JOURNEY TO LAKE ARGENTINO 191 



caught sight of it) upon its knees, and making frantic efforts to 

 rise. Three huge condors were poised a few feet above the head 

 of the unfortunate animal. I galloped towards them, and as I came 

 near the guanaco fell over upon its side, still moving convulsively. 

 At once one of the condors lit on the ground beside it. I cannot 

 have been more than a minute approaching, and as I came close 

 the condor rose into the air to some distance. A thin stream of 

 blood was trickling down the surface of the rock upon which the 

 guanaco lay, and the poor creature was jerking its legs and body. 

 During the moment which I had taken to ride up the condor 

 had torn out its eyes ! The guanaco was evidently dying of scab, 

 and had thinned down into a mere skeleton. 



I own to a horror and a loathing of the condor. Seen against 

 the pale hue of the sky, its stately flight and grand spread of 

 motionless wing made it seem a noble bird, but near by it shared 

 the repulsive appearance of other carrion-eaters. In size it is 

 enormous. I shot one off Hellgate measuring nine feet three inches 

 across the outstretched pinions. It rivals the vulture in its ability 

 to quickly discover and arrive upon the scene of a feast, and is in 

 the habit of gorging itself until it becomes practically powerless, 

 and it is possible to slay it afoot with a stick. It is one thing to be 

 well mounted on a good horse and to watch, as you ride along, the 

 far specks in the intense blue, or to admire them wheeling in wide 

 graceful circles with quiescent wings, but quite another aspect of 

 them would be borne in upon you if your horse chanced to stumble, 

 and left you, say, with a broken leg upon the empty pampa ; long 

 before help might come, or, indeed, if you were alone, would be at 

 all likely to come, you would make a terribly close acquaintance 

 with the methods a condor adopts when meat — be it dead or 

 wounded — falls under his power of beak and claw. 



Patagonia is certainly a wonderful country for birds and beasts, 

 of prey. You may travel leagues upon leagues and see no sign 

 of life save chimangos [Milvago chimango), caranchos {Polybortis 

 thaurus), and condors {Sarcorhampus gryphus) in the air ancL 

 upon the bushes, and at your feet the tracks of lion and of fox 

 and of skunk. Sometimes this fact strikes you with peculiar 

 force. The landscape made up of thorny bushes and spike grass 



