CHAPTER VI. 



Start on an extended trip into the interior ; Select Lake Argentina as our 

 first objective point; Shoeing horses; Crossing the high pampa ; A 

 splendid mirage; Scanty vegetation; Lava beds; Digging for water ; 

 The Santa Cruz River; An attempt at fording tlte Santa Cruz ; Rio 

 Bota ; Lake Argentino ; Crossing tlte Santa Cruz River. 



ON the thirteenth of December, having supplied ourselves with eight 

 months' provisions, we started on our trip into the interior. We 

 left our tent, stove, and such other articles as we were able to 

 dispense with, in order to lighten our load as much as possible. In lieu 

 of a tent we took with us two extra tarpaulins, from which we later con- 

 structed a tent The first day we went only as far as Killik Aike, where 

 we stopped for the night with Mr. and Mrs. Felton. On the fourteenth 

 we went to Guer Aike, where I remained for the night, and Mr. Peterson 

 proceeded on horseback to Gallegos, to ascertain if a steamer which had 

 just come in from Buenos Aires had brought us any mail, for as yet we 

 were still without news from home. We had agreed before separating 

 that we should travel independently until meeting on the second day fol- 

 lowing at Governor Mayer's estancia on Coy River. At about noon of 

 the day agreed upon, December the sixteenth, I drove up to the estancia, 

 where I found Mr. Peterson awaiting me. After breakfasting with General 

 Mayer and Seftor Villegrand, who chanced to be at the estancia, and bid- 

 ding them good-bye, we resumed our journey. We little thought, as we 

 jexchanged farewells with him who had ever extended to us and our work 

 a kindly interest, on that beautiful summer's day, that it was to be for- 

 ever. Not only did our host seem in excellent health and spirits for a 

 man who had passed his sixtieth year, but in conversation that very day 

 he told me how he expected to live until past ninety by adhering to cer- 

 tain principles of living, which, he said, had been followed most sucess- 

 fully by the elder Burmeister, of whom he was a great admirer. 



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