HUNTING IN THE ANDES. 35 



the heart of the mighty range by boat. The lower spurs 

 of the Andes and the levels between them are rich in game, 

 and all through the wide and virgin land the hunter may 

 ride sheltered from the incessant wind which torments 

 the pampas, while during the early autumn one blue and 

 golden day succeeds another and life is refreshing and 

 delightful. 



In the shadow of the Andes there are still vast spaces 

 between the towering peaks unvisited and unseen by human 

 eyes. There still remain blanks on the maps that science 

 has not as yet filled in, for few prospectors have touched 

 even the fringe of this region, and the Tehuelche Indians, 

 who are born and live, migrate, hunt, and die within sight 

 of the white summits, can never be persuaded to venture 

 within the limits of the great forests which cling about the 

 feet of the cordillera, for the reason that they believe that 

 the Gualicho, the Spirit of Evil, has his dwelling among the 

 mountains, and no reward of meat or skins or shelter can 

 tempt them to brave his anger. 



Another reason for the unbroken solitude of the cor- 

 dillera is undoubtedly the fact that the forests are singu- 

 larly devoid of life. As one passes through them the usual 

 sounds to be heard are the purely woodland sounds of fall- 

 ing trees, the rustling of leaves, the snap of a twig, but few 

 calls of birds or cries of wild animals in fact, signs of 

 organic life grow fewer and fewer the further one advances 

 into their recesses. 



But about the foothills and among the thousand gullies 

 and canadones that run up towards the high bulk of the range 

 game abounds. Round the shores of Lake Argentine, for 

 example, just south of lat. 50, there exists a plenitude of 

 the larger Patagonian animals. There the distribution of 

 the species overlaps. Guanaco in great herds came down 

 from the tableland near the Manantial Peak, and in a single 

 day's ride I saw sixty-one ostriches (Rhea darwinii). Con- 



