144 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: NARRATIVE. 



follow, while we would each lead one of the packs. This plan worked for 

 a short distance only, for hardly had we got well started on our way, when 

 the loose horse, falling a little in the rear, became bewildered and ran 

 squealing about through the dense forest in search of his companions, 

 making all the while so much noise himself that he could not hear the 

 answering calls of ourselves or our horses, and finally became entirely 

 lost to either sight or hearing. Giving his pack-horse to me, Mr. Peter- 

 son set out in search of the lost animal, while I resumed my journey. Before 

 reaching the place where we had previously killed the deer, on entering the 

 woods after crossing Mayer River, I came upon another which I also shot 

 and skinned. When I went to get the skin of the deer first killed, I found 

 that Mr. Peterson had been there before me and had left a note to inform 

 me that he had not found the lost horse, but was proceeding to camp, 

 where he would await my arrival. Since we were already short of horses 

 and had some three hundred miles to travel before we could reach the 

 nearest settlements on the coast, aside from the value of the horse, I did 

 not like the idea of losing his services. I felt certain that he was some- 

 where in the forests in the vicinity of our last camp, and since it was 

 already late in the afternoon, I decided on camping for the night on Mayer 

 River and returning the following day to look for the lost animal. Early 

 the next morning I saddled my horse and, leaving the remaining two 

 picketed, returned to our last camp. As I emerged from the forest into 

 the little open space in a bend of the stream where we had made our tem- 

 porary stop, I caught sight of the object of my quest. Immediately the 

 horse saw me, he came trotting toward me with such an expression of joy 

 depicted on his countenance as I have seldom seen in any of the dumb 

 animals. I was not long in returning with him to my camp of the night 

 before, where, after hastily preparing and partaking of a breakfast of hot 

 coffee, bread, and a grilled venison steak, I packed up and continued 

 across Mayer River on my return to camp, where I arrived with all the 

 horses and paraphernalia in good condition, much to the delight of Mr. 

 Peterson, who had passed a rather uncomfortable night through being 

 somewhat short of bedding. 



We remained a few days at this camp completing our collections from 

 the fauna and flora of the immediate vicinity. Thus far I have said little 

 concerning the nature and variety of the trees that in this region form the 

 forests of the Andes. And indeed there is little to be said, for on the 



