32 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : NARRATIVE. 



Not only were all the vehicles unnecessarily heavy and cumbersome, 

 but it was difficult to find any that were for sale. An enterprising 

 Chileno with a more enterprising German wife, Senor y Senora Cayetano 

 Sanchez, were kind enough to offer us an ancient specimen with wheels 

 about two and one-half feet in height for the modest sum of three hun- 

 dred and eighty dollars, which they assured us was muy barato (very 

 cheap). And it looked indeed for several days as though we should be 

 compelled to accept this vehicle, notwithstanding its generally dilapidated 

 appearance and low wheels, which would doubtless have been the cause 

 of no little inconvenience in crossing the various streams. Since we had 

 not yet secured any horses, we were in no immediate need of a vehicle, 

 and hence postponed our negotiations with Senor Sanchez, hoping in the 

 meantime, like Mr. Micawber, that something would turn up to relieve 

 this particular phase of a really embarrassing situation. 



We were told daily by Governor Mayer and Messrs. Aubone and Ville- 

 grand that we should have no trouble in getting all the horses we should 

 need, and after a few days we were fairly besieged with parties offering 

 us all sorts of nondescript horses at ridiculously high prices. We had 

 been invited by the Governor to make a trip to his estancia, located some 

 sixty miles northwest of Gallegos, on Coy River. We were of course 

 only too glad to avail ourselves of this opportunity for a trip inland, in 

 order to see for ourselves something of the nature of the country, so as 

 the better to judge of the requirements necessary for the successful prose- 

 cution of our work. We were to accompany Senor Villegrand, who, with 

 two policemen and a young Argentinian, was to take a troop of some 

 sixty or seventy young horses from Gallegos to the estancia. 



Late on a Saturday evening Senor Villegrand informed us that we 

 should start the following Sunday morning, at the same time asking me 

 if we had rather ride horseback or in a carriage. When I told him that 

 we should much prefer to go on horseback, he expressed some doubt as 

 to our being able to make the journey. We assured him, however, that 

 sixty miles in a day was not considered an unusual ride on horseback in 

 our own country, and since he did not intend making the entire distance 

 in one day, we had little doubt that we should be quite equal to the under- 

 taking. The next morning we were up bright and early, anxious to start 

 on what was to be our first trip over the Patagonian pampas. We had 

 been told that we should' start "muy temprano" (very early), which we 



