138 ELIZABETH GARY AGASSIZ 



ornament which we thought could not be matched at 

 any dinner party on Beacon Street or Fifth Avenue. A 

 guanaco skull supported a spreading bunch of ostrich 

 plumes gathered on the Patagonian shore, while the 

 base of our bouquet was finished with green droop- 

 ing fronds of *'kelp" — match that if you can. First 

 Course: Mussels roasted on the shell (from the beach 

 of Possession Bay). Second Course: Patagonian snipe 

 on toast. Wines: Sherry, Sauterne, Claret, Cham- 

 pagne, Not native. Our wine cellar is getting low but 

 we thought we would not be niggardly on this first 

 dinner in the Straits. We were quite a snug party, 

 nine instead of eighteen as usual in the mess, for the 

 Mt. Aymond party had not yet returned; but just as 

 we were sitting over our dessert hearing all the de- 

 tails of the day and everybody talking together, a 

 shout on deck announced the return of the second 

 party. We all rushed up and there they were with 

 great trophies. They had shot and skinned a guanaco 

 and brought him bodily, and this morning we have 

 breakfasted sumptuously off guanaco steak (very 

 much like beefsteak and seemed to me as good), but 

 we have been so long without fresh provisions that 

 we are likely to do more than justice to Patagonian 

 fare. They brought also upland goose and other game, 

 but their news was the most interesting of all. Pour- 

 tales had found Mt. Aymond to be the centre of a 

 nest of extinct volcanoes. The mountain itself had 

 two craters very perfectly formed about 200 feet in 

 depth. He gathered fine specimens of lava and vol- 

 canic debris all around them. Near the main peak 



