i THE PLAINS OF PATAGONIA 203 



band of long-haired roving savages, with their 

 faces painted black and red. Yet, in spite of ac- 

 curate knowledge, the old charm still exists in all 

 its freshness; and after all the discomforts and 

 sufferings endured in a desert cursed with eternal 

 barrenness, the returned traveler finds in after 

 years that it still keeps its hold on him, that it 

 shines brighter in memory, and is dearer to him 

 than any other region he may have visited. 



We know that the more deeply our feelings are 

 moved by any scene the more vivid and lasting 

 will its image be in memory a fact which ac- 

 counts for the comparatively unfading character 

 of the images that date back to the period of child- 

 hood, when we are most emotional. Judging from 

 my own case, I believe that we have here the secret 

 of the persistence of Patagonian images, and their 

 frequent recurrence in the minds of many who 

 have visited that gray, monotonous, and, in one 

 sense, eminently uninteresting region. It is not 

 the effect of the unknown, it is not imagination; 

 it is that nature in these desolate scenes, for a 

 reason to be guessed at by-and-by, moves us more 

 deeply than in others. In describing his rambles 

 in one of the most desolate spots in Patagonia, 

 Darwin remarks: "Yet, in passing over these 

 scenes, without one bright object near, an ill-de- 

 fined but strong sense of pleasure is vividly ex- 

 cited." When I recall a Patagonian scene, it 

 comes before me so complete in all its vast extent, 

 with all its details so clearly outlined, that, if I 



