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Their huts were composed of upright poles, four or five feet in height, and as many apart, on which skins of large animals such as the huanacus or ostrich were fastened, on the side from whence the cold winds blew. These huts formed long streets; but were used only during cold or rainy weather, as in fine weather they slept on the uncovered ground.
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.
There were animals, however, in abundance vicunas, huanacus, stags, and rock-rabbits; while condors and other birds of prey hovered aloft, ready to pounce down on any carcase they might scent from afar. We next entered the region of the Sierra, the name given to the extensive valleys which either intersect the Puna, or lie between the Cordilleras and the Andes.
It is considered by some naturalists to be a wild species of the llama. Huanacus live in small troops. Their disposition is very different from that of the llama. Though easily tamed when caught young, they can seldom be trained to carry burdens.
Like other tribes of the Pampas, they have become expert horsemen, and with bolas capture huanacus and ostriches. 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.
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