22 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



planation, since the deer in the same mountainous region seem abso- 

 lutely fearless and are prompted by curiosity rather than fear when 

 approached. . . . 



"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 this species under domestication. There is little 

 doubt, however, that the Llamas and Vicunas, of Peru, are but domesti- 

 cated 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 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, 

 Cariacits cJiilensis, 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 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 fearlessness 

 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 pecular habit, as remarked 

 by Darwin, of dropping their dung in the same place, so that great accu- 

 mulations of this are to be seen in piles scattered all over the plains. 

 Some writers, more especially Hudson, have also claimed that the Guan- 

 acos of any particular region all resorted to a particular 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 ac- 

 counted 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 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 skele- 

 tons in such places is no more remarkable, and is, in fact, due to the same 



