108 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



Garcilaso relates, that before the arrival of the Spaniards the 

 Peruvians had dogs, "perros gozques." He calls the 

 native dog, Allco : it is called at present in the Quichua 

 language, to distinguish him from the European dog, 

 " Runa-allco," "Indian dog" (dog of the inhabitants of 

 the country). The hairy Kuna-allco seems to be a mere 

 variety of the shepherd's dog. He is small, with long hair, 

 (usually of an ochry yellow, with white and brown spots,) 

 and with upright sharp-pointed ears. He barks a great 

 deal, but seldom bites the natives, however disposed to 

 be mischievous to the whites. When the Inca Pacha- 

 cutec, in his religious wars with the Indians of Xauxa and 

 Huanca (the present valley of Huancaya and Jauja), con- 

 quered them, and converted them forcibly to the worship of 

 the sun, he found them paying divine honours to dogs. 

 Priests blew on the skulls of dogs, and the worship- 

 pers ate their flesh. (Garcilaso de la Vega, Commentarios 

 Keales, P. i. p. 184.) This veneration of dogs in the 

 valley of Huancaya is probably the reason why skulls and 

 even entire mummies of dogs have been found in the 

 Huacas, or Peruvian graves belonging to the earliest epoch. 

 Yon Tschudi, the author of an excellent Fauna Peruviana, 

 has examined these skulls, and believes them to belong to a 

 peculiar species of dog which he call Oanis ingse, and which 

 is different from the European dop-. The Huancas are still 

 called derisively by the inhabitants ot other provinces, "dog- 

 eaters." Among the natives of the Eocky Mountains, 

 cooked dog's flesh is set before strangers as a feast of honour. 

 Near Port Laramie, (one of the stations of the Hudson's 



