THE RIVER VALLEYS
Arbitrary distribution of animals in Patagonia -- Trouble
with Gauchos -- Indian guide -- Germans turned back --
_Cañadon_ of River Senguerr -- Bad weather -- Old Zaino
again causes damage -- Loss of clothes, ammunition, &c.,
in the river -- Shooting upland geese -- River Mayo --
Hailstorm -- A day's sport in Patagonia -- Shooting a wild
cow -- Was it a wild cow? -- Musters' account of wild
cattle -- First meeting with Tehuelche Indians.
In consequence of the visit of the _comisario_ we were somewhat late
in starting from Colohuapi, but nevertheless made a good march of
about fifteen miles, and camped in the valley, after driving the two
horses past a bend of the river that would prevent them from
attempting to break back towards their pasture at Colohuapi. The day
was very warm indeed and the night rather cold, the thermometer at
midday and at night being respectively 74° F. and 37° F.
We were now upon the banks of the River Senguerr, the Senguel of
Captain Musters.
The extraordinary tameness of the upland geese in the neighbourhood of
Colohuapi was very remarkable; they allowed one to approach within
eighty yards before bestirring themselves. After the first day's march
beyond Colohuapi we never saw again any specimen of the Patagonian
cavy (_Dolichotis patagonica_), although round the shores of the lakes
Musters and Colhué these animals abound. It is strange that the
habitat of the cavy should be so sharply defined, considering that
there appears to be no apparent reason, such as alteration of the
nature of the ground or vegetation, to account for the fact. The
armadillo (_Dasypus minutus_), which is found in numbers on the north
bank of the River Santa Cruz, is entirely absent from the south bank,
nor, to my knowledge, has a single specimen ever been secured there.
This instance of the distribution of the armadillo agrees with other
facts of the same kind which are common to Patagonia. The rivers
running from west to east across the continent mark the limit of the
distribution of some of the mammals. Thus I am assured the jaguar
(_Felis onca_) is not to-day found south of the River Negro. And the
puma does not exist in Tierra del Fuego, the dividing water in this
latter instance being the Straits of Magellan. The guanaco, however,
is distributed throughout the whole of Patagonia and also in Tierra
del Fuego. I met with this animal deep inside the Cordillera, and
indeed once, with consecutive shots, I killed a huemul and a guanaco.
About this time it became apparent that neither Fritz nor Hollesen,
the German Gauchos, were very much in love with the hard work and
hardships which they conceived lay before them. It was a favourite
trick of theirs to fall out of the troop on the plea of fixing a
cargo, and then, as soon as we were lost to sight, to sit down and
smoke their pipes; in fact, they had determined to take things easy.
On the evening of our leaving Colohuapi Hollesen asked me for some
cartridges for his revolver, saying that when working under the
Argentine Boundary Commission he had had a quarrel with an Indian
concerning the Indian's wife, and that he feared meeting him, for the
man had sworn to be revenged.
During the night the dogs ate about ten kilos of mutton which we had
brought with us from Colohuapi, although it was wrapped up in a tent,
so the next morning we were forced to breakfast upon an old gander,
that made a very tough and tasteless _puchero_. Our next march was
about six leagues, and that evening an Indian rode into our camp and
offered to guide us across the pampa to Lake Buenos Aires. He was a
Tehuelche, and he told us that some of his tribe were encamped in the
valley of the River Mayo at its junction with the River Chalia. All
the following day, leaving the river and guided by the Indian, we rode
across bare stony pampa devoid of game, and in the evening, after
passing three lagoons, we made our camp round a spring of water. As,
owing to the depredations of the dogs, we had no fresh food, I took
the gun and attempted to stalk a couple of upland geese.
[Illustration: THE GERMANS]
As I was returning unsuccessful, Burbury met me and told me that the
Germans had again been giving him trouble. I was prepared for the
news, as I had noticed they were inclined to shirk work of late,
constantly lingering behind and in every way making themselves
objectionable. On an expedition where there is naturally plenty of
work for every one, it is useless to have men who growl at doing their
fair proportion of it. They were also trying to influence the other
Gauchos, for this trick of deserting at a critical time, when their
services cannot be replaced, is a very old one with _peones_, who on
such occasions can sometimes force their employers into giving them
disproportionately high wages. I was, of course, resolved not to yield
to their demands but to push forward, even if they left us. I
consulted with Burbury, who agreed that we could manage without their
help, though it would leave us awkwardly short-handed.
