194



Mr. F. E. Blaauw,



used for tying up the saddle-horses to them whilst their masters

went about their business.


After a while, we reached the principal inn of the place,

where we ordered some luncheon, and whilst exploring the building

I found a small courtyard in which a Gull, a White Egret and a

female ashy-headed Goose looked very sad and out of place. The

White Heron, which perhaps looked as miserable as any of the trio,

had not long ago, the host told me, flown away as he had forgotten

to have its wings cut, and after an absence of a few days had

voluntarily come back to re-occupy its dismal place near the small

water-basin. This story the host told me in great triumph as I

remarked to him upon the sad looks of the poor birds.


After luncheon, I enquired about the distance to go to a

German settler whom I wanted to visit, and in true Chilian style

got the wildest ideas and estimates about the situation of this estate,

which I knew to be not very far away. The host told me it would

take three or four hours or more; another man estimated the

distance at two hours, etc., etc. Not trusting any of them, I went

into the town and chanced to find a man who had actually been

there, and told me that I could easily reach the place in an hour-

and-a-half, and this information proved to be true. So having

mounted our horses we left the town in a westerly direction and

without much trouble found the road we wanted.


After having gone uphill for a while the road led amongst the

ghastly-looking remains of burnt forests. I had been told to follow

the road until I passed two lakes, and eventually I reached the first

of the two. This would have been a lovely spot from its shape if

everything round it had not been burnt down. After a while I

passed the second lake, and shortly after this the road entered a

beautiful unharmed forest. I had been told to look for a gate, and

after a while the gate appeared, and passing through it I entered

the forest, which still showed all its original beauty. The road

was nothing else than the bed of a stream, which, for some

reason or other, had changed its course and was winding through

the forest in a most eccentric way. The ground was damp, and

many of the old trees were covered with ferns and lichens, some

white ones hanging down in fringes and other brownish green ones,



