From That Moment, Also, The Neighbouring
Plain Must Have Lost Its Fertilizing Stream, And Become A
Desert.
June 27th.
- We set out early in the morning, and by midday
reached the ravine of Paypote, where there is a tiny rill
of water, with a little vegetation, and even a few algarroba
trees, a kind of mimosa. From having firewood, a smelting-
furnace had formerly been built here: we found a solitary
man in charge of it, whose sole employment was hunting
guanacos. At night it froze sharply; but having plenty of
wood for our fire, we kept ourselves warm.
28th. - We continued gradually ascending, and the valley
now changed into a ravine. During the day we saw several
guanacos, and the track of the closely-allied species, the
Vicuna: this latter animal is pre-eminently alpine in its
habits; it seldom descends much below the limit of perpetual
snow, and therefore haunts even a more lofty and sterile
situation than the guanaco. The only other animal which we
saw in any number was a small fox: I suppose this animal
preys on the mice and other small rodents, which, as long as
there is the least vegetation, subsist in considerable numbers
in very desert places. In Patagonia, even on the borders of
the salinas, where a drop of fresh water can never be found,
excepting dew, these little animals swarm. Next to lizards,
mice appear to be able to support existence on the smallest
and driest portions of the earth - even on islets in the midst
of great oceans.
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