On arriving at the camp I asked the Germans the reason of their late
behaviour, but they could give me no satisfactory answer, but burst
into a tirade about an inoffensive companion, Barckhausen, which was
obviously only an excuse to cover their real designs. I told them they
must in future behave properly or else leave my camp next morning.
After a certain amount of talk and bluster Fritz said that not only
Hollesen and he but the Welsh _peones_ would in that case turn back.
During the course of the evening I spoke to Jones, who informed me
that Fritz had persuaded him to desert, but on my pointing out that
this would not be a very wise proceeding, he at once threw in his lot
with us.
In the morning, finding I was of the same mind, the Germans again
informed me of their wish to turn back. I therefore gave them food to
last them upon their journey to civilisation, as well as the worst
buck-jumper of the troop, and told them to leave the camp as soon as
possible. Fritz, after some further talk and after remarking to
Hollesen in German that they had better have stayed after all, climbed
on to the horse and rode away.
The Germans at the outset had been admirable workers, apart from their
cunning, which tinged most of their conduct. Yet perhaps, if they had
gone on with us, we might have paid for Hollesen's misdoings with the
Indians, by getting into trouble with the tribe who had saved his life
and whom he had so scurvily requited. As it happened, a few days later
we came upon the very tribe with whom he had had to do.
I will now take some extracts from my diary:
"_October 28._--The Germans left us this morning. I think we shall be
all the better without them. Immediately on their departure I
determined to march to the _cañadon_ or valley of the River Senguerr,
giving up the route suggested by the Indian, as it was likely that the
horses would stray upon the pampa. It was necessary to decrease the
weight of some of our cargo, which we at once set about doing. The
reason for this was that, having so few men, each pair of us would
have to look after six _cargueros_, or pack-horses, and we were
consequently obliged to lessen their number.
"While we were getting ready a thin rain and a yelling wind came down
the _cañadon_ as we started to catch the horses. The salt marsh over
which the Germans had gone lay behind us, and ahead were shallow
lagoons around which the tussocks whistled in the wind. But I think we
none of us noticed the inclemency of the weather, we were soaked to
the skin as we worked, and in an hour and a half--a record as to time
in cargoing up even with the aid of the men who had gone--we had
loaded the last _carguero_ of the twelve, and with extra ropes hanging
to the saddles, a brandy bottle protruding from each of the pockets of
Barckhausen and with Jones perched high and stirrupless upon a sack of
beans, we set off."
Providentially, not a single cargo shifted, although we covered
something like fourteen miles. I should have mentioned that one of the
reasons which weighed with me in again seeking the _cañadon_ of the
River Senguerr was the fact that four of the horses had strayed in the
night. It was our intention to camp as soon as we reached a suitable
place in the valley and to scour the country for the lost horses.
This, however, turned out not to be necessary, as we came right upon
the truants grazing in the mouth of a small rift in the cliff of the
_cañadon_. One of them cantered out with a neigh to meet the troop
upon the hillside.
It rained so heavily in the night that we put up the tent and were
glad of its warm shelter. Morning came with pearl-grey mists in the
valley. We worked like slaves, and our hands became very sore with the
new cargo-ropes.
[Illustration: RIVER SENGUERR, WHERE DISASTER OVERTOOK US]
The next day, had I but known it, marked the last of our misfortunes,
for after that we enjoyed as good luck as we had hitherto experienced
the reverse.
We spent most of the morning in slowly marching a couple of leagues,
and then Scrivenor, who was leading, came back to say that our way was
barred by a sheer cliff, close under which the river ran. Burbury,
however, was of the opinion that it would be easier to proceed than to
attempt to scale the tall _barranca_, which was our only alternative
choice. We straggled across the half-dry marshy grass that fringed the
river-bed, which here winds greatly.
