206 IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA 



ley. Sometimes a dolichotis, starting up at my ap- 

 proach, flashed for one moment on my sight, to 

 vanish the next moment in the continuous thicket ; 

 or a covey of tinamous sprang rocket-like into the 

 air, and fled away with long wailing notes and 

 loud whir of wings; or on some distant hill-side 

 a bright patch of yellow, of a deer that was watch- 

 ing me, appeared and remained motionless for 

 two or three minutes. But the animals were few, 

 and sometimes I would pass an entire day with- 

 out seeing one mammal, and perhaps not more 

 than a dozen birds of any size. The weather at 

 that time was cheerless, generally with a gray 

 film of cloud spread over the sky, and a bleak 

 wind, often cold enough to make my bridle hand 

 feel quite numb. Moreover, it was not possible 

 to enjoy a canter; the bushes grew so close to- 

 gether that it was as much as one could do to 

 pass through at a walk without brushing against 

 them; and at this slow pace, which would have 

 seemed intolerable in other circumstances, I would 

 ride about for hours at a stretch. In the scene 

 itself there was nothing to delight the eye. Every- 

 where through the light, gray mold, gray as ashes 

 and formed by the ashes of myriads of genera- 

 tions of dead trees, where the wind had blown 

 on it, or the rain had washed it away, the under- 

 lying yellow sand appeared, and the old ocean- 

 polished pebbles, dull red, and gray, and green, 

 and yellow. On arriving at a hill, I would slowly 

 ride to its summit, and stand there to survey 



