i8o THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



the shore ready to be embarked. The town lies beyond sandhills, 

 which separate it from the sea. Concertinas and jack-boots ring in 

 its galvanised-iron huts ; mules, horses, dogs, and cattle house 

 in its formless plazas. It is a place which you hate and like at 

 one and the same time. You long to get away from it while 

 you are there, yet find yourself looking back sometimes and 

 wishing to see again its vague streets and its drag-net agglome- 

 ration of humanity. 