Presently we climbed on to a steep slope on the cliffs, where directly
below us the river ran with a current of about three knots. The
passage along this slope was very difficult, and we were driving the
horses with infinite care. The face of the cliff was scarred with the
traces of a landslip. One of the horses, the Old Zaino, so called not
because of any weight of years, but on account of the gravity of his
demeanour, climbed up and up, in spite of all our efforts, among the
shifting earth and loose stones until he was some hundred feet above
the main body of the troop. He was a tall, ewe-necked animal, and
always bore an exasperating expression of insulted dignity. He was
carrying a cargo of flour.
When he had, in his own opinion, managed to get sufficiently ahead of
his companions, he stopped dead and looked down upon us with a baleful
eye as we toiled beneath him. Then suddenly, but methodically, he
began to descend towards us in a succession of devastating bucks. No
cargo, tied with ropes, could withstand such treatment. The _cinch_
gave way, and he and his pack arrived simultaneously in the middle of
the troop.
[Illustration: THE OLD ZAINO]
He cannoned against a black horse carrying ammunition and oatmeal, and
it began to slide down the cliff towards the river on its haunches.
The remainder of the horses stampeded, some fell, some got into
impossible positions.... For several minutes the big black horse hung
within measurable distance of violent death upon the rocks below, but
Barckhausen made a great effort to save him, and succeeded, though the
cargo was kicked off in a most perilous place. Only a guanaco track
led along the steep hillside, and over the edge of the slope our
belongings dropped into the river a hundred feet below. Each lifted a
small cloud of spray as it fell and floated serenely away on the
current or sank from sight. The water was dotted with the various
packages. All Burbury's clothes, some of mine, flour, oatmeal, a case
of corned beef, six hundred rounds of ammunition, and the
concertina--these were among our losses.
A salvage-party was at once despatched to attempt the rescue of such
of our goods as were still swimming, while the rest of us collected
the horses and returned with a sufficiency of ropes to enable us to
get down the cliff, for upon the ragged edge left by the landslip and
overhanging the river some of our things had lodged. We felt that we
were for the time being out of luck. We had not long lost the waggon,
and now followed the losing of important stores and the yet more
important ammunition. We knotted together eight of the cargo-ropes,
and while Scrivenor and I were doing this, Barckhausen retrieved one
of the boxes of ammunition, and told us that there were a couple more
farther down, and out of reach, he feared, which had stuck in the soft
earth of the landslip. However, with the aid of the rope I managed to
bring both up to safe ground.
[Illustration: THE GUANACO (AN INTIMATE OF THE OLD ZAINO'S)]
"During this time we could see Burbury and Jones far away in the
valley, where the river narrowed and the current swinging near the
bank offered a hopeful chance of catching the floating articles. They
succeeded in dragging ashore most of the packages, but Burbury's
clothes, which were in a brown waterproof bag, sank, the bag, I fancy,
having filled with water. Our total losses thus amounted to 200
12-bore cartridges, a tin of Mauser ammunition, a 25-kilo bag of
oatmeal, and the clothes. On the whole we could not help thinking
things might have been very much worse.
"The horses had meantime come to a standstill in a patch of high grass
farther along beneath the _barranca_, and there we rounded them up and
re-cargoed.
"When this was done it was found that we had another place, almost as
difficult as that upon which we had come to grief, to surmount. This
time, however, Burbury led a horse in front, and the others followed
meekly in his track. We had wasted several hours in negotiating the
first _barranca_, and it was soon time to camp. As we had no meat, I
went to see if I could not kill some geese (_Chloephaga magellanica_),
which I had observed upon a neck of land, that stretched out into the
river. There were five geese, and I was lucky enough to kill two,
both females, which are very much more tender than the males. On one
side of the camp was a chain of small lagoons, evidently formed by the
overflow of the river, and in one of these I saw a flock of brown
pintails. These were easily stalked behind the rushes, and the
discharge of two barrels of the 12-bore left five upon the water. At
dark a storm of rain blew up.
[Illustration: THE ALAZAN COLT (NEARLY KILLED ON THE SENGUERR)]
"_October 30._--This cargoing work is very wearisome, and has got upon
our nerves. Even in one's sleep one sees the reeling, writhing mass of
kicking and struggling _cargueros_ on the white and ragged-sided
_barranca_.[6] Got off at 10.30 and reached the River Mayo, a very
small stream here, flowing through a wide valley lined by bare steep
cliffs 200 feet or so in height. We are all becoming quite expert with
the cargoes; Burbury and Barckhausen, and Jones and I work in pairs.
