DEER OF THE PAMPAS. 725 



in a moment. Their habitations are huts of skin, supported on 

 poles sloping to the ground, towards the direction from whence 

 blows the strong wind or snow from Cape Horn. They sleep 

 however, in fine weather, — like other tribes further to the 

 north, — on the uncovered ground. 



Their great delight is smoking — from a pipe made of stone, 

 fashioned into the shape of a small bowl, in which a long tube 

 is fixed. Each man takes a pull at the pipe and sends it 

 round, gulping in a huge quantity of vapour, all the muscles 

 of the body seeming in a fierce convulsion of straining ; and 

 while his neighbour is apparently employed in an effort to 

 gulp down the whole apparatus, there issues from the nose 

 and mouth of the first smoker a cloud which quickly renders 

 his face and all around him invisible. 



Like other tribes of the Pampas, they have become expert 

 horsemen, and with bolas capture huanacus and ostriches. 



DEER OF THE PAMPAS. 



Besides the huanacus, a deer of considerable size ranges in 

 small herds throughout the Pampas and northern Patagonia, 

 and is very abundant. It possesses an overpoweringly strong 

 and offensive odour at some periods of the year, which is 

 perceptible at a great distance. Should the Gauchos kill an 

 animal when this is the case, they bury the flesh in the earth, 

 by which means the taint is removed, and it becomes eatable. 

 A person can easily approach a herd by crawling along the 

 ground, when the deer, out of curiosity, apparently, approach 

 to reconnoitre him. They, however, have learned to fear 

 their enemy, man, when mounted on a horse and aimed with 

 bolas ; and as soon as they see a horseman, they invariably 

 take to flight. 



