THE GREAT DOG-SUPERSTITION 287 



and in cities like London would bring us a thought 

 of the alert life and eternal gladness of Nature. 



For those who would prefer a more terrestrial 

 rodent, yet one more daintily fashioned than the 

 rough-cast rabbit and guinea-pig, there are others. 

 For a large animal the beautiful Patagonian 

 dolichotis, like no other mammalian in its form, 

 double the size of the hare, and a docile pet when 

 tamed ; and for a small one the charming lagidium 

 or Andean vizcacha, with rabbit-like ears, long tail, 

 arched like a squirrel's, the fur blue-grey in colour 

 above, and beneath golden yellow. And the 

 chinchilla, white and pale grey, with round leaf- 

 like ears, and soft dove's eyes — a rare and deli- 

 cate creature. There is in this small mountain 

 troglodyte something poetic, tender, flower-like — 

 a mammalian edelweiss. Poor little hunted chin- 

 chilla, did the Incas of old love you more than we 

 do now, who love you only dead ? For you were 

 also of the great mountains, where Viracocha sat 

 on his throne of snow, and the coming sun-god 

 first touched your stony dwelling-places with rose 

 and amber flame ; and perhaps they regarded you 

 as an animal sacred to the Immortals. If so, then 

 you have indeed lost your friends, for we have no 

 such fancies, and spare not. 



It is a great descent, in more senses than one, 

 to the prairie marmot — from the mountain to the 

 plain, and from the beautiful to the grotesque ; 

 yet this dweller on the flat earth, gross in form 

 and drab in colour, is a great pleasure-giver. He 



