Again, on the tableland between the River de los Antiguos and the River Jeinemeni the guanacos were extraordinarily tame. Only one traveller had been there before us (Mr. Waag). The guanacos permitted us to advance to within two hundred yards, and one, which was lying down, allowed me to come within sixty paces walking upright. At this distance I determined to see what effect the crawling attitude would produce, and for this purpose I retreated and again approached, this time on my hands and knees. I was still one hundred and fifty yards from the animal when he got up, and I had not proceeded many steps nearer before he bounded away. From this instance it may be deduced that while the herd evidently understood and feared the approach of predatory enemies in a crouching attitude, man upright in his natural position inspired relatively little fear but rather curiosity, for the guanaco remained lying down and staring at me as long as I appeared walking towards him.
On yet another occasion in the cañadon of the River Katarina, the first sight that a herd, seventeen strong, had of us, was when we were on board the launch. They raced up to the bank of the river and stared at us, only darting off ten or twelve paces when the irrepressible Bernardo saluted them with a whistle. Shortly afterwards we anchored and went ashore, but the guanacos would not allow us on foot to approach within half a mile, although when we were hidden they returned to the neighbourhood of the launch without fear. In the evening they retired far up the valley, where I again saw them upon the following day. They were very timid, and I could get no nearer to them than three hundred yards, although I made one or two attempts to do so.
There was one point which was distinctly noticeable, and which these observations bear out. Guanacos, unacquainted with man, will allow him to approach in the first instance much closer if he happens to be accompanied by a troop of horses, as was the case with us in our experience of the herds on the basalt plateau. In fact, guanacos will reconnoitre a troop of horses, even though there may be men among them, at a very much shorter distance than they will venture upon with regard to a camp or a group of men without horses.
Districts where the Indians hunt the guanaco may be passed over as having no bearing on the subject in hand. There the herds are, of course, extremely wild and hard of approach. But it is interesting to note that near the coast, where there are numbers of guanaco, they are comparatively tame. Shepherds on horseback from the farms pass and repass within sight of the herds, who grow accustomed to the experience and become easy of access to within one hundred yards.[25]
One day in the October of 1900, when at the farm of Mr. Greenshields at Bahia Camerones, I took a long ride through the cañadones where the shepherds were wont to pass. Again and again the guanaco herds allowed me to ride up close to them, and I invariably found that a single animal was shyer of approach than a herd.
Guanacos are very easily domesticated, and in time become obtrusively playful and affectionate. It is a favourite trick with them to come behind their human friends rearing and striking them in the back with their knees, which results in a more or less painful fall.
Curiosity is a largely developed mental characteristic in the feræ naturæ of Patagonia. The first and overwhelming impulse of nearly all the wild creatures (the ostrich, Rhea darwini, excepted) appeared to be to investigate the aspect and actions of man. Upon the coast-farms the guanaco, grown blasé by familiarity, will not take any interest in man's movements unless he indulges in some unusual and fantastic antics, such as lying on his back and kicking his legs in the air. Then an otherwise indifferent herd will gather and watch the proceedings with much attention.
As far as my experience goes, no wild creature, save the ostrich, on first beholding man, straightway travels out of sight. All the others, according to whether they naturally are shy or the reverse, retire to a more or less remote distance, and from there watch the doings of the intruder upon their solitudes.
Of Patagonian game the least hunted is the deer of the Andes (Xenelaphus bisulcus). We came in contact with these animals both near Lake Buenos Aires and Lake Argentino. At the former place, my friend, Mr. Waag, had marched through the Gorge of the River de los Antiguos, where most of my observations were made. As he was working very hard on his geographical surveys at the time, he did not shoot much, and I think it more than probable that man was an unknown factor of existence to the huemules of that region before we came upon the scene.
My observations of huemules consistently show that their first attitude towards man is one of curiosity and confidence. I instance some cases to bear out this assertion.