WILD CATTLE 227 



the way, looks forward to a paradise where he will lie for ever 

 upon the sleeping-bench in the warmth and eat decomposed seals' 

 heads ! The nomad hunter races kill to eat in any manner or by 

 any means, the romance of sport is in one sense lacking in them ; 

 but in my happy hunting-ground there will be Irish elk with 

 mighty spreading horns upon those wondrous hills. . . . 



We have wandered far away from our subject. I think it may 

 be said that during those twelve blank days every method of 

 hunting wild cattle had a fair trial. Upon the northern slopes of 

 Mount Buenos Aires (which, I must mention, is very far distant 

 from Lake Buenos Aires, being, in fact, surrounded on three sides 

 by the waters of Lake Argentine) there is comparatively little 

 wood, although there is much thick high brush, so that — as in 

 Sardinian moufflon-shooting — one may spy the ground two or 

 three times in the day, and yet fail to discover a herd hidden in 

 the brush or in one of the many water- worn ravines. Neverthe- 

 less, this place was the most open ground which we hunted, and 

 was far superior to the Lake Rica side of the mountain, upon 

 which cluster dense forests of antarctic beech, through which it is 

 impossible to see more than twenty or thirty yards, and often not 

 so far. 



Once or twice I tried sitting up for bulls at their drinking- 

 places, but never with any success. The fact is, that the forests 

 they range through are so well watered with streams, pantanos 

 and springs, that they have a score of drinking-places to choose 

 from, therefore the chances are twenty to one against getting a 

 shot. But in a district where water is scarce, it seems to me that 

 this plan might meet with success. The best sport was un- 

 doubtedly that which we enjoyed towards Punta Bandera, a head- 

 land forming the north point of Mount Buenos Aires. 



It was here, upon the thirteenth day of my hunting, about an 

 hour and a half before dark, that I perceived a fine point of seven- 

 teen upon the hillside in front of me. They were, however, in a 

 spot utterly impossible of approach, in the centre of a bald ridge 

 upon the summit of which they were silhouetted against the black 

 background of the mountain beyond them. Deep gullies cut up 

 the intervening ground, and after advancing as near as might be, 



