124 IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA 



since he found it impossible ever to accommodate 

 himself to such a rude existence; that he was es- 

 sentially a child of civilization, a man of the pave- 

 ment, whose pleasure was in society, in newspa- 

 pers, the play, and in the cafe where one meets 

 one's friends of an evening and has a pleasant 

 game of dominoes. As these things which he 

 valued were merely dust and ashes to me, I did 

 not sympathize deeply with his discontent, nor 

 consider that it mattered much which portion of 

 the globe he made choice of for a residence. But 

 the facts of his case interested me ; and if I should 

 have a reader who has other ideals, who has felt 

 the mystery and glory of life overcoming his soul 

 with wonder and desire, and who bears in his 

 system the canker of consumption which threatens 

 to darken the vision prematurely to such a one 

 I would say, TRY PATAGONIA. It is far to travel, 

 and in place of the smoothness of Madeira there 

 would be roughness; but how far men go, into 

 what rough places, in search of rubies and ingots 

 of gold; and life is more than these. 



During this beautiful weather merely to exist 

 has seemed to me a sufficient pleasure : sometimes 

 rowing on the river, which is here about nine 

 hundred feet wide going up to the town with 

 the tide and returning with the current when 

 only a slight exertion suffices to keep the boat 

 swiftly gliding over the pure green water. At 

 other times I amuse myself by seeking for the 



