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When we go farther south, in the direction of Patagonia, we find other tribes who subsist principally upon the guanaco, the vicuna, and the rhea or South-American ostrich. "Hunting the vicuna is by no means an easy calling. The hunter must betake himself to the highest and coldest regions of the Andes far from civilised life, and far from its comforts.
The animal thus described by Pigafetta is the Guanaco, Camelus huanacus, and it is not astonishing to find it represented on the Australian continent, for we know* that this continent was supposed to be connected with Tierra del Fuego and was sometimes called Magellanica, in consequence.
Can we believe that the Capybara has taken the food of the Toxodon, the Guanaco of the Macrauchenia, the existing small Edentata of their numerous gigantic prototypes? Certainly, no fact in the long history of the world is so startling as the wide and repeated exterminations of its inhabitants. Nevertheless, if we consider the subject under another point of view, it will appear less perplexing.
Gray, she noticed, was not looking towards Guanaco Hill, but swept all parts of the coastline constantly with his binoculars. The Spaniard's field-glasses were slung around his neck. He was not using them. He appeared to be deep in thought. More often than not, his glance rested on the eddy created by the swirl of the current past the ship's quarter.
As they issued from the hut, a singular and interesting scene presented itself to their eyes. At one view one coup d'oeil they beheld the whole four species of the celebrated camel-sheep of the Andes; for there are four of them, llama, guanaco, alpaco, and vicuña! This was a rare sight, indeed.
The women do all the work about the house. They make the clothes, carry home the wood for the fire, and bring water from the streams or wells. The men do nothing but hunt. They hunt the guanaco and the ostrich. The guanaco is nearly as large as a cow, and has a head like a camel. Its flesh is good to eat, and the people make cloaks of its skin. The ostrich is the largest bird in the world.
The llama is distributed over the greater part of the Andes, and the male only is used as a transport animal. The llama is shy, stupid, and quiet, and his head is somewhat like a sheep's. The alpaca does not carry loads, but is kept as a domestic animal for the sake of its meat and wool. The vicuña and guanaco also do not work in the service of man.
According to the principles so well laid down by Mr. Lyell, few countries have undergone more remarkable changes, since the year 1535, when the first colonist of La Plata landed with seventy-two horses. The countless herds of horses, cattle, and sheep, not only have altered the whole aspect of the vegetation, but they have almost banished the guanaco, deer and ostrich.
These were the most abject and miserable creatures I anywhere beheld. On the east coast the natives, as we have seen, have guanaco cloaks, and on the west they possess seal-skins. Amongst these central tribes the men generally have an otter-skin, or some small scrap about as large as a pocket-handkerchief, which is barely sufficient to cover their backs as low down as their loins.
Fleming got leave to accompany us, as he had been unwell for some weeks, and the captain thought a trip on shore would do him good. We found that there would be time to get right up among the mountains, where we hoped to find some good sport, our great ambition being to kill a guanaco the name given to the llama in its wild state.
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