The Desert Pampas. 29 



the world contains ; though doubtless there are 

 many persons who are devoted to art, but blind to 

 some things greater than art, who will set me down 

 as a Philistine for saying so. And, above all others, 

 we should protect and hold sacred those types, 

 Nature's masterpieces, which are first singled out 

 for destruction on account of their size, or splendour, 

 or rarity, and that false detestable glory which is 

 accorded to their most successful slayers. In 

 ancient times the spirit of life shone brightest in 

 these ; and when others that shared the earth with 

 them were taken by death they were left, being 

 more worthy of perpetuation. Like immortal 

 flowers they have drifted down to us on the ocean of 

 time, and their strangeness and beauty bring to our 

 imaginations a dream and a picture of that unknown 

 world, immeasurably far removed, where man was 

 not : and when they perish, something of gladness 

 goes out from nature, and the sunshine loses some- 

 thing of its brightness. Nor does their loss affect 

 us and our times only. The species now being 

 exterminated, not only in South America but every- 

 where on the globe, are, so far as we know, un- 

 touched by decadence. They are links in a chain, 

 and branches on the tree of life, with their roots in 

 a past inconceivably remote ; and but for our action 

 they would continue to flourish, reaching outward 

 to an equally distant future, blossoming into higher 

 and more beautiful forms, and gladdening innumer- 

 able generations of our descendants. But we think 

 nothing of all this : we must give full scope to our 

 passion for taking life, though by so doing we " ruin 

 the great work of time ;" not in the sense in which 



