Animals of Valparaiso. 1763 



particularly remarkable. It is a small kind of toad (Leiuperus viridis, Tsch.), and in- 

 habits the boundaries of perpetual snow. 



" The grasses of the Puna are used as fodder, and in many of the sheltered valleys 

 there are farms (haciendas de ganado) where large herds of cattle are reared. The 

 owners of some of these farms possess several thousand sheep, and from four to five 

 hundred cows. During the rainy season the cattle are driven into the Altos. They 

 graze in those high regions, often at the altitude of 15,000 feet above the sea. When 

 the frost sets in they are brought down to the marshy valleys, and they suffer much 

 from insufficiency of pasture. From the wool of the sheep a coarse kind of cloth, 

 called bayeata, is made in the Sierra. Some of the wool is exported, and is much 

 prized in Europe. The old black cattle and sheep are slaughtered, and their flesh, 

 v/heu dried, is the principal food of the inhabitants of the Puna, particularly of the 

 mining population. The dried beef is called charqui, and the mutton is called cha- 

 lona. The bulls graze in tbz remote Altos, and most of them are reserved for the bull- 

 fights in the Sierra villages. As they seldom see a human being they become exceed- 

 ingly wild ; so much so that the herdsmen are often afraid to approach them. In the 

 daytime they roam about marshy places, and at nightfall they retire for shelter beneath 

 some overhanging rock. These animals render travelling in many parts of the Puna 

 extremely dangerous, for they often attack people so suddenly as to afford no time for 

 defence. It is true they usually aunounce their approach by a deep bellow ; but the 

 open plain seldom presents any opportunity for escape. On several occasions a well- 

 aimed shot alone saved me from the attacks of one of these ferocious bulls." — Tschudt's 

 Travels in Peru. 



Zoology of Valparaiso. — " The zoology of the neighbourhood of Valparaiso is not 

 very interesting, though more so along the sea-shore than in parts further inland. 

 Among the Mammalia are sometimes seen the fox (Canis azarce, Willd.) and the pole- 

 cat. In the immediate vicinity of the town a very large mouse is seen in the burrows 

 of the ground; it is of the eight-toothed species (Octodon Cumingii, Ben.), and has 

 a brush-formed tail. As the fields round Valparaiso are not cultivated these animals 

 do no harm, otherwise they would be the plague of agriculture, and probably are so in 

 the interior parts of the country. Now and then a sea-dog may be observed in the 

 bay ; but the whale is seldom seen, and whenever one appears he is immediately 

 killed, as there is always a whaler at anchor, and not far off. 



" In the market, live condors are frequently sold. These birds are caught in traps. 

 A very fine one may be purchased for a dollar and a half. I saw eight of these gigan- 

 tic birds secured in a yard in a very singular manner. A long narrow strap of leather 

 was passed through the nostrils of the bird and firmly knotted at one end, whilst the 

 other end was fastened to a wooden or iron peg fixed in the ground. By this means 

 the motion of the bird was not impeded ; it could walk within the range of a tolerably 

 wide circle, but on attempting to fly it fell to the ground head foremost. It is no tri- 

 fling matter to provide food for eight condors ; for they are amongst the most raven- 

 ous of birds of prey. The owner of those I saw assured me that, by way of experi- 

 ment, he had given a condor, in the course of one day, eighteen pounds of meat (con- 

 sisting of the entrails of oxen), that the bird devoured the whole, and ate his allowance 

 on the following day with as good an appetite as usual. I measured a very large male 

 condor, and the width from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other was fourteen 

 English feet and two inches, an enormous expanse of wing, not equalled by any other 

 bird except the white albatross (Diomedea exulans, Linn.). The snipes (Scolopax 



