LIFE IN PATAGONIA 103 



habiting a district called Las Manzanas that is, 

 the Apple Country situated at the sources of the 

 Eio Negro in the vicinity of the Andes. 



There is a tradition that shortly after the con- 

 quest of South America a few courageous Jesuit 

 priests crossed over from Chili to the eastern 

 slopes of the Andes to preach Christianity to the 

 tribes there, and that they took with them imple- 

 ments of husbandry, grain, and seeds of European 

 fruits. The missionaries soon met their death, 

 and all that remained of their labors among the 

 heathen were a few apple-trees they had planted. 

 These trees found a soil and climate so favorable, 

 " x at they soon began to propagate spontaneously, 



coming exceedingly abundant. Certain it is that 



w, after two or three centuries of neglect by 

 man, these wild apple-trees still yield excellent 

 fruit, which the Indians eat, and from which they 

 also make a fermented liquor they call chi-chi. 



To this far-off fertile region Damian was taken 

 to lead the kind of life he professed to love. Here 

 were hill, forest, and clear swift river, great un- 

 dulating plains, the pleasant pasture-lands of the 

 huanaco, ostrich, and wild horse; and beyond all 

 in the west the stupendous mountain range of 

 the Cordilleras a realm of enchantment and 

 ever-changing beauty. Very soon, however, when 

 the novelty of the new life had worn off, together 

 with the exultation he had experienced at his 

 escape from cruel death, his heart began to be 

 eaten up with secret grief, and he pined for his 



