CHAPTER XII 



BACK TO CIVILISATION 



Christmas Day at Horsham Camp — Horse races — Menu of dinner — Leave 

 Horsham Camp — Basalt plateaus — Large herds of guanacos — Sterile region — 

 Birth of filly — Father of guanacos — Search for Indian trail — Pebble hills — 

 Finding of trail — Filly's first march — Hunting— Mirages — Rain — Tent pleasures 

 — River Olin — Meeting Mr. Waag's party — News from outer world — River 

 Chico — Sierra Ventana — Indian toldo — Shepherd's hut — Houses, sheep ard 

 cattle — Night in huts — Antennas of civilisation — La Gaviota — Santa Cruz. 



" Horsham Camp, Christmas Day, 1900. — Here the weather is 

 warm ; large, soft and poisonous flies haunt the marsh in the 

 camp. The horses neigh. An ostrich, the greatest delicacy of 

 wild game in Patagonia, hangs witli three legs of guanaco on the 

 meat gallows." So runs my diary. 



We spent a very humble Christmas up there at Little Horsham 

 Camp, and made what mild cheer we might. In the morning of 

 Christmas Day we had horse races, a mile and a half-mile. We 

 rode the best horses in our respective troops. Barckhausen, how- 

 ever, rode the Azulejo, which he decorated with a towel and a red 

 handkerchief, to our great amusement. We were almost ready for 

 the second race when he came in from the first, having had a 

 difference of opinion on the way with his steed, which thought it 

 would be much nicer to rejoin his friends and companions feeding 

 on the green marsh than to run races. 



The surprise of the day was the winning of the races by the 

 Little Zaino, as we christened him. He was very timid and wild 

 to saddle and mount, but once up he proved himself a treasure. 

 In appearance he was a comely enough little horse, plump and 

 well picked up, and had been used occasionally to carry a cargo on 

 the way to the lake. 



The day before Christmas I wanted to go for a bathe, so I 



