106 Idle Days in Patagonia, 
missionaries soon met their death, and all that 
remained of their labours among the heathen were 
a few apple-trees they had planted. These trees 
found a soil and climate so favourable, that they 
soon began to propagate spontaneously, becoming 
exceedingly abundant. Certain it is that now, after 
two or three centuries of neglect by man, these 
wild apple-trees still yield excellent fruit, which the 
Indians eat, and from which they alss make a 
fermented liquor they call chi-chi. 
To this far-off fertile region Damian \ as taken 
to lead the kind of life he professed to k e. Here 
were hill, forest, and clear swift river, great un- 
dulating plains, the pleasant pasture-lands of the 
huanaco, ostrich, and wild horse; and beyond all 
in the west the stupendous mountain range of the 
Cordilleras—a realm of enchantment and ever- 
changing beauty. Very soon, however, when the 
novelty of the new life had worn off, together with 
the exultation he had experienced at his escape 
from cruel death, his heart began to be eaten up 
with secret grief, and he pined for his own people 
again. Hscape was impossible: to have revealed 
his true feelings would have exposed him to instant 
‘cruel death. To take kindly to the savage way 
of life, outwardly at least, was now his only course. 
With cheerful countenance he went forth on long 
hunting expeditions in the depth of winter, exposed 
all day to bitter cold and furious storms of wind 
and sleet, cursed and beaten for his awkwardness 
by his fellow-huntsmen; at night stretching his 
