if I;
the same herd. Although so tame and inquisitive, yet
when approached on horseback, they are exceedingly wary.
In this country nobody goes on foot, and the deer knows
man as its enemy, only when he is mounted and armed with
the bolas. At Bahia Blanca, a recent establishment m
Northern Patagonia, I was surprised to find how little the
deer cared for the noise of a gun: one day I fired ten times,
from within eighty yards, at one animal; and it was much
more startled at the ball cutting up the ground than at the
report of the rifle. My powder being exhausted, I was
obliged (to my shame as a sportsman be it spoken), to get
up and halloo till the deer ran away. ^ ■
The most curious fact with respect to this animal, is
the overpoweringly strong and offensive odour which proceeds
from the buck. It is quite indescribable: several
times whilst skinning the specimen which is now mounted
at the Zoological Museum, I was almost overcome by
nausea. I tied up the skin in a silk pocket-handkerchief,
and so carried it home: this handkerchief, after being well
washed, I continually used, and it was, of course, as repeatedly
washed; yet every time, for a space of one year
and seven months, when first unfolded, I distinctly pei-
ceived the odour. This appears an astonishing instance
of the permanence of some matter, which in ffs nature,
nevertheless, must be most subtile and volatile. Frequently,
when passing at the distance of half a mile to leeward
of a herd, I have perceived the whole air tainted with
the effluvium. I believe the smell from the buck is most
powerful at the period when its horns are perfect, or tree
f em the hairy skin. When in this state the meat is, of
course, quite uneatable; but the Gauchos assert, that if
buried for some time in fresh earth, the tamt is removed,
have somewhere read that the islanders in the north of Scotland
treat the rank carcasses of the fish-eating birds m the
same manner. . . .
The order Rodentia is here very numerous m species ; ot
mice alone I obtained no less than eight kinds.* The largest
gnawing animal in the world, the Hydrochærus Cnpybara
(the water-hog), is here also common. One which I shot at
Monte Video weighed ninety-eight pounds : its length, from
the end of the snout to the stump-like tail, was three feet
two inches; and its girth, three feet eight. These great
Rodents are generally called “ carpinchos :” they occasionally
frequent the islands in the mouth of the Plata, where
the water is quite salt, but are far more abundant on the
borders of fresh-water lakes and rivers. Near Maldonado
three or four generally live together. In the daytime they
either lie among the aquatic plants, or openly feed on the
turf plain.t When viewed at a distance, from their manner
of walking and colour, they resemble pigs : hut when seated
on their haunches, and attentively watching any object with
one eye, they reassume the appearance of their congeners,
the cavies. Both the front and side view of their head has
quite a ludicrous aspect, from the great depth of their jaw.
These animals, at Maldonado, were very tame ; by cautiously
walking, I approached within three yards of four old ones.
This tameness may probably be accounted for, by the Jaguar
having been banished for some years, and by the Gaucho not
thinking it worth his while to hunt them. As I approached
nearer and nearer they frequently made their peculiar noise,
which is a low abrupt grunt ; not having much actual sound,"
* T h e s e h a v e b e e n n am e d a n d d e s c rib ed b y M r. W a te rh o u s e a t th e
m e e t in g o f th e Z o o lo g ic a l S o c ie ty . I m u s t b e a llow e d to t a k e th is o p p
o r tu n i ty o f r e tu r n in g m y c o rd ia l th a n k s to M r. W a te rh o u s e , a n d to th e
o th e r g e n tlem e n a tta c h e d to t h a t S o c iety , fo r th e i r k in d a n d m o s t lib e r a l
a s sis ta n c e o n a ll occasions.
t I n th e s tom a c h a n d d u o d e n um o f a c a rp in c lio w h ic h I o p e n e d I
fo u n d a v e ry la rg e q u a n tity o f a th in y e llow ish flu id , in w h ic h s c a r c e l) a
h b r e c o u ld b e d is tin g u ish e d . M r, O w e n in fo rm s m e t h a t a p a r t o f th e
oe so p h a g u s is so c o n s tru c te d , t h a t n o th in g m u c h la rg e r th a n a c row q u ill
c a n b e p a s se d d ow n . C e r ta in ly th e b ro a d t e e t h a n d s tro n g jaw s o f th is
a n im a l a r e well fitte d to g r in d in to p u lp th e a q u a ti c p la n ts o n w h ic h it
!! : I
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