CHAPTER III. 



We start on our collecting trip; Abundance of amphipods in fresh water 

 springs; Detained at Guer A ike by a rise of the Gallegos River; Search- 

 ing the bluffs of the Gallegos at Guer A ike for fossils ; yisit to Killik 

 A ike; Fossils abundant; Hospitality at Killik A ike; Habits of carrion 

 hawks of Patagonia; A /lock of Rhea; New world of animal life in 

 the fossils; Move camp to North Gallegos; Fitzroy's Springs; Cape 

 Fairweatlier; Our first guanaco; Peculiar antics of these animals 

 wlten frightened; Met/tods of tlie Carranchas in attacking a carcass; 

 The Condor, its mode of fiight and attack on a guanaco carcass ; Dis- 

 covery of the Cape Fairweatlier beds, a new geological Iwrizon ; Land- 

 s/ides along the sea cliffs; Some of the commoner birds near Cape 

 Fairweather; Habits of Cams azaree; Peculiar experience with a con- 

 dor; Hardiness of smne of the Patagonian Composite; Canon de Palo ; 

 The finding of the carcass of a whale. 



SUCH of our equipment as was not immediately needed was stored 

 in Gallegos, while our tent, stove, bedding, collecting and packing 

 materials, necessary tools, ammunition, and a supply of provisions 

 sufficient for a month, were placed in the cart, and, thus equipped, we left 

 Gallegos on the afternoon of the sixteenth and camped that night at a 

 spring some five miles from Guer Aike. It was a novel experience to be 

 traveling through the country with this singular outfit, considering all the 

 conveniences for overland travel to which we had been accustomed at 

 home. However, we were determined to make the best of it and resolved 

 that on our next trip to Patagonia we would bring with us a vehicle 

 adapted to our requirements and the country. We were really surprised 

 to see how well we got on with our nondescript outfit, though it took us 

 some time to familiarize ourselves with the gear and learn the horse lan- 

 guage of the country. The latter, I am afraid, we never did properly 

 master. It was late -in the evening when we arrived at our camping 

 place, and as I went to the spring for water with which to prepare supper, 



49 



