HUNTING IN THE ANDES. 43 



trail we rode hour after hour, and though at one time 

 all signs proved that we were very close to him, he 

 finally led us into a stony and arid belt of country where 

 we could no longer hold the track. In spite of losing 

 him, the experience was interesting in that it showed 

 the pace at which a bull will sometimes travel, for at the 

 start we were not above an hour behind him, and we 

 followed at a good rate. No doubt in some of our 

 wheeling and turning the bull got the wind of us, which 

 hastened him on his journey to the refuge of the distant 

 cordillera. 



I was perhaps unfortunate in that I was so often near 

 the herds without obtaining a shot, as once in the 

 gloaming I saw a herd containing some magnificent old 

 bulls descend the rugged side of Mount Buenos Aires to 

 drink in Lake Argentine. A deep rift separated me 

 from them, and by the time I had made my way round 

 it was too dark to shoot, though I could hear the great 

 brutes moving about in the water just beneath me. Of 

 course, on occasions considerable numbers of the true 

 wild cattle have been killed or captured in a single day, 

 but this has always taken place on the pampas ; in the 

 cordillera such an occurrence would not be possible. 



After a shot it was an almost hopeless task to attempt 

 to come again within range of the same herd that day, 

 and under cover of the following night they usually left 

 the mountain on which they had been disturbed. 

 During nineteen days of hunting wild cattle near Lake 

 Argentine, though I was continually finding the tracks 

 and beds of bulls, I only had shots at two. This was 

 partly owing, however, to my refusal of a few other 

 chances, for I sighted the animals in such difficult posi- 

 tions that, as I was carrying only a "275 Mauser, I was 



