132 PATAGONIA AND SHEEP-REARING 



as far as the Pampas region and southward beyond 

 the Chubut. The Indian population of the valley 

 of the Genua and the Sanguerr, south of the colony 

 of San Martin, comprised in 1880/ and still comprises,2 

 a mixture of Araucans and Tehuelches. The Araucans 

 were acquainted with agriculture, but, once they had 

 tamed the horse, they became mainly a pastoral and 

 hunting people, like the Tehuelches. 



In so far as they were hunters, the Indians of Patagonia 

 were nomadic. The taming of the horse only made 

 it easier for them to shift from place to place, and 

 gave them a greater range. Their nomadism has too 

 often been regarded as an aimless wandering. They 

 had laws, settled by the physical conditions ; and 

 we can gather a few of these. They kept away from 

 the coastal districts except in winter ; that is the 

 season when the rains provide water-courses there. 

 It has been observed that names of Indian origin 

 are lacking on the coast of Patagonia. The Spanish 

 navigators who landed there during the summer found 

 the country deserted and the camps abandoned. On 

 the other hand, the share of the Indians in giving names 

 is very considerable in the interior, as far as the foot 

 of the Andes. During the summer the Indians ap- 

 proached the mountains, where they found good 

 hunting grounds. In particular they chased the young 

 guanacos in the breeding season, December and January. 

 Popper has indicated similar migrations amongst the 

 Onas of Patagonia ; they approach the coast in winter, 

 and leave it in summer, to hunt in the interior.3 The 

 district of Lake Nahuel Huapi and Collon Cura had 

 some attraction from afar. The forest of araucarias 

 produced seeds [pinojies) which the Indians went 

 to gather ; and they also liked the wild apples which 



' Carlos M. Moyano, " Informe sobre un viaje a traves de la Pata- 

 gonia," Bol. Instit. Geog. Argent., ii. 1881, pp. 1-35. 



» W. Vallentin, Chubut (Berlin, 1906). 



3 J. Popper, " Exploracion de la Tierra del Fuego," Bol. Instit. 

 Ceog. Argent., viii. 1887, pp. 74-93- 



