40 ASPECTS OF TROPICAL NATURE 



want of moisture prevents plants from rooting on the unstable 

 soil. 



A glance at the animal world of the Peruvian coast shows us 

 the same poverty of species as in the great African desert. A 

 fox (Cania Azarce) seems here to play the part of the hyaena 

 and the jackall ; and is found as well in the cotton-plantations 

 along the streams, as in the Lomas, where he is destructive to 

 the young lambs. 



The large American felidse, the puma, and the jaguar, seldom 

 appear on the coast, where they attain a more considerable 

 size than in the mountains. The cowardly puma is afraid of 

 man; while the bloodthirsty jaguar penetrates into the plan- 

 tations, where he lies in wait for the oxen and horses, and 

 avoids, with remarkable sagacity, the manifold traps and pit- 

 falls that are laid for him by the slaves of the hacienderos. 

 It is almost superfluous to remark that these beasts of prey do 

 not stray about in the sand-deserts ; but, descending from the 

 mountains, and following the course of the rivers, disturb the 

 inhabitants of the oases, or prey upon the herds on the Lomas 

 in the moist season. 



In the cultivated districts some species of Opossums are like- 

 wise found among the low bushes, 

 in deserted dwellings, or in the store- 

 rooms of the plantations ; and arma- 

 dillos {Dasypus tatuay) are some- 

 times shot in the fields. 



There are several species of in- 

 digenous Rodents ; but the cosmo- 

 polite rat, which seems to have been but recently imported, is 

 as yet not very common. 



Wild hogs of an enormous size are sometimes met wdth in 

 the thickets near some of the plantations in the valley of Lima. 

 Instead of the antelope and the gazelle of the African deserts, 

 the Venado, a species of deer, makes its appearance on the 

 Peruvian coast. It chiefly lives in the low thickets, which are 

 scattered here and there, and after sunset visits the plantations, 

 where it causes considerable damage. 



Besides the numerous sea- and strandbirds, the carrion vul- 

 tures and the condor, often found in large numbers feasting 

 upon the marine animals that have been cast ashore, are the 



