THE PAMPAS OF PATAGONIA. 33 



herds of guanaco, which form the staple of the game to be 

 secured. The hunters ride off in couples, each with a led 

 horse in addition to the one he is riding, and accompanied 

 by six or eight gaunt hounds that still betray in some degree 

 their greyhound ancestry. They are mostly too light to 

 be able to pull down a full-grown buck, but against ostriches 

 and young guanaco they are very serviceable. 



The hunters form a huge circle, perhaps of some fifty 

 miles, and drive the game inwards, lighting fires on the 

 edge of the circle to mark out their positions and partly to 

 keep the wild animals from breaking back. As the ring 

 of men and fires draw in, the frightened game crowd to- 

 gether in the middle of it. There may be as many as five 

 hundred guanaco or more, many ostriches, and even puma. 

 Captain Musters saw two pumas killed in such a hunt. The 

 guanaco bucks show spirit and stamp and neigh defiance 

 in front of their herds. As soon as the Indians have ap- 

 proached sufficiently near they mount their fresh horses 

 and gallop at full speed upon the startled game. The yells 

 of the hunters, the flying boleadores, the dogs and horses 

 in fierce pursuit after the frenzied animals, all go to make 

 up a scene of extraordinary excitement. 



The game breaks in every direction, and the Tehuelches 

 follow for leagues over the wide pampa, their nimble-footed 

 horses covering the most difficult ground steep, stony 

 slopes, or thickly-bushed levels with astonishing accuracy. 

 A large quantity of game is killed, much meat is secured, 

 and in addition the feathers of the ostriches. The pelts 

 of young guanaco, tendons, meat, etc., are all collected for 

 their various uses and carried back to the toldos, where a 

 feast takes place amid general rejoicing. 