The newness has now worn off the ropes, and hauling on them does not
any longer cut our hands. Still an occasional cargo shifts, and the
horse, wildly refusing to be caught, gallops away kicking at his
cargo. Thus did the Alazan to-day, scattering Mauser ammunition among
the bushes, and kicking the spout from our last kettle, so that we can
only fill it half full.
"There is comparatively little game in this bit of country, few
guanaco, and those very wild because of the Indians, whose beat we are
now approaching. When there is rain, which fortunately is not often,
we have to carry our change of clothing upon our saddles to dry them.
To-day Jones was very much loaded up with his extra breeches and top
boots, that were wet, a gun-cover, fifty rounds of ammunition dropped
by the Alazan, two ducks, a telescope, and a water-bottle!
"_October 31._--Soon after we started a big cloud blew out of the
south and brought with it a heavy hailstorm, which whistled before a
driving wind. The horses would not face it, but huddled together in
the centre of the valley. We encamped early as we needed meat. Jones
and I left the camp here among the sand-dunes in the valley and went
a-hunting. We rode up a _cañadon_, in the centre of which our horses
foundered in some very bad ground. Getting out of this we struck a
stretch of desolate pampa, across which we cut towards the big
_cañadon_ of the Mayo in order to explore the route which we must
follow upon the morrow. To my surprise we presently came to a clear
stream, flowing through another wide _cañadon_, which joined the Mayo
from a south-westerly direction. Can this be the River Genguel? The
Indian guide told us that it would take us a month to get from here to
Lake Buenos Aires. If it is the Genguel, however, we should arrive at
the lake in ten marches--a very different matter. It would be as well
to halt to-morrow for the day, so that an observation may be taken to
determine this point, and also to enable us to go hunting, as we have
but one duck in the camp, and, since our losses at the Senguerr
_barranca_, it is more than ever necessary to save our stock of tinned
provisions.
"To-day the Old Zaino, this time fortunately not carrying a cargo,
again attempted to repeat his trick of the Senguerr _barranca_, but
was circumvented by Burbury and Barckhausen.
"_November 1._--To-day Scrivenor shot the sun 70° 56´ W. long, and 45°
39´ S. lat. So the river we saw yesterday is the Genguel, which is
excellent. Jones and I went out to shoot for the pot. As there were no
guanaco in the neighbourhood, he took the Paradox and I my 12-bore,
and we confined ourselves to following some flocks of upland geese
which we had observed in the valley. I will describe the day's sport
at length, as it was very typical of Patagonian wild-fowl shooting in
a fairly good district.
"We rode our horses, of course, I taking the Cruzado and Jones
'J.V.E.' a small brown animal, so called because he bears that brand
upon his flank. The first geese we came upon were a party of five
standing upon an island in the Mayo. As it was impossible to stalk
these birds we tried driving, and I sent Humphrey Jones, who, by the
way, was a very keen sportsman, to attempt to drive them over me,
where I had taken up my quarters in some bushes upstream above them on
the bank. Jones meantime made a large circle and galloped up towards
them. When he was within about 200 yards they rose, and honking
indignantly made straight up in my direction, flying, however, a
little too wide. They went down again about a quarter of a mile away,
and we repeated our tactics, I remaining where I was. I could not help
thinking how much time was saved by Jones being on horseback. Had he
been on foot it would have taken him a long time in that bare valley
to fetch a circle big enough. As it was, in five minutes the birds
were again on the wing, and this time they gave me a chance and I
brought down two; one, however, falling on the other side of the
river, had to be abandoned."
Any one who travels through Patagonia cannot fail to be struck by the
enormous quantities of upland geese (_Chloephaga magellanica_) which
abound in the vicinity of the rivers and lagoons. At this time a great
many of the birds are paired, but at a latter date in the valley of
the Coyly we once made a camp round which the country in all
directions was covered by thousands of these geese. After our shot
Jones rejoined me and we proceeded to the edge of a small lagoon,
where he told me he had seen some ducks. On approaching it I examined
the birds through my telescope and discovered them to be brown
pintails (_Dafila spinicauda_). I held the horses while Jones enjoyed
the stalk, which ended in his killing two of the birds, to retrieve
which it was necessary to wade into pretty deep water.
