34 ASPECTS OF TROPICAL NATURE 



To the aboriginal animals of the Puna man has added the 

 horse, the ox, the dog, and the sheep. In the more shel- 

 tered Puna valleys there are estates or haciendas possessing 

 from 60,000 to 80,000 sheep, and from 400 to 500 cows. 

 During the wet season these flocks are driven into the Altos 

 or highest regions, often to a height of 15,000 feet; but when 

 the cold, frosty nights of the dry period of the year parch the 

 grass, they are obliged to descend to the swampy valleys, where 

 they have much to suffer from hunger. The wool serves 

 mostly for home consumption, and is partly exported to 

 Europe, where, however, it fetches a much lower price than 

 the produce of the South African or Australian flocks, which 

 most likely would not be the case if the high mountain-plains 

 of the Andes were in the possession of Grermans or Anglo- 

 Saxons. 



The herds of oxen generally graze in the most distant Altos. 

 As they seldom see man, they are so savage that sometimes 

 even the shepherds do not venture to catch them. These wild 

 bulls render travelling in many parts of the Puna very dangerous, 

 as they will sometimes rush upon man without any provocation 

 or previous notice, though they generally announce their ap- 

 proach by a hoarse bellowing. But even then it is almost im- 

 possible to escape them in the open plain, and more than once 

 Tschudi was only able, by a well -aimed shot, to save himself 

 from the attack of one of these formidable animals. 



Though not so dangerous, the half-wild Puna Dogs (Ganis 

 IngcB, Tschudi) are extremely troublesome to the traveller, — 

 false, spiteful animals, which ferociously attack enemies far 

 stronger than themselves; and, like the bull-dog, will rather 

 suffer themselves to be cut to pieces than retreat. They have a 

 particular antipathy to the white race, and it is rather a bold 

 undertaking for the European traveller to approach the hut of 

 an Indian that is guarded by these animals. |; 



The frosts of winter and an eternal spring are nowhere found 

 in closer proximity than in the Peruvian highlands, for deep 

 valleys cleave or furrow the windy Puna ; and when the tra- 

 veller, benumbed by the cold blasts of the mountain- plains, 

 descends into these sheltered gorges, he almost suddenly finds 

 himself transported from a northern climate to a terrestrial 

 paradise. 



