142 Idle Days in Patagonia. 



the dreadful cavern will be a slight depression in 

 the soil. 



Satisfied with the result, I resume my solitary 

 ramble, and by-and-by coming upon a fine Escan- 

 dalosa bush I resolve to add incendiarism to my 

 list of misdeeds. It might appear strange that a 

 bush should be called Escandalosa, which means 

 simply Scandalous, or, to prevent mistakes, which 

 simply means Scandalous ; but this is one of those 

 quaint names the Argentine peasants have bestowed 

 on some of their curious plants dry love, the devil's 

 snuff-box, bashful weed, and many others. The 

 Escandalosa is a wide-spreading shrub, three to five 

 feet high, thickly clothed with prickly leaves, and 

 covered all the year round with large pale-yellow 

 immortal flowers ; and the curious thing about the 

 plant is that when touched with fire it blazes up like 

 a pile of wood shavings, and is immediately consumed 

 to ashes with a marvellous noise of hissing and crack- 

 ling. And thus the bush I have found burns itself 

 up on my placing a lighted match at its roots. 



I enjoy the spectacle amazingly while it lasts, the 

 brilliant tongues of white flame darting and leaping 

 through the dark foliage making a very pretty show; 

 but presently, contemplating the heap of white 

 ashes at my feet where the green miracle, covered 

 with its everlasting flowers, flourished a moment 

 ago, I began to feel heartily ashamed of myself. 

 For how have I spent my day ? I remember with 

 remorse the practical joke perpetrated on the simple- 

 minded coots, also the consternation caused to a 



