4 THROUGH THE HEART OF PATAGONIA 



On the western side the mountains approach more closely to 

 the sea, some of the glaciers on the heights of the Andes actually 

 overhanging the Pacific. The shore is there deeply indented with 

 winding and intricate fjords, and dense dripping forests grow 

 rankly in the humid climate, for the rainfall on the Chilian side 

 of the Cordillera is extraordinarily heavy. 



Patagonia is the home of big distances. The Boer used to 

 boast that he could not see the smoke of his neighbour's chimney. 

 On the Atlantic coastland of Patagonia it is often three, four or 

 £ve days' ride to the nearest farm. The holdings are measured 

 not by the acre or any analogous standard but by the square league. 

 One farm alone in Tierra del Fuego is 400 square leagues in extent. 

 The distances are at first appalling. A man accustomed to cities 

 would here feel forlorn indeed. One stands face to face with the 

 elemental. As you travel into the interior, Nature, with her large 

 loose grasp, enfolds you. There is no possibility of being mentally 

 propped up by one's fellow man. Empty leagues upon leagues 

 surround you on every side, " the inverted bowl we call the sky " 

 above. 



Who, having once seen them, can forget the pampas ? 

 Evening, and the sun sloping over the edge of the plain like an 

 angry eye, an inky-blue mirage half blotting it out, in the middle 

 distance grass rolling like an ocean to the horizon, lean thorn, and 

 a mighty roaring wind. 



Out there in the heart of the country you seem to stand 

 alone, with nothing nearer or more palpable than the wind, the 

 fierce mirages and the limitless distances. 



This wild land, ribbed and spined by one of the greatest moun- 

 tain chains in the world, appears to have been the last habitation of 

 the greater beasts of the older ages. It is now the last country 

 of all to receive man, or rather its due share of human population. 



It must not be forgotten that this is the nearest bulk of land to 

 the Antarctic continent. It thrusts forth its vast mass far into 

 southern waters, and beyond lie a covey of islands, small and large, 

 upon the outermost of which is situated the famous Cape Horn. 



On the Antarctic continent there is no life to speak of. In 

 Patagonia, the nearest large land, the human race has been, 



