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ACROSS PATAGONIA.


  [Illustration: CROSSING THE CABEZA DEL MARE.]


ACROSS PATAGONIA

by

LADY FLORENCE DIXIE

With Illustrations from Sketches by Julius Beerbohm
Engraved by Whymper and Pearson

[Illustration: 'PUCHO.']







London:
Richard Bentley and Son
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen
1880

The rights of Translation and Reproduction are reserved.

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh.




     TO
     HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS,
     ALBERT EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES,

     THIS WORK
     DESCRIPTIVE OF
     SIX MONTHS' WANDERINGS OVER UNEXPLORED
     AND UNTRODDEN GROUND,
     IS BY KIND PERMISSION RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
     BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS'S
     OBLIGED AND OBEDIENT SERVANT,

     THE AUTHOR.




CONTENTS.


    CHAPTER I.

    WHY PATAGONIA?--GOOD-BYE--THE START--DIRTY WEATHER--
    LISBON--THE ISLAND OF PALMA--PERNAMBUCO                Pages 1-11


    CHAPTER II.

    BAHIA--RIO DE JANEIRO--RIO HARBOUR--THE TOWN--AN
    UPSET--TIJUCA--A TROPICAL NIGHT--MORE UPSETS--SAFETY
    AT LAST                                                     12-25


    CHAPTER III.

    BEAUTIES OF RIO--MONTE VIDEO--STRAITS OF MAGELLAN--
    TIERRA DEL FUEGO--ARRIVAL AT SANDY POINT--PREPARATIONS
    FOR THE START--OUR OUTFIT--OUR GUIDES                       26-39


    CHAPTER IV.

    THE START FOR CAPE <DW64>--RIDING ALONG THE STRAITS--CAPE
    <DW64>--THE FIRST NIGHT UNDER CANVAS--UNEXPECTED
    ARRIVALS--OUR GUESTS--A NOVEL PICNIC--ROUGH RIDING--
    THERE WAS A SOUND OF REVELRY BY NIGHT Pages                 40-51


    CHAPTER V.

    DEPARTURE OF OUR GUESTS--THE START FOR THE PAMPAS--AN
    UNTOWARD ACCIDENT--A DAY'S SPORT--UNPLEASANT EFFECTS OF
    THE WIND--OFF CAPE GREGORIO.                                52-61


    CHAPTER VI.

    VISIT TO THE INDIAN CAMP--A PATAGONIAN--INDIAN CURIOSITY
    --PHYSIQUE--COSTUME--WOMEN--PROMINENT CHARACTERISTICS
    --AN INDIAN INCROYABLE--SUPERSTITIOUSNESS                   62-73


    CHAPTER VII.

    THE PRAIRIE FIRE                                            74-80


    CHAPTER VIII.

    UNPLEASANT VISITORS--"SPEED THE PARTING GUEST"--OFF
    AGAIN--AN OSTRICH EGG--I'ARIA MISLEADS US--STRIKING
    OIL--PREPARATIONS FOR THE CHASE--WIND AND HAIL--A
    GUANACO AT LAST--AN EXCITING RUN--THE DEATH--HOME--
    HUNGRY AS HUNTERS--"FAT-BEHIND-THE-EYE."                    81-99


    CHAPTER IX.

    ELASTIC LEAGUES--THE LAGUNA BLANCA--AN EARTHQUAKE--
    OSTRICH-HUNTING                                           100-115


    CHAPTER X.

    DEPARTURE FROM LAGUNA BLANCA--A WILD-CAT--IBIS SOUP--A
    FERTILE CANYADON--INDIAN LAW AND EQUITY--OUR FIRST PUMA
    --COWARDICE OF THE PUMA--DISCOMFORTS OF A WET NIGHT--A
    MYSTERIOUS DISH--A GOOD RUN Pages                         116-127


    CHAPTER XI.

    A NUMEROUS GUANACO HERD--A PAMPA HERMIT--I'ARIA AGAIN
    LOSES THE WAY--CHORLITOS--A NEW EMOTION--A MOON
    RAINBOW--WEATHER WISDOM--OPTIMIST AND PESSIMIST--WILD
    FOWL ABUNDANT                                             128-137


    CHAPTER XII.

    A MONOTONOUS RIDE--A DREARY LANDSCAPE--SHORT FUEL
    RATIONS--THE CORDILLERAS--FEATURES OF PATAGONIAN SCENERY
    --HEAT AND GNATS--A PUMA AGAIN--"THE RAIN IS NEVER
    WEARY"--DAMPNESS, HUNGER, GLOOM--I'ARIA TO THE RESCUE--
    HIS INGENUITY                                             138-150


    CHAPTER XIII.

    A SURPRISE--A STRANGE SCENE--CALIFATE BERRIES--GUANACO
    STALKING--A DILEMMA--MOSQUITOES--A GOOD SHOT--
    MOSQUITOES                                                151-161


    CHAPTER XIV.

