Life in Patagonia. 105 
carried him back to the corral they disagreed among 
themselves as to what 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 settlement. 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 Manzanas—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 slopes 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 
