WILD CATTLE 225 



been commented on to us by many different Gauchos and cattle- 

 owners up and down the east coast. 



The older herds have lost the smooth aspect of domesticated 

 animals and thrown back to the shaggy front, longer horns and 

 rough-haired hide characteristic of wild cattle. As to the special 

 parts of Patagonia in which wild catde are most plentiful, it would 

 be of little use to give a list of them. Should a herd stray in the 

 plains, the Indians will soon make them change their quarters and 

 return to take refuge among the woods and ravines of the foothills. 

 Inside this forest-land the Indians will never venture, and there 

 the emancipated bull thoroughly enjoys himself. Even the beasts 

 belonging to the farmers lead a wandering life, and at a short 

 distance from the settlements are shy of the approach of man, and 

 have to be rounded up by mounted Gauchos. Those of them that 

 have been inside a corral and regained their liberty are every whit 

 as wild as the wild cattle proper. Being caught with a lasso and 

 branded is by no means an experience calculated to instil any deep 

 confidence in mankind into the mind of a calf 



In the Cordillera the herds are extremely wideawake. When 

 a point is disturbed, they always go higher up into the mountains, 

 and almost invariably leave that particular neighbourhood under 

 cover of the ensuing night. Their climbing powers are extra- 

 ordinary. Wherever a guanaco can go, a wild bull can follow 

 him. Their tracks are regularly and clearly marked, and they 

 appear to move along precisely the same paths from feeding-place 

 to feeding-place. The snows of winter force them to lower 

 ground, but in my opinion the herds never penetrate very deep 

 into the Cordillera. Precisely how far they go it would be hard to 

 determine, but they seldom ascend to the higher levels, preferring 

 to wander about the outer spurs of the lower hills. There is a 

 spot on the south side of the Lake Rica where they appear to 

 make their way farther into the recesses of the mountains than in 

 any other district. 



Patagonia, as the reader will by this time realise, cannot be 

 called a big-game country in the sense of affording any variety of 

 large animals for the benefit of the sportsman. But whoever goes 

 into the Cordillera will find the wild bulls of their forests well 