    AN UNKNOWN COUNTRY--PASSING THE BARRIER--CLEOPATRA'S
    NEEDLES--FOXES--A GOOD RUN--OUR FOREST SANCTUARY--
    ROUGHING IT--A BATH--A VARIED MENU                        162-173


    CHAPTER XV.

    EXCURSIONS INTO THE MOUNTAINS--MYSTERIES OF THE
    CORDILLERAS--WILD HORSE TRACKS--DEER--MAN THE
    DESTROYER                                                 174-183


    CHAPTER XVI.

    AN ALARM--THE WILD-HORSES--AN EQUINE COMBAT--THE WILD
    STALLION VICTORIOUS--THE STRUGGLE RENEWED--RETREAT OF
    THE WILD HORSES                                           184-189


    CHAPTER XVII.

    EXCURSION TO THE CLEOPATRA NEEDLES--A BOG--A WINDING
    RIVER--DIFFICULT TRAVELLING--A STRANGE PHENOMENON--A
    FAIRY HAUNT--WILD HORSES AGAIN--THEIR AGILITY--THE
    BLUE LAKE--THE CLEOPATRA PEAKS--THE PROMISED LAND         190-200


    CHAPTER XVIII.

    WE THINK OF RETURNING--GOOD-BYE TO THE CORDILLERAS--THE
    LAST OF THE WILD HORSES--MOSQUITOES--A STORMY NIGHT--A
    CALAMITY--THE LAST OF OUR BISCUIT--UTILITY OF
    FIRE-SIGNALS                                              201-212


    CHAPTER XIX.

    ISIDORO--AN UNSAVOURY MEAL--EXPENSIVE LOAVES--GUANACO
    SCARCE--DISAPPOINTMENT--NIGHT SURPRISES US--SUPPERLESS
    --CONTINUED FASTING--NO MEAT IN THE CAMP                  213-223


    CHAPTER XX.

    THE HORSES LOST!--UNPLEASANT PROSPECTS--FOUND--SHORT
    RATIONS--A STRANGE HUNT--A STERN CHASE--THE MYSTERY
    SOLVED--THE CABEZA DEL MAR--SAFELY ACROSS--A DAMP
    NIGHT--CABO <DW64> AGAIN                                   224-238


    CHAPTER XXI.

    CABO <DW64>--HOME NEWS--CIVILISATION AGAIN--OUR
    DISREPUTABLE APPEARANCE--PUCHO MISSING--THE COMING OF
    PUCHO--PUCHO'S CHARACTERISTICS                            239-251




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


     PUCHO                                                     _Title_

     CROSSING THE CABEZA DEL MAR                        _Frontispiece_

     A GUANACO ON THE LOOK-OUT                                _Page_ 1

     THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN                         _To face page_ 40

     "COLLECTING THE 'TROPILLA'--SADDLING UP"                    "  56

     INDIAN CAMP                                                 "  64

     GUANACOS                                                    "  96

     THE LAST DOUBLE                                            "  112

     THE PUMA'S DEATH-SPRING                                    "  146

     RAVINE ENTRANCE TO THE CORDILLERAS                         "  162

     THE "CLEOPATRA NEEDLES"                                    "  166

     ENCAMPMENT IN THE CORDILLERAS                              "  168

     "THE WILD-HORSE GLEN"                                      "  178

     "WE WERE THE FIRST WHO EVER BURST ON TO THAT SILENT SEA"   "  198




  [Illustration: A GUANACO ON THE LOOK-OUT.]




CHAPTER I.

     WHY PATAGONIA?--GOOD-BY--THE START--DIRTY WEATHER--
     LISBON--THE ISLAND OF PALMA--PERNAMBUCO.


"Patagonia! who would ever think of going to such a place?" "Why, you
will be eaten up by cannibals!" "What on earth makes you choose such
an outlandish part of the world to go to?" "What can be the
attraction?" "Why, it is thousands of miles away, and no one has ever
been there before, except Captain Musters, and one or two other
adventurous madmen!"

These, and similar questions and exclamations I heard from the lips of
my friends and acquaintances, when I told them of my intended trip to
Patagonia, the land of the Giants, the land of the fabled Golden City
of Manoa. What was the attraction in going to an outlandish place so
many miles away? The answer to the question was contained in its own
words. Precisely because it was an outlandish place and so far away, I
chose it. Palled for the moment with civilisation and its
surroundings, I wanted to escape somewhere, where I might be as far
removed from them as possible. Many of my readers have doubtless felt
the dissatisfaction with oneself, and everybody else, that comes over
one at times in the midst of the pleasures of life; when one wearies
of the shallow artificiality of modern existence; when what was once
excitement has become so no longer, and a longing grows up within one
to taste a more vigorous emotion than that afforded by the monotonous
round of society's so-called "pleasures."

Well, it was in this state of mind that I cast round for some country
which should possess the qualities necessary to satisfy my
requirements, and finally I decided upon