Aug. 1833. 



AGOUTI. 



81 



under the open sky^ with the gear of the recado for my bed. 

 There is high enjoyment in the independence of the Gaucho 

 life — to be able at any moment to pull up your horse^ and 

 say, Here we will pass the night.^^ The deathlike still- 

 ness of the plain, the dogs keeping watch, the gipsy-group 

 of Gauchos making their beds round the fire, have left in 

 my mind a strongly-marked picture of this first night, which 

 will not soon be forgotten. 



The next day the country continued similar to that above 

 described. It is inhabited by few birds or animals. Occa- 

 sionally a deer, or a Guanaco (wild Llama) may be seen ; but 

 the Agouti [Cavia V atagonicd) is the commonest quadruped. 

 This animal here represents our hares. It differs, however, 

 from that genus in many essential respects ; for instance, it has 

 only three toes behind. It is also nearly twice the size, 

 weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds. The Agouti 

 is a true friend to the desert ; it is a common feature in the 

 landscape to see two or three hopping quickly one after the 

 other in a straight line across these wild plains. On the 

 eastern side of America their northern limit is formed by the 

 Sierra Tapalguen (lat. 37° 30'), where the plains rather sud- 

 denly become greener and more humid. The limit certainly 

 depends on this change, for near Mendoza (lat. 33° 30), 

 which is much further north, but where the country is very 

 sterile, I again met the Agouti. It is not evident by what 

 circumstances their southern limit is governed ; it occurs 

 between Port Desire and St. Julian (about 48° 30'), Vv^here 

 there is no change in the kind of land, and only a trifling and 

 gradual one of temperature. It is a singular fact, that 

 although the Agouti is not now found so far south as Port 

 St. Julian, yet that Captain Wood, in his voyage in 1670, 

 talks of them as being numerous there. What cause can 

 have altered, in a wide, uninhabited, and rarely-visited 

 country, the range of an animal like this ? It appears, also, 

 from the number shot in one day at Port Desire, that they 

 must have been considerably more abundant there formerly 

 than at present. Azara states that the Agouti never ex- 



VOL. III. G 



