CHAPTER IV 



Difficulties of Wagon Travel 



From Camerones our trail led back inland again and we 

 had another long uphill pull. About noon we overtook an 

 old pedestrian who joined us for the rest of the day, having 

 walked already over 700 miles and being bound for Como- 

 doro Rivadavia or beyond, according as he could find work. 

 The houseless pampa is a poor place for a man without a 

 horse, and this one told us of many nights when he had 

 had simply to crawl into a bush and shiver until morning, 

 then after drinking some mate, journey on. The next days 

 were simply push for distance ; on the second of which we 

 made the best record to date, thirty-five miles, bringing 

 us to casa meyer, the house of Meyer, a little store by a poor 

 harbor, where, however, we were again able to give our 

 horses a good feed of alfalfa, though it cost $2 a bale. We 

 also bought another bag of oats, this time for seven pecos, 

 but on opening the bag the contents proved to be barley. 



Next morning after getting directions we started off 

 gaily, but after three hours, found ourselves on the tip of 

 Punta Malaspina at the end of a blind trail. Riding ahead 

 to find some road I took my first tumble, going neatly over 

 my horse's head, as he stopped suddenly in the midst of a 

 gallop. There was no alternative but to turn back for 

 three or four miles to a small fork going inland. We nooned 

 at the fork, and after lunch pushed ahead on an unknown 

 road. Toward night it began to rain; but there being 

 neither grass nor water, we had to keep going, until just 

 before dark we came upon a sheep herder's hut. Asking 

 if we could stop by his water, he said "surely, come in and 

 have supper with us." It was one of the small mud-walled 

 puestas with a fire in the middle of the floor. We enjoyed 



