GUER AIKE. 35 



and embarassed by her surroundings. There were in all three rooms, of 

 which one served as the kitchen and living quarters for the family, a 

 second was reserved as the sleeping quarters for the guests, while the 

 third served as a dining room and ahnacen, where a stock of goods con- 

 sisting for the most part of " watchaki," and other cheap and correspond- 

 ingly bad liquors were displayed for sale or barter. Gathered about this 

 miserable place was a motley assemblage of from fifty to one hundred 

 men and boys, for the most part, even at the time of our arrival, more or 

 less under the influence of liquor, all eager to witness the races for which 

 they had assembled, and loud in proclaiming the special qualities of their 

 particular favorites, each one apparently willing to back his judgment 

 regarding the contestants in any particular event to the extent of his 

 worldly possessions or credit. Most of those assembled were mounted, 

 and their costumes were, to our unaccustomed eyes, peculiar if not strik- 

 ing, so that our curiosity was about equally divided between the people, 

 their costumes, and the different manner of gear which served them for 

 saddles on which to ride, no two of which seemed fashioned after exactly 

 the same pattern. 



Shortly after our arrival the crowd repaired to the race course, which 

 was near at hand and consisted of a double track about a half mile in 

 length, laid out on the surface of a perfectly level plain. The races were 

 all run after the fashion in vogue in that country, which permits of four- 

 teen false starts, "catorce partidas," before the final start. The contests 

 were thus more in the nature of tests of the skill of the respective jockeys 

 than the capabilities of the horses. They were exceedingly tedious, and 

 I soon tired of watching them start and come perhaps half way down the 

 course with every indication of making a close finish, when suddenly they 

 would pull up and go back to the start to repeat again, after much delay, 

 the same operation. 



Leaving the race course and its votaries to their enjoyment, I wandered 

 off across the level plain that lay between me and the river, in order to 

 get a nearer view of the cliffs which formed the high embankment of the 

 opposite or northern shore. As I approached the stream the ground was 

 covered with a thick growth of iiiata verde, the beautiful dark green color 

 of which at a distance gave the appearance of a field of growing grain or 

 a stretch of luxuriant meadow land. This plant, which is by far the most 

 abundant shrub throughout the plains of southern Patagonia, although 



