CAflON OF THE RIO TARDE. 177 



tated my killing the third animal and the consequent extermination of 

 the entire family, which I had in no way intended to do. With the 

 saddle of the fawn and the hearts of all three I continued on my way. 



I found the travelling through the half frozen snow and mud of the bad 

 lands not only disagreeable, but extremely trying to my horse, and, after 

 going a few miles, I came to the head of what appeared to be a consider- 

 able stream, leading in a southeasterly direction toward the valley of Lake 

 Pueyrredon. I correctly judged this to be headwaters of the Rio Tarde 

 and decided at once to follow its course and endeavor thereby to gain 

 the valley running eastward from the lake, where I knew I should en- 

 counter much easier travelling than that which I had been experiencing in 

 the upper country. For some miles my journey down this river was in- 

 terfered with by no extraordinary difficulties. After a while, however, the 

 valley narrowed and rapidly assumed all the characters of a mountain 

 caflon, with walls towering on either side to a height of two thousand feet, 

 or even more, while the river rushed madly through boiling rapids filled 

 with giant bowlders, as shown in Figs. 23 and 24. I followed the 

 course of the stream until further progress became absolutely impossible, 

 when I was compelled to resort to a long, tedious and difficult climb to 

 the summit of the bad lands above, where I arrived late in the evening. 

 Here, with none too much grass for my tired and jaded horse, I passed 

 the night without the kindly shelter of even so much as a bush to shield 

 me from the piercing wind. I succeeded, however, in collecting sufficient 

 dead roots and weeds to build a small camp fire, over which I grilled a 

 venison steak, while in the hot ashes and coals remaining after the 

 fire I placed the hearts which I had taken from the deer. These were 

 nicely baked during the night and served me for breakfast the following 

 morning. With saddle blanket and clothing both wet, I must confess to 

 having passed a somewhat uncomfortable night 



By the following day the snow had disappeared to such an extent that 

 I was able to learn considerable concerning the geology of the region. 

 I passed most of the day in an examination of the lower Tertiary 

 and underlying Cretaceous deposits, passing the night in the valley be- 

 neath and returning to camp the following day. I was extremely anxious 

 to remain longer in this interesting region. Since, however, I had left 

 my companion with the avowed intention of returning the next day and 

 had now been absent a week, I feared he might be uneasy concerning 



