Chilihueques were much used as beasts of burden before the introduction of mules, but these animals have now nearly superseded them, from their greater strength. The llama and alpaco, are not known in the Chilian Andes, and the three species we have described, though evidently of the same genus, never copulate with each other, and are seldom observed in the same place.
The puda is a kind of wild goat of the size of a half grown kid, with brown hair, the male having small horns; these creatures come down in very numerous flocks from the mountains as soon as winter approaches, in order to feed in the plains; they are then killed in great numbers by the inhabitants for food, and caught for domestication, to which state they are very easily brought, and are said to be very fond of playing with children.
The guemul inhabits the most inaccessible parts of the Andes. It resembles the horse in some particulars and the ass in others, but is not the produce of either, and is most probably another variety of the Peruvian camel.
The vizcacha is an animal resembling the rabbit and the fox. It is larger than the latter, and its fur being very fine and soft, is used for the manufacture of hats. The cuy, is another species of rabbit, but much smaller, not exceeding the size of the field mouse, and it is occasionally domesticated.
The armadillo, of which there are three kinds, in Chili, the four banded, the eight banded, and the eleven banded; the eight banded being common in the valleys of the Andes, and are of various sizes, from six to thirteen inches in length, covered with a thick bony defensive armour which is so minutely jointed that they can roll themselves up as the English hedge-hog does. The armadilloes are elegant and inoffensive little animals.
The degu, is a kind of dormouse; and the maulin wood-mouse is exactly like a mouse, but so large that it resists the attacks of the dogs; and there are several other kinds of mice peculiar to the country, all of which differ in their habits, and in other points from the European animals of the same name.
The pagi, or Chilian puma, is nearly the same as the puma, or cougouar of La Plata, and the mitzli of Mexico; it is named the American lion by the Spaniards, but it resembles that creature only in its shape and roar, having no mane.
The hair on the upper part of the body is ash-coloured with yellow spots, and very long, and the belly is dusky white. Its length, from the nose to the root of the tail, is about five feet; and its height, from the sole of the foot to the shoulder, near two feet three inches. The ears are short and pointed, the eyes large, the mouth wide and deep, and well furnished with sharp teeth; the paws have each five toes, armed with very strong claws, and the tail is upwards of two feet long.
The female is less than the male, of a paler colour, carries her young three months, and brings forth two cubs at a time. It inhabits the thickest forests and the most inaccessible mountains, from whence it issues to attack the domestic animals roaming in the plains, preferring the flesh of the horse to any other. Its mode of seizing its prey is similar to that of the tiger; and it is not uncommon for this formidable creature to carry off two horses at a time, as they are often linked together in the pasture. It kills one, and dragging it along obliges the other to follow by lashing it with its tail.
The pagi is said never to attack man unless provoked, but it has been proved, by several intelligent travellers, that the lions and tigers of America are sometimes as ferocious and destructive as those of Africa.