330 M. Roulin o» Domestic Animals. 



When they have managed to render themselves masters of 

 one of these animals, it is often impossible for them to take it 

 alive from the mountain, not on account of its resistance, which, 

 after a certain time, diminishes, but because the animal fre- 

 quently, after seeing the uselessness of its efforts, is seized with 

 a general trembling over its whole body, presently falls, without 

 its being possible to make it rise again, and dies in a few hours. 

 The want of salt, the distance from inhabited places, and the 

 roughness of the roads, prevent them from deriving any other 

 benefit from their enterprize than that obtained from the flesh, 

 which is eaten on the spot. For these reasons, the hunting of 

 these animals is of rather rare occurrence. The hunters also 

 are always in dread of being surprised by snow, which some- 

 times falls in these places, and which, when it lasts several days, 

 causes these unfortvmate creatures to perish, they being habi- 

 tuated to constantly warm climates. 



When they have succeeded in taking one of these animals 

 from the mountain, it is not very difficult to tame it, by keep- 

 ing it near the farm, giving it salt frequently, and accustoming 

 it to see men. I have never had an opportunity of seeing any 

 of them alive, but I have eaten of the flesh of a cow that was 

 killed the day before my arrival. It did not seem to differ in 

 any thing from the flesh of the domestic cow. The skin was 

 remarkably thick, but of the ordinary size ; the hair long, thick, 

 and ill laid. 



In the province of San Martin, I have seen the wild bulls 

 feeding in the llanos among the domestic cattle. These animals 

 pass the morning in the woods, which cover the foot of the Cor- 

 dillera, and come out only about two in the afternoon to feed 

 in the savanna. The moment they perceive a man, they gallop 

 off to the woods. 



Before the revolutionary war, when the domestic cattle were 

 more numerous, the wild cattle were not pursued, being much 

 more difficult to be got up with. When one of them is snared, 

 it is immediately killed, for it would be difficult, in the midst 

 of those plains, to prevent it from resuming its habits of inde- 

 pendence. 



The skin of the wild cattle did not appear to me to differ in 

 any respect from that of the domestic cattle, which are found 



