RETURN TO THE COAST. 147 



three hundred miles of uninhabited country which lay between us and the 

 nearest settlements on the coast 



We returned by practically the same route as that by which we had 

 come, descending the Rio Chico until we reached Sierra Ventana, where, 

 instead of turning to the south across the low plain which separates the 

 valley of this stream from that of the Rio Chalia, or Sheuen, we kept down 

 the Rio Chico until some fifteen miles below the mouth of the Chalia, 

 when we crossed over to the Rio Santa Cruz. 



As we encamped for our last night on the Rio Chico, we were visited 

 by a band of Tehuelche Indians. They were greatly interested in us and 

 our equipage, were extremely anxious to learn from whence we had come 

 and the nature of our journey. For the most part they spoke Spanish 

 quite fluently, though we were somewhat deficient in the use of that lan- 

 guage. They plied us with all sorts of questions relative to ourselves 

 and our mission, and when we hesitated or interrogated them as to the 

 meaning of some word which we did not fully understand, they would 

 reply: "Usted no entende esta palabra? Estapalabra cristiana" (You do 

 not understand this word? This is a Christian (Spanish) word), showing 

 much amusement at our ignorance of what they supposed to be our own 

 language. They were apparently quite unaware that there were more than 

 two languages --Tehuelche and Spanish. However, they were extremely 

 good-natured and jovial, as indeed I always found these Indians to be. I 

 never observed any of that morose nature among them which is so char- 

 acteristic of many tribes of our North American Indians. 



Our trip down from the mountains was easily accomplished and was 

 attended with only minor difficulties and delays, until we arrived at Las 

 Salinas, near the head of tide water, on the Santa Cruz River. Here we 

 were delayed for several days in crossing the river. Owing to the difficulty 

 of crossing our cart and horses we availed ourselves of an advantageous 

 opportunity for disposing of them, and had ourselves, our collections and 

 collecting materials transported down the river to the village of Santa 

 Cruz in one of the boats of the "Cross-Owen," an English schooner that 

 happened at that time to be lying in the port. 



After spending a few days in Santa Cruz, packing our collections pre- 

 paratory to their final shipment to New York, we went on to Gallegos, 

 where we arrived early in May, 1897, which place we had left on our trip 

 into the interior in December, 1896. We had, therefore, been absent just 



