46 MALDONADO. [CHAP. in. 



During our stay at Maldonaclo I collected several quadrupeds, 

 eighty kinds of birds, and many reptiles, including nine species of 

 snakes. Of the indigenous mammalia, the only one now left of any 

 size, which is common, is the Cervus campestris. This deer is 

 exceedingly abundant, often in small herds, throughout the 

 countries bordering the Plata and in Northern Patagonia. If a 

 person crawling close along the ground, slowly advances towards a 

 herd, the deer frequently, out of curiosity, approach to reconnoitre 

 him. I have by this means killed, from one spot, three out of the 

 same herd. Although so tame and inquisitive, yet when approached 

 on horseback, they are exceedingly wary. In this country nobody 

 goes on foot, and the deer knows man as its enemy only when he is 

 mounted and armed with the bolas. At Bahia Blanca, a recent 

 establishment in Northern Patagonia, I was surprised to find how 

 little the deer cared for the noise of a gun : one day I fired ten 

 times from within eighty yards at one animal ; and it was much 

 more startled at the ball cutting up the ground than at the report 

 of the rifle. My powder being exhausted, I was obliged to get up 

 (to my shame as a sportsman be it spoken, though well able to kill 

 birds on the wing) and halloo till the deer ran away. 



The most curious fact with respect to this animal, is the over- 

 poweringly strong and offensive odour which proceeds from the 

 buck. It is quite indescribable : several times whilst skinning the 

 specimen which is now mounted at the Zoological Museum, I was 

 almost overcome by nausea. I tied up the skin in a silk pocket- 

 handkerchief, and so carried it home: this handkerchief, after 

 being well washed, I continually used, and it was of course as 

 repeatedly washed ; yet every time, for a space of one year and 

 seven montbs, when first unfolded, I distinctly perceived the odour. 

 This appears an astonishing instance of the permanence of some 

 matter, which nevertheless in its nature nmst be most subtile and 

 volatile. Frequently, when passing at the distance of half a mile 

 to leeward of a herd, I have perceived the whole air tainted with 

 the effluvium. I believe the smell from the buck is most powerful 

 at the period when its horns are perfect, or free from the hairy 

 skin. When in this state the meat is, of course, quite uneatable ; 

 but the Gauchos assert, that if buried for some time in fresh earth, 

 the taint is removed. I have somewhere read that the islanders in 

 the north of Scotland treat the rank carcasses of the fish-eating 

 birds in the same manner. 



