XXVI PKEFACE 



lighter build and more graceful, reminding one much of a Deer ; 

 and also of a Sheep, in the shape and carriage of its ears and in 

 its cinnamon-brown and snow-white fleece of the finest wool. 

 What the Bison was to the Red Man of Nortii America, tlie 

 Guanaco is to the Ona of Tierra del Fuego and to the Tehuelch 

 of Patagonia — food, clothing, and equipment. Short of Man, as 

 a feature in the landscape and for its remarkable personality, 

 this creature stands out above all others. No hill-top com- 

 manding the surrounding country seems complete without a 

 Guanaco sentry, of which perhaps only the head and neck are 

 visible, standing in relief against the sky-line. Often does one 

 hear the weird quavering neigh, borne to one up or down or 

 across the wind, without being able to distinguish the familiar 

 form. If directly approached, Guanacos usually make off in 

 headlong flight. If, however, no notice be taken of them, they 

 remain where they are ; or, impelled by their extraordinary 

 curiosity, come to one, and follow one in a parallel line for miles, 

 within close rifle shot, lolloping along at their easy gi-aceful 

 canter, and indulging in those grotesque antics for which these 

 creatures are notorious. 



The Guanaco is in appearance the very personification of 

 gentleness — with its innocent-looking form possessed of no 

 apparent means of offence, its lustrous Gazelle-like eye, and its 

 soft woolly fleece. No animal could be more deceptive. In a 

 wild state amongst its own kind, and in captivity — no matter 

 how forbearingly treated — it is the least tractable of any 

 creature known to me. A pair of wild Guanacos can often 

 be seen or heard engaged in desperate combat, biting and 

 tearing and rolling over one another on the ground, uttering 

 their gurgling bubbling cries of rage. Of a pair so engaged, 

 I shot one whose tail had then been bitten off in the encounter. 

 In confinement, the Guanaco charges one with his chest or 

 rears up on his hind legs to strike one with his fore-feet, besides 

 biting and spitting up the contents of the stomach. 



There is, then, a gigantic Fox (Canis magellankus) , as large 



