"HUNTING EXTINCT ANIMALS IN 

 THE PATAGONIAN PAMPAS 



CHAPTER I 



Brazil and the Argentine Republic 



The Patagonia of our childhood geography was a no 

 man's land, with big men, vast prairies, and much confusion. 

 The big men are almost gone, but the great prairies or 

 pampas remain, likewise the confusion; which applies 

 not only to the natives, the settlers, the government, 

 and trade, but also to the geology. From the writings of 

 the earliest geologists, especially from that of Florentino 

 Ameghino, have come reports of peculiar and numerous 

 fossil animals buried in the sands and clays along the coast 

 of Patagonia. The bones, jaws, etc., were described and 

 figured. To the rocks in which they were bedded were 

 assigned ages ; and it then appeared that such families of 

 -animals as horses, elephants, monkeys, and even man, all 

 .appeared earlier in South America than anywhere else in 

 vthe world. This was so at variance with the conceptions 

 already formed, that a vast deal of skepticism was expressed 

 as to the correctness of the ages assigned to the various 

 layers of rocks, and curiosity aroused as to the real rela- 

 tionships of the contained bones. 



Every family of animals originated somewhere, and if 

 it was successful, spread over the world, as far as the 

 natural pathways of that time would permit. For in- 

 stance, the horse originated in the region of what is now 

 .Behring Strait during the early Eocene (two and a half 

 jnillion years ago). There were then land connections, 

 Jinking North America to Asia, northern Europe, and pos- 

 :sibly South America: and these first horses spread at least 

 southerly into the United States and southeasterly into 



