28 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS I NARRATIVE. 



expression, the house was cold as a barn and discomfort was plainly 

 depicted on the countenance of every one present during the two hours 

 we alternately sat and stood, while awaiting the preparation of the break- 

 fast to which we had been invited. It was with great anxiety that I awaited 

 the announcement of this meal, not that I was suffering from hunger, but 

 in the vain belief that the dining room would at least be kept sufficiently 

 warm to enable us to eat in comfort. What was my disappointment, on 

 our being at last ushered in to breakfast, to see a long table elegantly laid, 

 set in the middle of a great room, which, if there was any difference, was 

 even colder and more cheerless than that we had just left. However, 

 with Mrs. Mayer as hostess, we were soon enjoying a splendid breakfast. 

 Everything on the table bore evidence of having been selected and pre- 

 pared by no inexperienced hand. Our host, who from the very first 

 moment of our acquaintance had kept up an incessant conversation, ask- 

 ing of us all manner of questions about the States, where, during his 

 youth, he had spent four years as an officer in our civil war, evinced the 

 keenest interest in our undertaking and was even profuse in offering us 

 assistance in every way possible. There were at breakfast a German-, an 

 Italian-, two English- and four Spanish-speaking people, and it was 

 remarkable to see with what rapidity and fluency our host carried on a 

 conversation with all, addressing each in his native tongue and turning 

 from one to the other with the greatest ease. 



Breakfast finished, we amused ourselves for a time in the library, which, 

 while generally well selected, contained a few volumes highly prized by 

 the Governor. One such in which he evidently took great pride was a 

 superb copy of Poe's "Raven," printed in large folio and profusely illus- 

 trated with large hand-colored plates. While in America, General Mayer 

 became a great admirer of Edgar Allen Poe, and after returning to 

 Argentina, translated his works into Spanish. 



All this and much else that the General had to show and tell us was 

 quite interesting, but try as we would we could not forget our present 

 discomforts, due to the feeling of dampness and cold that pervaded every- 

 thing about the house. It was not that our host was unmindful of our 

 welfare, for it was quite apparent that he was not only willing but anxious 

 to be of service to us. Fire or other artificial heat as a means of com- 

 fort was until very recently quite unknown in South America, and even 

 now it is exceptional even in the palatial homes of the wealthier Argen- 



