THE GORGE OF THE RIVER DE LOS ANTIGUOS 155 



against the author of our misfortunes was not uncalled for. He 

 had given Scrivenor a fifty-mile ride, had been the direct cause of 

 our losing two guns, had made us abandon three horses, and had 

 given Barckhausen and myself eighty or ninety miles of extra 

 marches, besides compelling us to cross the River de los Antiguos 

 when in flood. We had also to thank him for our miserable night 

 upon the shores of the river. Against all this he had left us a lame 

 hound which we feared could travel no farther. 



His companions had in my absence visited our camp and had 

 conversed with Burbury. This conversation, however, left us a 

 much more valuable legacy. One of these men, an Austrian, had 

 informed Burbury that the Indians had told him of a puma which 

 lived farther to the south among the foothills of the Cordillera, 

 and which differed in some essential respects from the grey puma 

 of the plains. He described it as being " of a reddish colour, more 

 fierce than the silver puma, and much smaller ! " This was the 

 first time I heard of the animal now named Felis concolor pearsoni, 

 of which I afterwards was fortunate enough to obtain a skin. 



When we arrived in camp, which we did late upon that afternoon, 

 we ourselves as well as our horses were pretty well tired out, but 

 a couple of days in the tent, a tin of cocoa, and some ointment for 

 the cuts received from the rocks in the river, soon reinvigorated 

 us, and we were ready to start for the River de los Antiguos, the 

 scene of our petty disasters, once more. 



