io6 Idle Days in Patagonia. 



missionaries soon met their death, and all that 

 remained of their labours among the heathen were 

 a few apple-trees they had planted. These trees 

 found a soil and climate so favourable, that they 

 soon began to propagate spontaneously, becoming 

 exceedingly abundant. Certain it is that now, after 

 two or three centuries of neglect by man, these 

 wild apple-trees still yield excellent fruit, which the 

 Indians eat, and from which they also make a 

 fermented liquor they call cki-chi. 



To this far-off fertile region Damian was taken 

 to lead the kind of life he professed to love. Here 

 were hill, forest, and clear swift river, great un- 

 dulating plains, the pleasant pasture-lands of the 

 huanaco, ostrich, and wild horse ; and beyond all 

 in the west the stupendous mountain range of the 

 Cordilleras a realm of enchantment and ever- 

 changing beauty. Very soon, however, when the 

 novelty of the new life had worn off, together with 

 the exultation he had experienced at his escape 

 from cruel death, his heart began to be eaten up 

 with secret grief, and he pined for his own people 

 again. Escape was impossible : to have revealed 

 his true feelings would have exposed him .to instant 

 cruel death. To take kindly to the savage way 

 of life, outwardly at least, was now his only course. 

 With cheerful countenance he went forth on long 

 hunting expeditions in the depth of winter, exposed 

 all day to bitter cold and furious storms of wind 

 and sleet, cursed and beaten for his awkwardness 

 by his. fellow-huntsmen ; at night stretching his 



