68 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



distribution of the armadillo agrees with other facts of the same 

 kind which are common to Patagonia. The rivers running from 

 west to east across the continent mark the limit of the distribution 

 of some of the mammals. Thus I am assured the jaguar {Felis oncd) 

 is not to-day found south of the River Negro. And the puma does 

 not exist in Tierra del Fuego, the dividing water in this latter 

 instance being the Straits of Magellan. The guanaco, however, 

 is distributed throughout the whole of Patagonia and also in Tierra 

 del Fueo-o. I met with this animal deep inside the Cordillera, and 

 indeed once, with consecutive shots, I killed a huemul and a 



guanaco. 



About this time it became apparent that neither Fritz nor 

 Hollesen, the German Gauchos, were very much in love with the 

 hard work and hardships which they conceived lay before them. 

 It was a favourite trick of theirs to fall out of the troop on the 

 plea of fixing a cargo, and then, as soon as we were lost to sight, to 

 sit down and smoke their pipes ; in fact, they had determined to 

 take things easy. On the evening of our leaving Colohuapi 

 Hollesen asked me for some cartridges for his revolver, saying 

 that when working under the Argentine Boundary Commission 

 he had had a quarrel with an Indian concerning the Indian's 

 wife, and that he feared meeting him, for the man had sworn to 

 be revenged. 



During the night the dogs ate about ten kilos of mutton 

 which we had brought with us from Colohuapi, although it was 

 wrapped up in a tent, so the next morning we were forced to 

 breakfast upon an old gander, that made a very tough and tasteless 

 puchero. Our next march was about six leagues, and that evening 

 an Indian rode into our camp and offered to guide us across the 

 pampa to Lake Buenos Aires. He was a Tehuelche, and he told 

 us that some of his tribe were encamped in the valley of the River 

 Mayo at its junction with the River Chalia. All the following day, 

 leaving the river and guided by the Indian, we rode across bare 

 stony pampa devoid of game, and in the evening, after passing 

 three lagoons, we made our camp round a spring of water. As, 

 owing to the depredations of the dogs, we had no fresh food, 1 

 took the gun and attempted to stalk a couple of upland geese. 



