THE GORGE OF THE RIVER DE LOS ANTIGUOS 149 



fact became obvious that the river had risen during the night and 

 was still rising. The waters had grown earth-coloured and large 

 trees were being hurtled down-stream. 



The warm weather which we had been experiencing must have 

 melted the snows which feed the torrents of the Cordillera. 

 Rivers inside and in the neighbourhood of the Cordillera vary 

 during the spring very much in volume, changing in a single day 

 or night from a mere trickle of water to a torrent 100 yards 

 in width. In the present instance the River de los Antiguos 

 had begun to rise in the day while we were hunting. At length we 

 saw a place where a big shelf of stone and shingle rising in the 

 middle of the river divided it into two streams. To reach the bank 

 nearest to this island of shingle it was necessary to climb down 

 some two hundred feet of an uncommonly nasty slope. On the 

 way the horses struck a bed of rolling stones and arrived very 

 suddenly. The gut of the Gorge was choked with green forest 

 and decaying vegetation ; large dead trees, mostly trunks of 

 antarctic beech, were jammed together, intersected by a dozen 

 miniature torrents all sluicing down full of water since the melting 

 of the snows. 



Arrived at the river, my horse took the ford at once and went 

 in straightly to his shoulders. The current was running like a 

 mill-race — overstrong for us, but fortunately we had not plunged 

 in too deeply, and so got back to the shore. 



Had it not been for the two smokes, which we had arranged 

 were not to be used save in the greatest extremity, I should have 

 made a camp and waited to see if the river would fall. As things 

 were, it seemed absolutely necessary to cross at once. 



We now went a little up-stream, and I stripped off some of my 

 clothes and waded down into the river. It was so cold that it 

 took away all feeling from my feet. I had my precious rifle with 

 me as well as a dear old shot-gun. The strip of water I was about 

 to cross was quite narrow. I thought of leaving the guns behind 

 me, but that would have meant another crossing of the river, which 

 was so cold that it seemed to burn like fire. 



I had not reached the middle when my left foot went into a 

 hole, the current caught me, and the banks began to run back- 



