I 



162 



cows. From the imperfect description which I have 

 received of them, I cannot determine whether they 

 are manatis, morses, or a species of phocae. I am, 

 however, more inclined to believe them to be ma- 

 natis, as great numbers of these animals were found 

 by the first Spanish settlers of Juan Fernandez on 

 the shores of that island ; but the immense destruc- 

 tion which they made of them, as they were eagerly 

 hunted for their flesh, has entirely driven them from 

 those shores. 



The Indians pretend that in certain lakes in Chili 

 is to be found an animal of a monstrous size, which 

 they call guruvihi^ or the fox -serpent. They believe 

 thai it devours men, and on that account never bathe 

 in those lakes. But the descriptions which they give 

 of its size and form scarcely ever agree : some re- 

 presenting it as having the body of a serpent with 

 the head of a fox ; others, as being of a circular 

 form, and resembling an inflated ox-hide. It is, how- 

 ever, probable that this animal has no other exis- 

 tence than in the imaginations of these people. 



Sect. V. Birds,— Mx^x that of insects, the most 

 numerous class of animals in Chili is that of birds. 

 Those that inhabit the land alone amount to a hun- 

 dred and thirty- five species, and the number of those 

 belonging to the sea, is almost impossible to beesti- 

 mated. The genus of gulls alone is known to contain 

 twenty-six diflerent species, and many others are 

 not less numerous. 



That vast chain of mountains, the Andes, may be 

 aonsidered as the nursery of birds of all kinds. They 



