Through the Heart of Patagonia

's route-Stinging flies-Signal-smokes-De los Antiguos in flood-Difficulty of crossing-Attempt to swim over-Washed away-Loss of rifle and gun-Return to weste

leland, which I was anxious to visit. We, therefore, looked for a favourable place to descend into the valley of the River de los Antiguos, and presently discovered a spot where the cliffs were rather less perpendicular. The barranca, which was about one hundred and fifty feet in height, being composed of sliding sand and stones, covered with a high growth of bushes, presented a troublesome route for the horses. They had been

backed by a deep green forest. After our meal, which consisted of half an emergency ration each, a couple of two-ounce dumplings and some tea, we climbed the western barranca, and discovered an open space in the forest, where the grass rose to our middles, and we were greeted by the wet smell of earth, to which we had long

M THE CA?ADON OF THE

the wet sand. A huemul had come down to drink the preceding evening, and had been stalked by a puma and her cub. The puma must have been giving her offspring a lesson in killing. You could see that the puma had

going was bad all the time. Stones, cliffs and rifts hindered our advance, but presently we began to leave the bush behind and entered into a bare tract of iron-grey hillsides and black boulders. H

s of interest to us, not only from the zoological point of view, but also from that of the hungry man, for we

brown, which, when examined closely, is found to be thickly mingled with white hairs. In shape huemules are rather strongly built, being about the size of fallow-deer. I have given a detailed account of the habits of the huemul, of which no other record exists, in a later chapter, so will say no more upon that subject here. I was most unwillingly obliged to shoot the buck, for we were in need of food. Leaving the meat, after tying a handkerchief above it to scare away t

HUEMUL (XENEL

y the

y W. H.

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the damaged parts, found enough for a meal. It turned out to be the drie

nia, this was the most repellent and inhospitable. The little torrent (which was destined to play us such a trick), the high iron-grey bluffs and es

o would remain lying down until you were within a long shot, and one actually watched us

e. The two black horses, however, seemed to have conceived a horror of the river and could not be induced to cross. They simply made us very wet, an

lungs. Then I signalled to Barckhausen to come and help to cut him up. As I waited there in the fading light, wondering at the desolation of the place, a little huemul b

at stinging flies. After sweating among the boulders in the lower ground, if we

ays, diabolical-looking insects with upt

from the lake direction. The chief difficulties hindering our advance were the treacherous footing on the barran

oke began to arise somewhere in the direction of the lake. We fancied at first it was Scrivenor, who had come back to rejoin us, and we hastened up the cliff. But in that clear air distances are very deceptive, and the smoke

ay straight down the strip of tableland towards the lake, along the high sliding cliffs of the river's ca?adon. It was a long ride, and as we went along the fact

e the River de los Antiguos had begun to rise in the day while we were hunting. At length we saw a place where a big shelf of stone and shingle rising in the middle of the river divided it into two streams. To reach the bank nearest to this island of shingle it was necessary to climb down some two hundred feet of an uncommonly nasty sl

o his shoulders. The current was running like a mill-race-overstrong for us,

e in the greatest extremity, I should have made a camp and waited to see if the r

ng from my feet. I had my precious rifle with me as well as a dear old shot-gun. The strip of water I was about to cross was quite narrow. I th

ropped the shot-gun and clung to the Mauser, which was to us the more valuable of the two. Lower down the river was a shallow waterfall, studded with rocks and boulders. My knee caught between two rocks, and as I was afraid of having my leg broken, and had sustained rather a bad knock on the bac

any case, as he was unable to swim, so that eventually I was obliged to cross back again and rejoin him. On regaining the shore my plight was sufficiently miserable. I had kept on my shirt and jersey to save me from the stones, but of course

camp, as being more sheltered. Barckhausen kindly lent me his shirt, as he had his vest, coat and great-coat, which were dry. We started once more to climb that weary two hundred feet of barranca, and were much beset by rolling stones and sliding sand. Scarcely had we reached the top when

-BE-THAN

as in the habit of carrying a portion of his bedding upon his saddle, and this had escaped the water and was dry.

e unable to go to the help of our comrades. We made some thin porridge for supper and turned in. All night long the river continued to rise, we could he

my diary, written while

when you have it balanced you loose off, and if the gun does not misfire you may hit something. How different to the rifle that is gone! And the shot-gun, which has also departed with the Mauser, was a gun with a history. Given to my uncle for gallant services in another part of the world-a Purdey double-hammerless 12-bore, I regarded it as an heirloom. Why did I ever bring it to Patagonia? Many a time have I, out of the shooting season, cuddled the stock and shot imaginary birds, and dreamed of the phalanx of geese bearing down on me in Scotland in the coming O

stone, overturned trees and boulders. My regrets for the losses which had befallen us were, however, moderated by the re

ifficult. The barrancas seemed endless. The river was now a yellow flood, crashing and rushing down the ca?adon, bearing trees, bushes, and logs with i

ood," it is not, alone, good to work very hard on. The snows were still melting in the hills, and, given a protracted period of warm weather, it might

phus bisulcus)

o call his companions' attention to that important fact. The only weapon left us was a broken Colt and the cartridges in it. But ap

rching for a ford. About six in the evening we found a place where an is

ul them through. When we came down to the level of the river, it appeared very different, viewed close at hand, to the encouraging idea we had forme

r at Roblé Camp. There we left them. They fell to feeding very quietly, and we rode away to t

s into the outer plash of the stream. The horses took it bravely and slowly, tired as they were. We now found there were two islands, a smaller an

been carrying fourteen stone all day. At last, after a strenuous moment, the wat

reful sight for a shoulder-shot! We cut up the huemul, skinned the head and rode on, and soon were out of the ca?adon of the de los Antiguos River and

my life have I so regretted my weight as on that day. About noon, as we were crossing a white dry lake-bed, a column of smoke went up on Fenix Ford; our comrades were then hurrying to us as w

SSY

awful wind arose and the country round-burned by those miserable Santa Cruz people-sent up dust in clouds and blinded us. At l

to who might be the perpetrator of the two fires we had

ed the small man (his name is still a mystery to us) by bell, book, and candle. I had carefully informed him that two fires was our "Come-at-once" signal, and can only suppose that the irresponsible little creature had forgotten. After all, our resentment against the author of our misfortunes was not uncalled for. He had given Scrivenor a fifty-mile ride, had been the direct

dians had told him of a puma which lived farther to the south among the foothills of the Cordillera, and which differed in some essential respects from the grey puma of the plains. He described it as being "of

ut, but a couple of days in the tent, a tin of cocoa, and some ointment for the cuts received from the rocks in the river,

G GU