Life in Patagonia. 105 



carried liim back to the corral fchey disagreed among 

 themselves as to wliat they should do to him. 

 Luckily one of them understood Spanish, and trans- 

 lated to the others the substance of Damian's 

 speech delivered from the water. When they ques- 

 tioned their captive he invented many other 

 ingenious lies, saying that he was a poor orphan 

 boy, and that the cruel treatment his master sub- 

 jected him to had made him resolve to escape to the 

 Indians. The only feeling he had towards his own 

 race, he assured them, was one of undying animosity ; 

 and he was ready to vow that if they would only 

 let him join their tribe he would always be ready 

 for a raid on the Christian settlemeut. To see the 

 entire white race swept away with fire and steel 

 was, in fact, the cherished hope of his heart. Their 

 savage breasts were touched with his piteous tale 

 of sufferings ; his revengeful feelings were believed 

 to be genuine, and they took him to their own 

 home, where he was permitted to share in the 

 simple delights of the aborigines. They belonged 

 to a tribe very powerful at that time, inhabiting a 

 district called Las ^fanzanas — that is, the Apple 

 Country — situated at the sources of the Rio Negro 

 in the vicinity of the Andes. 



There is a tradition that shortly after the con- 

 quest of South America a few courageous Jesuit 

 priests crossed over from Chili to the eastern sloj^es of 

 the Andes to preach Christianity to the tribes there, 

 and that they took with them implements of hus- 

 bandry, grain, and seeds of European fruits. The 