We now rode towards the valley of the Genguel, and there flushed
innumerable snipe, at which we did not shoot, as we could not afford
to waste ammunition on so small a bird. We next descried a flock of
nineteen geese, which were peculiarly wideawake and would not allow us
to approach for a long time, and presently we deserted their pursuit
in favour of that of a single old gander that was standing upon the
shingle beside the river. I got up quite close to this bird and had a
rising shot at him as he flew across the stream. I killed him quite
dead, but it seemed impossible to retrieve him, and we were rather
disconsolately watching his body drift away when it struck us that
Jones, who was very clever with the lasso, might manage to recover it
at a point where the current brought it within reach of our side. We
therefore galloped parallel to the bird along the bank, and after one
or two ineffectual efforts, Jones succeeded in getting the lasso round
him, and so dragged him in.
[Illustration: WILDGOOSE CAMP]
"We next had lunch which consisted of _maté_. As we sat waiting for
the kettle to boil, several blue-winged teal (_Querquedula
cyanoptera_) passed over us and went down in a small marsh towards the
Genguel. After these Jones had another stalk, and killed two. As he
was returning a couple of geese flew over at about thirty-five yards
distance, and he dropped the female quite dead. It is extraordinary
what an amount of shot these geese will in a general way carry off
with them. For all my shooting in Patagonia I used No. 4 shot and 26
gr. of ballistite. The gun which I used most was a 12-bore moderately
choked in both barrels, and this I found answered every purpose of
wild-fowl shooting in Patagonia excellently.
[Illustration: BAD STALKING (CALIFATE-BUSH ON PAMPA)]
"At reasonable ranges a number of black-necked swans (_Cygnus
nigricollis_) fell to this weapon.
"After picking up the goose, we again turned our attention to the
nineteen that I have mentioned earlier. They then went on a good
distance downstream, and here, under cover of the rushes, we stalked
up within twenty yards of them, and shot three as they rose. One of
the flock swung back, and both of us fired at him, bringing him down.
Thinking we had enough geese, we decided to follow the ducks, which we
did in a rather desultory manner. We bagged two more, both pintails,
before we returned to camp in the evening, having had a very pleasant
day's sport."
Although I never attempted to make a big bag upon any day during the
time I spent in Patagonia, yet, no doubt, an enormous quantity of
geese could be shot in a single day. Quite close to the settlements a
couple of hundred might be secured by two guns in a day, and during
the migration a far greater number.
The whole of the valley of the River Chico is excellent for
wild-fowling, and I expected the numbers of birds to increase as we
drew nearer to Lake Buenos Aires. And certainly in the _cañadon_ of
the River Deseado I was not disappointed, but of that I will write in
its due place.
On November 2 we resumed our march, still following the valley of the
Mayo, past the scenes of our sport of the previous day. A little after
midday Jones saw a whitish object among some bushes at the edge of the
river and asked my leave to go and see what it was. Presently he came
riding back to say it was a wild cow and that he had observed her
through the glasses. She was nearly a mile distant, and, taking my
rifle, I rode off with Jones and we stalked her to about 200 yards. We
again examined her carefully through the telescope, and seeing that
she was five or six years old and unbranded, the fact of her belonging
to a wild herd rather than being a truant escaped from the settlements
two hundred miles away appeared to be certain. It was with
considerable keenness that we crawled up nearer, as wild cattle afford
the best sport of all Patagonian animals.
These wild cattle have some of them been wild for many generations,
their remote ancestors probably being the herds which the Spaniards
originally possessed in the Valdez Peninsula on the east coast during
the earlier occupation of Patagonia. Since then from time to time
numbers of cattle escape from the coast-farms and run wild, and,
joining the older free herds, breed wild. Such herds are still to be
found in considerable numbers among the foot-hills of the Cordillera.
