himself arrived,
and had made a desperate attack upon everybody. The vaquero, however,
assisted by Guapo--who, being an Indian, was less troubled with
them--gave them a very rough handling with a large whip which he
carried; and then, securing the whole of them, tied them together in a
bunch, and left them at the back of the hut to snap and growl at each
other, which they did throughout the livelong night. Supper over, all
the travellers would have retired to rest; but the vaquero, having
announced that he was going out to set snares for the chinchillas and
viscachas, Leon could not rest, but asked permission to accompany him.
This was granted both by Don Pablo and the vaquero himself.

The chinchilla, and its near relative the viscacha, are two little
animals of the rodent, or grass-eating kind, that inhabit the very
highest mountains of Peru and Chili. They are nearly of the same size,
and each about as big as a rabbit, which in habits they very much
resemble. They have long tails, however, which the rabbit has not,
though the latter beats them in the length of his ears. The colour of
the chinchilla is known to everybody, since its soft, velvety fur is
highly prized by ladies as an article of dress, and may be seen in every
London fur-shop.

The animal is of a beautiful marbled grey, white and black, with pure
white feet. The fur of the viscacha is not so pretty, being of a
brownish and white mixture. Its cheeks are black, with long, bristly
moustaches, like those of a cat; while its head resembles that of the
hare or rabbit. Both these innocent little creatures live upon the high
declivities of the Andes, in holes and crevices among the rocks, where
they remain concealed during the day, but steal out to feed twice in the
twenty-four hours,--that is, during the evening twilight and in the
early morning. The mode of capturing them is by snares made of
horse-hair, which are set in front of their caves--just as we snare
rabbits in a warren, except that for the rabbits we make use of light
elastic wire, instead of the horse-hair.

Leon was delighted with the excursion, as the vaquero showed him how to
set the snares, and told him a great many curious stories of Puna life
and habits. Some of these stories were about the great condor
vulture--which the narrator, of course, described as a much bigger bird
than it really is, for the condor, after all, is not so much bigger than
the griffon vulture, or even the vulture of