236 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



the first time can therefore hardly be over-estimated. The chances 

 of observing details of conduct and the spontaneous attitude of 

 animals under these conditions have unfortunately become exceed- 

 ingly rare and are daily growing rarer. Soon there will be no 

 spot where such facts can be collected. Knowing this, I made 

 every effort to gather all the data possible. 



Large herds of guanaco patrol the country in all directions ; 

 how far they are local In their habits it is not easy to decide, but I 

 was informed by several people that such and such a marked 

 guanaco had been in such a district since such and such a winter, 

 therefore I am led to conclude that the guanaco are more or less 

 local in their movements. In the summer they are to be found on 

 the high pampa, and in the winter the herds descend to the lower 

 ground. But all the evidence that I could gather pointed to the 

 fact that this periodic migration is limited in extent, and that certain 

 herds belong, as it were, to certain districts and live and die within 

 a comparatively small area. 



During peculiarly hard winters, however, they will gather in 

 very large herds and travel a good distance to the low grounds, 

 where water and some pasture are still to be procured. 



The guanacos that we met with on the basalt plateau to the 

 south of Lake Buenos Aires probably visit the shores of the lake 

 during the winter time. In the inverse order of thmgs no travellers 

 ever cross the basalt plateau in summer, nor do they visit the lake 

 in winter ; we may therefore conclude that the guanaco were in 

 that region unacquainted with man. The following is taken from 

 my diary while we were crossing the plateau : 



"December 28. — To-day we saw great numbers of guanaco, 

 many of which have in all probability never before beheld a human 

 being. They were about as tame as English park deer, allowing 

 us to approach on foot to within seventy or eighty yards, and, in 

 the case of the old bucks, to within fifty yards. The females were, 

 of course, much shyer. It was a beautiful sight to watch the great 

 herd leaping up and down the hillside and dashing through the 

 outcrop of black fragments of basalt. The bucks almost invariably 

 kept between us and their females. On some occasions, when I 

 came suddenly round a hill upon a herd, the old buck would gallop 



