90 HUNTING EXTINCT ANIMALS 



tion work. In place of the lumber we made use of a supply 

 of the boxes in which various liquors had been shipped from 

 Europe. Being strong they answered our purposes in all 

 respects, except shape, and we had to readjust them to fit 

 the specimens. 



As to all frontier countries, there is an enormous amount 

 of liquors shipped to Patagonia; and there being no duties 

 to pay, nor license fees, it is both cheap and of good quality. 

 When traveling it seemed as if every third place was a 

 holiche; for where anything was sold, drinks were also. 

 Almost every house had about it its host of empty bottles; 

 and the saying was that one could always recognize the 

 nationality of the owner by the class of the bottle, whiskey 

 for the Scotch, beer for the Germans, and vermouth for 

 the Spanish. The problem of disposing of the useless 

 empty bottles was solved in various ways, the commonest 

 being to set them neck down into the ground to make a 

 fair sort of pavement, most towns having several rods of 

 this sort of sidewalk. In two places we saw them piled 

 in tiers and cemented with adobe mud, to make the walls 

 of buildings. 



About four in the morning we heard the whistle of a boat, 

 long expected at the Port; so we hustled out, and while 

 the boys went for the horses, Billy and I, making all possi- 

 ble haste to nail up and mark boxes, succeeded in getting 

 eleven ready to go on this steamer. It took the rest of 

 the day to get the remaining six packed, and they had to 

 wait for the next boat, which did not put in for over two 

 months. 



We were all invited to the Potts for supper. Shumway 

 and I went out to get the horses but they had disappeared, 

 and it was after dark before we finally located the tinkle 

 of the bell which one of the mares wore. Consequently 

 we were very late, it being after nine when we appeared. 

 They had, however, saved a part of the roast chicken for 



