138 ELIZABETH CARY AGASSIZ 
ornament which we thought could not be matched at 
any dinner party on Beacon Street or Fifth Avenue. A 
guanaco skull supported a spreading bunch of ostrich 
plumes gathered on the Patagonian shore, while the 
base of our bouquet was finished with green droop- 
ing fronds of “kelp” — match that if you can. First 
Course: Mussels roasted on the shell (from the beach 
of Possession Bay). Second Course: Patagonian snipe 
on toast. Wines: Sherry, Sauterne, Claret, Cham- 
pagne, Not native. Our wine cellar is getting low but 
we thought we would not be niggardly on this first 
dinner in the Straits. We were quite a snug party, 
nine instead of eighteen as usual in the mess, for the 
Mt. Aymond party had not yet returned; but just as 
we were sitting over our dessert hearing all the de- 
tails of the day and everybody talking together, a 
shout on deck announced the return of the second 
party. We all rushed up and there they were with 
great trophies. They had shot and skinned a guanaco 
and brought him bodily, and this morning we have 
breakfasted sumptuously off guanaco steak (very 
much like beefsteak and seemed to me as good), but 
we have been so long without fresh provisions that 
we are likely to do more than justice to Patagonian 
fare. They brought also upland goose and other game, 
but their news was the most interesting of all. Pour- 
talés had found Mt. Aymond to be the centre of a 
nest of extinct volcanoes. The mountain itself had 
two craters very perfectly formed about 200 feet in 
depth. He gathered fine specimens of lava and vol- 
canic débris all around them. Near the main peak 
