HABITS OF THE GUANACO. 27 1 



words as to the habits of each of these animals would seem, therefore, 

 not to be out of place in this connection. 



The guanaco is not only the largest animal inhabiting Patagonia, but 

 to the Tehuelche, at least, it is surely of the most importance. It is the 

 American representative of the camel and, though readily domesticated, 

 no attempt seems ever to have been made in this region, by either 

 whites or Indians, to bring the species under domestication. There is 

 little doubt, however, that the llamas and vicunas, of Peru, are but 

 domesticated varieties of the guanaco. 



When full grown, the guanaco is in size about equal to that of a year- 

 ling colt. I have elsewhere described their form, color and peculiar call. 

 They are abundant on the plains both of the mainland and of Tierra del 

 Fuego, having been found even to the southern limits of that island. They 

 are also fairly common in the valleys of the Andes. Their presence in 

 Tierra del Fuego, to which island the rhea, puma and Patagonian deer, 

 Cariacus chilenst's, have not gained access, is but an illustration of their 

 superior powers of self-distribution. When hard-pressed they readily take 

 to water, and when pursued by a pack of hounds they have been known 

 to take to the Gallegos River, at the place where the village now stands, 

 where it has a width of three miles. With their well-known fearless- 

 ness of water, there is little wonder that they have been able to reach 

 Tierra del Fuego, since the Magellan Strait, at both the first and second 

 narrows, has a width of only two miles. They have a very pecu- 

 liar habit, as remarked by Darwin, of dropping their dung in the same 

 place, so that great accumulations of this are to be seen in piles scattered 

 all over the plains. Some writers, more especially Hudson, have also 

 claimed that the guanacos of any particular region all resorted to a par- 

 ticular spot to die. My observations in Patagonia did not verify such a 

 conclusion. It is true that I frequently observed a considerable number 

 of guanaco skeletons in the same immediate locality ; but their presence 

 in such places was easily accounted for. During the winter storms these 

 animals would be driven from the surrounding plains to seek shelter in 

 the river valleys and there, beneath embankments or in clumps of bushes, 

 would be found the remains of such as, through old age or disease, were 

 unable to survive the rigors of the storm they had sought to escape. The 

 abundance of guanaco skeletons in such places is no more remarkable, 

 and is, in fact, due to the same circumstances that have caused the pres- 



