ith ropes creeps beneath it, whilst some others station
themselves in ambush near the spot, ready to assist him. Presently a
condor, attracted by the smell of flesh, darts down upon the cow-hide,
and then the Indian, who is concealed under it, seizes the bird by the
legs, and binds them fast in the skin, as if in a bag. The captured
condor flaps his wings, and makes ineffectual attempts to fly; but he is
speedily secured, and carried in triumph to the nearest village.

The Indians quote numerous instances of young children having been
attacked by condors. That those birds are sometimes extremely fierce is
very certain. The following occurrence came within my own knowledge,
whilst I was in Lima. I had a condor, which, when he first came into my
possession, was very young. To prevent his escape, as soon as he was
able to fly, he was fastened by the leg to a chain, to which was
attached a piece of iron of about six pounds weight. He had a large
court to range in, and he dragged the piece of iron about after him all
day. When he was a year and a half old he flew away, with the chain and
iron attached to his leg, and perched on the spire of the church of
Santo Tomas, whence he was scared away by the carrion hawks. On
alighting in the street, a Negro attempted to catch him for the purpose
of bringing him home; upon which he seized the poor creature by the ear,
and tore it completely off. He then attacked a child in the street (a
negro boy of three years old), threw him on the ground, and knocked him
on the head so severely with his beak, that the child died in
consequence of the injuries. I hoped to have brought this bird alive to
Europe; but, after being at sea two months on our homeward voyage, he
died on board the ship in the latitude of Monte Video.

Between the Cordillera and the Andes, at the height of 12,000 feet
above the sea, there are vast tracts of uninhabited table-lands. These
are called in the Quichua language the _Puna_; and the Spaniards give
them the name of the _Despoblado_ (the uninhabited). These table-lands
form the upper mountain regions of the South American Highlands. They
spread over the whole extent of Peru, from north-west to south-east, a
distance of 350 Spanish miles, continuing through Bolivia, and
gradually running eastward into the Argentine Republic. With reference
to geography and natural history, these table-lands present a curious
contrast to the _Llanos_ (plains) of South America, situated