The Next Day The Country Continued Similar To That Above
Described.
It is inhabited by few birds or animals of any
kind.
Occasionally a deer, or a Guanaco (wild Llama) may
be seen; but the Agouti (Cavia Patagonica) is the commonest
quadruped. This animal here represents our hares. It
differs, however, from that genus in many essential respects;
for instance, it has only three toes behind. It is also nearly
twice the size, weighing from twenty to twenty-five pounds.
The Agouti is a true friend of the desert; it is a common
feature of the landscape to see two or three hopping quickly
one after the other in a straight line across these wild plains.
They are found as far north as the Sierra Tapalguen (lat.
37 degs. 30'), where the plain rather suddenly becomes greener
and more humid; and their southern limit is between Port
Desire and St. Julian, where there is no change in the nature
of the country. It is a singular fact, that although the
Agouti is not now found as far south as Port St. Julian, yet
that Captain Wood, in his voyage in 1670, talks of them as
being numerous there. What cause can have altered, in a
wide, uninhabited, and rarely-visited country, the range of
an animal like this? It appears also, from the number shot
by Captain Wood in one day at Port Desire, that they must
have been considerably more abundant there formerly than
at present. Where the Bizcacha lives and makes its burrows,
the Agouti uses them; but where, as at Bahia Blanca, the
Bizcacha is not found, the Agouti burrows for itself.
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