ALLEN: mammalia: CAMELID/E. 21 



ing. With ears laid back and mouth wide open, one rushed the other, 

 this way and that, now turning, then in a straight run till near enough to 

 cut a gash along his opponent's ribs with his sharp, hooked canines. Furi- 

 ous, the other turns with a scream, and runs after his antagonist till he, too, 

 has scored a mark ; and they kept at it over an hour until both were ex- 

 hausted and badly cut up. 



"When bunched during the winter months they feed together and run 

 in close packs after their leaders like sheep. Remarkably fleet and sure- 

 footed, they are as agile as the Rocky Mountain Sheep. When the ground 

 was frozen several feet deep, with an inch melted on top, I have seen them, 

 running at full speed, plunge over cliffs two or three hundred feet high at 

 an angle of 75 degrees, where I deemed it too hazardous to attempt de- 

 scent with the aid of a pick, and never have I seen one come to grief." 



As will be seen from Mr. Hatcher's account, this observer does not con- 

 sider the aid of man necessary to account for the presence of the Guanaco 

 in Tierra del Fuego. The following excerpts are from Mr. Hatcher's 

 "Narrative." 



"The Guanaco is, to his [the Tehuelche Indian's] existence, the one im- 

 portant and indispensable animal. From its flesh he derives his chief, and 

 for long periods, only sustenance, while from its skin his industrious wife 

 constructs the family toldo and makes with admirable skill and patience 

 their ample clothing and bedding, fitting and sewing the parts with the 

 nicety and proficiency of a skilled seamstress. A wooden or bone awl, 

 used as a delicate punch, is her needle, and the sinews taken from the 

 loin of the same animal her thread. From this same beast he likewise 

 obtains the sinew for the light but exceedingly strong thongs of his bolas. 



"But the Guanacos are in no danger of extermination. They roam in 

 thousands over the Patagonian plains. So abundant are they that, in 

 traveling across the country, it is scarcely possible to pass out of sight of 

 them. Contrary to the rule with undomesticated animals, the Guanacos 

 inhabiting settled regions are far less timid than those of unsettled dis- 

 tricts. In the region along the coast occupied by the sheep farmers they 

 exist in great numbers, are exceedingly tame, and are a source of consid- 

 erable annoyance to the herdsmen, who, nevertheless, suffer them to go 

 unmolested. Beyond the settlements the Guanacos are more difficult of 

 approach and in the Cordilleras they are exceedingly wary, as is also the 

 Rhea, or so-called Ostrich. This is the more striking and difficult of ex- 



