Through the Heart of Patagonia

by H. Hesketh-Prichard

It will be seen from the description given of Patagonia that some of its remoter portions offer a unique field for observing the effect of man's appearance on the behaviour of animals that have had no previous knowledge of him. These places present some of the few localities left untouched by the presence of human beings. The value of any evidence still obtainable as to the bearing of wild creatures when brought into contact with human beings for the first time can therefore hardly be over-estimated. The chances of observing details of conduct and the spontaneous attitude of animals under these conditions have unfortunately become exceedingly rare and are daily growing rarer. Soon there will be no spot where such facts can be collected. Knowing this, I made every effort to gather all the data possible.

Large herds of guanaco patrol the country in all directions; how far they are local in their habits it is not easy to decide, but I was informed by several people that such and such a marked guanaco had been in such a district since such and such a winter, therefore I am led to conclude that the guanaco are more or less local in their movements. In the summer they are to be found on the high pampa, and in the winter the herds descend to the lower ground. But all the evidence that I could gather pointed to the fact that this periodic migration is limited in extent, and that certain herds belong, as it were, to certain districts and live and die within a comparatively small area.

During peculiarly hard winters, however, they will gather in very large herds and travel a good distance to the low grounds, where water and some pasture are still to be procured.

The guanacos that we met with on the basalt plateau to the south of Lake Buenos Aires probably visit the shores of the lake during the winter time. In the inverse order of things no travellers ever cross the basalt plateau in summer, nor do they visit the lake in winter; we may therefore conclude that the guanaco were in that region unacquainted with man. The following is taken from my diary while we were crossing the plateau:

"December 28.—To-day we saw great numbers of guanaco, many of which have in all probability never before beheld a human being. They were about as tame as English park deer, allowing us to approach on foot to within seventy or eighty yards, and, in the case of the old bucks, to within fifty yards. The females were, of course, much shyer. It was a beautiful sight to watch the great herd leaping up and down the hillside and dashing through the outcrop of black fragments of basalt. The bucks almost invariably kept between us and their females. On some occasions, when I came suddenly round a hill upon a herd, the old buck would gallop up between me and the herd and stalk along, uttering his peculiar neighing cry. There were numbers of young guanacos among these herds. These very quickly attain considerable speed, and at a fortnight old give the hounds some trouble to overtake them. Young guanacos, when cut off from the herd, can be approached by man. This morning I succeeded in galloping between one and the herd to which it belonged. He allowed me, on horseback, to come within six yards, but on a dog appearing in the distance he at once dashed away. Young guanacos, when separated from the herd, will follow a troop of horses, running fearlessly beside the riders."

GUANACOS ON SKY-LINE

In contrast to the above I give a record of another meeting with these animals at a later date. I find in my diary on May 13, 1901, written in the cañadon of the River Katarina at the upper end of the north-west arm of Lake Argentino, as follows:

"I saw two herds of guanacos, which were certainly unacquainted with man. They were extremely wild, not allowing me to approach within six hundred yards. I to-day hunted these guanacos with the idea of observing whether they would take to the water, or perhaps pass into the forest, which was plentiful in patches. They did neither, but kept to the bare cliffs on the edge of the peninsula, and when driven away from the cliffs at one end simply sought the shelter of the cliffs at the other."