The Fossils of Patagonia. 73 



surprised near at hand, moved away slowly. Another 

 which Darwin met with on the mountains squealed, 

 snorted, and pranced about when he approached, de- 

 fying him, as it were. 



The guanaco is altogether a curious creature, and 

 our naturalist found that they actually had certain 

 places in which to die. In one spot he counted the 

 remains of at least twenty of these animals in a re- 

 stricted area. Referring to this in his note-book he 

 says : " I do not at all understand the reason of 

 this, but I may observe that the wounded guanacos 

 at the Santa Cruz invariably walked towards the 

 river. At St. Jago, in the Cape Verd Islands, I 

 remember having seen in a ravine a retired corner 

 covered with bones of the goat ; we at the time ex- 

 claimed that it was the burial-ground of all the goats 

 in the island. I mention these trifling circumstances 

 because in certain cases they might explain the 

 occurrence of a number of uninjured bones in a 

 cave, or buried under alluvial accumulations ; and 

 likewise the cause why certain animals are more 

 commonly embedded than others in sedimentary 

 deposits." 



Among the interesting fossils found in Patagonia 

 was the skeleton of the macrauchenia an animal 

 equalling a camel in size, having a long neck and, 

 according to Bermeister, a South American geologist, 

 a short trunk like that of an elephant. These singular 

 discoveries were of great import to Darwin. We 

 find him reflecting upon the causes which produced 

 their extinction, and it is interesting to note how 

 correct were his deductions. He was impressed 



