our sudden arrival at Tafi had 

 caused mucli comment among the in- 

 habitants. Tliey found it impossible 

 to l)elieve tliat we had come to that 

 remote region in search of a small, 

 dull-colored bird, and after a few days 

 it became an open secret that we were 

 regarded as spies — though just what 

 nature of informal iou we sought, could 

 not be determined. They even went 

 so far as to refer to the matter occa- 

 sionally in a good-natured manner; 

 and when we were away on lumting ex- 

 cursions, it was the custom to put our 

 cook, a Bolivian, through a sort of 

 "third degree"' in an effort to compel 

 him to confess the real object of our 

 visit. Therefore, when we planned to 

 move to the high peaks bordering the 

 little valley, the natives considered their 

 evidence complete ; we were going, they 

 said, to prepare a diagram of the coun- 

 try from our new point of vantage. 

 The only person who really understood 

 the purpose of our mission was a man 

 from Tucuman who had been sent up 

 to vaccinate the Indians. He started 

 out each morning accompanied by two 

 or three soldiers, rounded up all the 

 Indians of a given locality, and vac- 

 cinated them. The natives did not at 

 the time realize the significance of this 

 act ; but when, a few weeks later, the 



inoculations had had time to become 

 effective, they grew frantic, and grim- 

 faced little parties began to scour the 

 country in search of the person who 

 had "poisoned" them. Fortunatel}', 

 none of the scouting parties came our 

 way, for to them all strangers look 

 very much alike, and there was the 

 possibility that one of us might have 

 been mistaken for the doctor. 



The para til above Tafi is a bleak re- 

 gion, almost perpetually enveloped in 

 mist. Work in this type of country 

 possesses its disadvantages, for in ad- 

 dition to the intense cold and the lack 

 of fuel, there is always the possibility 

 that one may be trapped far from 

 camp by banks of clouds which roll in 

 unexpectedly ! The cold, penetrating 

 mist is so dense that it is impossible to 

 distinguish objects but a few yards 

 away, and the most familiar landmarks 

 assume strange and fantastic outlines. 

 In the event that one is overtaken by 

 this phenomenon, there is nothing to 

 do but wait until the mist lifts, which 

 may be in a few hours, or perhaps, not 

 until the next day. Strange to say, the 

 inhospitable paramo supports a varied 

 fauna. Herds of wary guanacos feed 

 on the tall, wiry grass growing in the 

 more sheltered places; when alarmed, 

 they flee to the inaccessible rocky 

 slopes. The paja, or grass, harbors 

 also a species of large tinamou, but the 

 bird is loath to leave its safe cover, for 

 no sooner does it take wing than hawks, 

 which are always hovering about, 

 swoop down and carry it away. 



Numbers of deep ravines have been 

 worn in the mountain-sides by water 

 coming from the melting snows on the 

 higher peaks. These are filled with a 

 rank growth of shrubbery. The sides 

 are so abrupt that we could find no 

 spot where a descent was possible with- 

 out the aid of a thousand feet or more 



