191 



island ; but the immense destruction which thej 

 made of them, as they were eagerly hunted for 

 their fleshy lias entirely driven them from those 

 shores. 



The Indians pretend that in certain lakes in 

 Chili is to be found an animal of a monstrous 

 size, which they call guruvilu, or the fox-ser- 

 pent. They believe that it devours men, and on 

 that account never bathe in those lakes. But the 

 descriptions which they give of its size and form 

 scarcely ever agree: some representing it as hav- 

 ing the body of a serpent with the head of a fox; 

 others, as being of a circular form, and re- 

 sembling an inflated ox-hide. It is, however;, 

 probable that this animal has no other existence 

 than in the imaginations of these people.* 



Sect. V. Birds. After that of insects^ the 

 most numerous class of animals in Chili is that 

 of birds. Those that inhabit the land alone 

 amount to a hundred and thirty-five species^ and 



* Of the various means of defence with which Nature har 

 provided its creatures, I remember none more singidar than 

 that of the driwn-fish on the coast of Pern ; which, when 

 alarmed, infiates itself till it becomes perfectly round. Tiic 

 eyes project ^o far wlien it is in this state, as to prove tliat it 

 is not (lone without great effort. But none of \U enemies can 

 then suallow" it because of its size, or bite it because of its 

 shape, E, E, 



Mercurlo Peruano, No. 2So. 