Musters in his book gives an account of meeting with a wild bull. "We
had expected before reaching this point to have found cattle in
considerable numbers, but the warmth of the day had probably driven
them into the thickets to seek shelter..... Presently ... after riding
about a mile, I espied two bulls. Two men were sent round to endeavour
to drive the animals to a clearing where it would be possible to use
the lassoo.... At the end of five minutes ... a yell from the other
side put us anxiously on the alert, and we had the gratification to
see one of the animals coming straight towards our cover. Alas! just
as we were preparing to dash out, he turned on the edge of the plain,
and after charging furiously at his pursuer dashed into a thicket,
where he stood at bay. We immediately closed round him, and
dismounting, I advanced on foot to try and bring him down with a
revolver. Just as I got within half a dozen paces of him, and behind a
bush was quietly taking aim at his shoulder, the Indians, eager for
beef, and safe on their horses at a considerable distance off,
shouted, 'Nearer, nearer!' I accordingly slipped from my cover, but
had hardly moved a pace forward when my spur caught in a root, and at
the same moment _el Toro_ charged. Entangled with the root, I could
not jump on one side as he came on; so, when within a yard I fired a
shot in his face, hoping to turn him, and wheeled my body at the same
instant to prevent his horns from catching me, as the sailors say,
'broadside on.' The shot did not stop him, so I was knocked down, and,
galloping over me, he passed on with my handkerchief, which fell from
my head, triumphantly borne on his horns, and stopped a few yards off
under another bush. Having picked myself up and found my legs and arms
all right, I gave him another shot, which, as my hand was rather
unsteady, only took effect in the flank. My cartridges being
exhausted, I returned to my horse and found that, besides being
considerably shaken, two of my ribs had been broken by the encounter.
"The Indians closed round me, and evinced great anxiety to know
whether I was much hurt. One, more courageous than the rest, despite
the warning of the cacique, swore he would try and lasso the brute,
and, accordingly, approached the infuriated animal, who for a moment
or two showed no signs of stirring; just, however, as the Indian was
about to throw his lasso, it caught in a branch, and before he could
extricate it the bull was upon him. We saw the horse give two or three
vicious kicks as the bull gored him. At length he was lifted clean up,
the fore-legs alone remaining on the ground, and overthrown, the rider
alighting on his head in a bush. We closed up and attracted the
bull in another direction, then went to look for the corpse of our
comrade, who, however, to our surprise, issued safe from the bush,
where he had lain quiet and unhurt, though the horse was killed. This
little incident cast a gloom over our day's pleasure, and lost us our
Christmas dinner, as Orkeke ordered a retreat to the spot where we had
left our mantles, although we tried to persuade him to attack the
beast again, or, at any rate, remain and eat some of the dead horse,
and try our luck next day, but he was inflexible.... On our way across
the plain previously described, wild cattle were seen, and one chased;
but he, although balled by Orkeke, contrived to slip the _bolas_, and
escaping to cover, stood to bay, where he was left master of the
field."
[Illustration: A DAUGHTER OF THE TOLDOS]
In the present instance, however, nothing at all exciting was in store
for us. My first bullet struck the cow behind the shoulder a little
high, she went down upon her knees, and a second shot brought her to
the ground. On our approaching she staggered to her feet, whereupon
Jones gave her a shot in the brain. We then set about grallocking and
skinning our quarry, and were delighted to find that she carried a
good deal of fat. We were at the time running very short of this
essential article of diet, for, as has been said, the guanacos supply
none at this season of the year, when they are still in poor condition
after the hardships of the winter.
When we had finished cutting up the meat, we packed it as well as we
could upon our saddles and rode away. The amount of meat with which we
had laden our saddles made them extremely uncomfortable; this was very
much so in my own case, as I was riding a little black horse whose
temper was not of the sweetest, and which had been but seldom ridden
since our start, and was consequently very fresh and skittish. We had
spent a long time over our task of cutting up the cow, and the troop
had gone far ahead. After riding about an hour we saw a white bull
upon the hillside above us, but on using the telescope perceived it
carried a brand upon its flank. We therefore left it in peace.
A little later, as we were riding under the western _barranca_ of the
_cañadon_ of the River Mayo, we came upon some fairly fresh tracks of
sheep. This fact, taken in conjunction with the appearance of the
white bull, made me begin to wonder whether it was possible that the
cow I had shot might not prove to be a tame one. We pushed on more
rapidly, the tracks growing sharper and more distinct. Presently the
tracks began to run into beaten lines, and such always mean in
Patagonia that man is not far off. As we rode we discussed the chances
as to who the owners of the sheep would turn out to be, and this we
found sufficiently exciting, as we had beheld no strange face for many
a day.
