PATAGONIANS HUNTING GAME.
(See [page 1181].)
As soon as the animals are fairly on the hill, the hunters spread out so as to enclose them in a semicircle, and then dash forward, driving the herd up the hill. The detached band on the other side, as soon as they hear the shouts, spread themselves out in a similar manner, the two bodies completely surrounding the hill, so that when the guanacos reach the summit they find themselves environed by enemies.
After the usual custom in such cases, the guanacos lose all presence of mind, some running one way, some another, mutually hindering each other’s escape, so that the hunters are able to pierce with their long spears the finest animals, and thus secure in a very short space of time so great a number, that they are amply supplied with skins and meat.
Although they carry the spear on these occasions, they are not without the bolas, it being used for capturing the young guanacos, which are kept in a domesticated state like sheep. Now and then a guanaco, which possesses more sense than its comrades, takes a line of its own, and dashes through the circle of its enemies. Still it has but little chance of escaping, for round the circle of horsemen there is another circle of men on foot, accompanied by dogs. As soon as a guanaco breaks through the first circle, it is instantly seized by the dogs, which terrify it to such an extent that it is unable to move, and neither tries to escape nor resist.
On the preceding page is a spirited [engraving] which represents Patagonian scenery, and the natives in their favorite pursuit of hunting game. The hot chase, the flying bolas, the bewildered guanacos are vividly pictured.
The young guanacos which have been mentioned as being domesticated are not solely intended to furnish food, or even bred merely for the sake of their skins. They are employed for the sake of decoying the adult animals. Taking the young guanaco to the feeding grounds, the hunter ties it to a bush, and then conceals himself behind it. By imitating the mother’s cry, he induces the captive to utter the plaintive bleating sound by which a young one calls for its mother. This is a sound which the adult guanacos cannot resist, and as soon as they come within twenty yards or so of the bush, the bolas is launched, and the animal at which it is aimed falls to the ground, enveloped in the fatal coils.
The power of the bolas is eminently shown in the chase of the rhea, or American ostrich. This bird is as swift and wary as the true African ostrich, and, but for the bolas, the hunters would scarcely be able to secure it. In the chase of this bird the Patagonians employ the same device which is used in capturing the guanacos. They know that the rhea shares with the guanaco the tendency to become confused and uncertain in its movements when it is pressed simultaneously from opposite directions. They therefore try to surround the herd and converge upon it, or, at all events, two or three of them attack it from opposite quarters, driving it first one way and then another, so that the bird becomes so perplexed that it cannot make up its mind to run in one direction, and escape its foes by its superior speed, but allows them to come within range of the bolas, when its fate is sealed.
The hunters also know that, in common with all the ostrich tribe, and, indeed, with many wild animal of chase, the rhea always runs against the wind. It is therefore easy for them to ascertain the direction which the bird will take, and by sending two or three horsemen several miles windward the retreat of the bird is easily cut off. The Patagonian can even kill the little cavies with the bolas, so accurate is his aim.
The reader may easily imagine that such a weapon as this would be serviceable in warfare. When the Patagonian uses it in battle, he does not always fling it, apparently because he does not like to deprive himself of his weapon. Sometimes he dashes alongside of a foe, and throws one of the balls at him, just as if he were throwing a stone, retaining the other ball in his hand, so as to recover the weapon after the blow has sped. When the Patagonian carries the three-ball bolas, which has already been described, he uses the third ball, which, as may be remembered, is attached to the longest thong, as an English robber uses his “life-preserver,” or an American his “slung-shot.”
Another mode of procuring game is practised by the Patagonians, and is identical with that which is used by the North Africans in taking the partridge, the South Africans in killing the bustard, as well as by the inhabitants of other parts of the earth. There is a sort of partridge which is common on the plains, and is called the Pampas partridge. Its scientific name is Nothuria major. The weapon, or rather implement, required for this sport is a very simple one. It is nothing more than a light reed, some eight feet in length, at the end of which is a noose composed of a strip cut from the side of a long feather. This noose has sufficient pliability to be drawn tight when pulled and sufficient elasticity to keep itself open.