KILLIK AIKI 55 



This first afternoon spent in the fossil beds at Killik Aike had in it all 

 the elements of success. The intense and absorbing interest connected 

 with this sort of work is known to but few and must be experienced to 

 be understood ; it cannot be explained. Besides the deep scientific inter- 

 cxt connected with it there are often all the painful anxieties and uncer- 

 tainties of the prospector after precious metals, and the col lector of vertebrate 

 fossils is often sustained for weeks or months at a time, it may be, by the 

 same indomitable spirit and forlorn hope which impels the prospector to 

 take his meagre grub-stake and spend months in the mountain solitudes 

 in search of hidden treasures. Indeed the simile may be carried still 

 further, for both are too often deprived of their fair share of the gains 

 that follow, which in the one case take the form of money and in the 

 other that of credit for work done. 



I returned to the estancia late in the evening with a number of good 

 skulls in my collecting bag, and several promising finds located, to be 

 developed later. And what was more consoling than all, the success of 

 the expedition I now felt to be assured. After a plain but substantial 

 dinner I was invited by the foreman of the estancia to his room, where I 

 spent the first really comfortable evening since our arrival in Patagonia. 

 Mr. Felton and his wife, though absent, were evidently people who believed 

 in enjoying some of the comforts of life, even though they did live at the 

 other end of the world. There was an open grate in which glowed a 

 cheerful fire of good English coal. The house was well furnished with 

 comfortable chairs, a piano, a well-selected library and numerous periodicals 

 of the latest numbers, brought from England on the bimonthly mail 

 steamers which touch at Sandy Point en route for the west coast. Nor 

 were our host and hostess unmindful of the inner man. There was an 

 abundant supply of provisions and a choice selection of liquors, wines, 

 beer, ale, stout, and mineral waters. Everything about the ranch bespoke 

 comfort and consideration for the family, employees, and guests. We later 

 had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of Mr. Felton and his charm- 

 ing wife and daughter, and many of our most pleasant remembrances of 

 Patagonia are connected with the friendship and hospitality which they so 

 freely and generously extended to us. 



The foreman was a young Londoner, who had a great deal to tell me 

 about that city, and wished to learn more about the States, so that the night 

 was far spent when he showed me to my room, where I passed a most 