Very soon, as we rode round a curve of the cliff, we came in sight of
five armadillo-shaped tents lying snugly in the valley. We had not
expected to come upon the Indians, who, so our guide had told us, were
in the valley of the River Mayo, until some time later, but this was
undoubtedly the encampment to which he had alluded. A number of sheep
and of horses, together with a small herd of cattle, proved them to be
an unusually rich tribe.
The remainder of our party, on sighting the huts of the Tehuelches,
had halted and were waiting for my arrival. We now rode together in
the direction of the tents, and, while we were yet afar off, the
hounds about the squat tents broke into a chorus of barking. As we
drew nearer we could see that the tall figures, wrapped in
guanaco-skins, were standing in the openings of the _toldos_, on the
look-out for the arrival whose presence had been heralded by the dogs.
The sun was setting by this time over the high cliffs of the
_cañadon_, and the _toldos_ threw lengthened shadows upon the ground.
When we came within a short distance, the Indians stepped forward,
finely developed men, of a swarthy brown, with high cheek-bones, their
coarse black hair falling round their faces, and tied about the brows
with a red band. The tents seemed to be full to overflowing of old
women and lean hounds, all huddled together upon the ground, and a
crowd of curious faces peeped forth. The _toldos_ were made of
guanaco-skins, sewn loosely at their edges, and supported squarely on
awkward-looking props or posts, forked at the top to admit the
ridge-poles. The skins were fastened to the earth outside with wooden
pegs. These dwellings appeared to be anything but weather-proof, for
at the seams and lower edges were gaping slits, through which the sky
or the ground was visible. As to the shape of the _toldos_, if you can
imagine a very squat, deep-draught boat, cut off at rather beyond the
half of her length, and turned upside down, you will have some idea of
their appearance. On the roof, and about the wooden props, pieces of
guanaco-meat had been hung out to dry in the sun. Within, as I have
said, upon the skins which strewed the floor the dogs and grandmothers
of the tribe were mingled.
[Illustration: WATI! WATI! (TEHUELCHE EXCLAMATION OF SURPRISE)]
It was our first experience of a Tehuelche encampment, and perhaps the
most remarkable feature of it was the presence, in one form or
another, of the guanaco. Some of his flesh was cooking at a fire
outside the tents, the _toldos_ themselves were composed of his pelts,
the ponchos which some of the women were weaving were made from his
wool, the boots were formed of his neck-skin, some of the horse-gear
of his hide, the men's _capas_ of his skin, while dogs, men, and women
alike were fattened upon the food he provided. As I stood there,
examining all these things, my mind kept running upon the cow which I
had killed, and which I was now more than half afraid might have
belonged to the Indians. If such proved to be the case, I knew that
they would resent it very bitterly, and even perhaps attempt to make
some sort of reprisals upon our horses. The idea of saying nothing
about it, were my surmise as to the chance of its having been their
property correct, struck me as being the least troublesome course to
pursue; but nothing is more abhorrent than dealing in this way with
aboriginal tribes. Personally, I should look upon picking the pocket
of a civilised person as, in comparison, almost a meritorious action.
I may as well say at once that I told them of the matter of the cow
through the _vaqueano_ or guide whom I hired from their tents, and
offered to pay for it if it happened to be their property. The
_vaqueano_, however, said that no cow of that colour belonged to their
herd, and, taking into consideration that she was six years old and
unmarked, I made my mind easy on this point.
I shall now break off from the thread of my narrative and give a
description of the Tehuelches, detailing the facts which I gathered
about them during my residence in Patagonia. I will only preface it by
saying that few peoples are more interesting to study than the
Tehuelches, of whom various travellers have given such widely
differing accounts.
FOOTNOTE:
[6] Any traveller, settler or cattleman who is acquainted with the
vagaries of _cargueros_ will understand our position. Some of the
horses which we used as _cargueros_ had never before had a saddle upon
their backs.
[Illustration: INDIAN _TOLDO_]