4 HUNTING CAMPS. 



shape or way by man ; where, therefore, no permission 

 can be asked, granted, or refused ; where the wild 

 illimitable expanse is free to all, human or animal, and 

 the first come is the first served." In its Patagonian 

 environment the guanaco fulfils this ideal. There are as 

 yet no ring-fences and but little barbed wire in the 

 interior, where indeed the hunter may ride for weeks, 

 and even months, and perhaps never see anything save 

 the landscape and the game upon it. 



Of course the guanaco lacks one, and that the most 

 important of the desiderata of a quarry he carries no 

 trophy. The black face and the scarred neck of one 

 old fighting buck is very like that of another, so that 

 after the hunter has shot three or four, he has before 

 him no alluring prospect, such as the chance of securing 

 a particularly fine or unusual specimen, a hope which, 

 in the case of horned game, serves to keep his interest 

 always at high-water mark. But, despite this fact, the 

 chase of the guanaco and the fair stalking of a big 

 buck sometimes presents difficulties which can be relied 

 on to keep the hunter's enthusiasm well awake. 



Those who have seen the animal as he appears on 

 the farms near the coast can form no idea of the 

 wariness of his brethren in such spots as the canadon* 

 of the Senguerr River. Close to the coast the con- 

 siderable number of guanaco that inhabit the allotted 

 lands are little molested by the shepherds who come 

 and go among them, for it is certain that while a man 

 can procure mutton he will never hanker after the dry 

 and stringy meat provided by the wild animal. From 

 time to time, when the herds of the latter grow too 

 numerous, a campaign is organised against them, but 



* Valley. 



