98 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS I NARRATIVE. 



been needed, for almost daily one could see horses going about the 

 streets lame from having their hoofs worn down too closely, but because 

 of the indifference or want of skill on the part of those whose duty it was 

 to look after such matters. However, this was extremely fortunate for 

 us, as it put at our disposal without cost a supply of shoes, which we 

 were able with little difficulty to fit and set as needed throughout our trip. 

 This enabled us to travel steadily for days at a time over stony country 

 without loss of time from maimed and sore-footed horses, as would cer- 

 tainly have happened, had we been compelled to undertake our journey 

 with no means for keeping our horses shod. 



Early on the morning of the twentieth of December we resumed our 

 journey. We soon gained the top of the bluff, where we stopped for a 

 moment to give our horses a breathing spell. Behind us the broad, deep 

 valley of the river stretched away to the southeastward far as the eye 

 could reach. The course of the little stream fringed with a narrow 

 border of grass appeared as a delicate line of green pencilled on the dull 

 brown surface of the surrounding landscape, as it meandered in graceful 

 curves from one side to another of the valley. In front of us stretched 

 the great plain ; its broad, level surface appeared as though interrupted by 

 neither elevation or depression, as it swept away to the northwest, until 

 finally blending with the distant horizon. The morning was such as 

 would have been considered beautiful in any country ; for Patagonia it was 

 exceptionally fine. The sun rose brilliantly out of the east into a deep 

 blue sky. The atmosphere was clear and bracing, with a slight haze along 

 the western horizon. The atmospheric and other physical conditions were 

 just such as serve best to produce those wonderful mirages and other 

 optical effects which are only seen at their best in semi-arid regions. As 

 we continued our journey across the plains, the isolated calafate bushes 

 and scattered patches of mata negra, some of which latter were of no small 

 extent, became greatly magnified, and appeared as giant trees or outliers 

 of a magnificent forest. A band of guanaco galloping across the plain 

 with heads erect had the appearance of a troop of mounted cavalrymen, 

 from which at a distance they were distinguishable only by their long, 

 swinging gait, with which we had now become quite familiar. A slight 

 elevation on the surface of the plain became magnified in such manner as 

 to appear as an insurmountable barrier, so interposed as to interfere with 

 our further progress. At first, until we discovered their true nature, these 



