Through the Heart of Patagonia

by H. Hesketh-Prichard

CONTENTS

CHAPTER	PAGE
	Introduction	[xiii]
I.	Patagonia	[1]
II.	Southward Ho!	[15]
III.	The Battle of the Horses	[33]
IV.	The Battle of the Horses (continued)	[50]
V.	The River Valleys	[67]
VI.	Manners and Customs of the Tehuelches	[85]
VII.	Tehuelche Methods of Hunting	[104]
VIII.	The Kingdom of the Winds	[116]
IX.	Round and About Lake Buenos Aires	[130]
X.	The Gorge of the River de los Antiguos	[144]
XI.	Some Hunting Camps	[156]
XII.	Back to Civilisation	[167]
XIII.	Journey to Lake Argentino	[181]
XIV.	The Downstream Navigation of the River Leona	[196]
XV.	A Hard Struggle	[211]
XVI.	Wild Cattle	[224]
XVII.	On the First Attitude of Wild Animals towardsMan	[235]
XVIII.	The Larger Mammals of Patagonia	[247]
XIX.	First Passing through Hellgate	[261]
XX.	Discovery of River Katarina and Lake Pearson	[277]
XXI.	Homeward	[287]
A Few Words about the Future of Patagonia		[294]
Appendix A		[301]
I.	Account of the Discovery. By Dr. Moreno	[301]
II.	Description and Comparison of the Specimen. By Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S.	[305]
	(a) Description
	(b) Comparisons and General Conclusions
III.	Description of Additional Discoveries. By Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S.	[315]
IV.	Description of Pangolins, Armadillos and Sloths. By H. Hesketh Prichard	[330]
Appendix B		[334]
	On a New Form of Puma from Patagonia. By OldfieldThomas, F.R.S.
Appendix C		[336]
	List of Plants. By James Britten, F.L.S., and A. B.Rendle, M.A., D.Sc.
Glossary		[341]
Index		[343]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
Tehuelche Hunting Scene	(In Colour)	[Frontispiece]
Facing p
Outfitting in a Patagonian Store		[22]
The first guanaco		[26]
A daughter of the Toldos		[80]
A New Cure for the Measles	(In Colour)	[86]
A Tehuelche cacique		[90]
A Tehuelche matron, showing hare-lip		[94]
Children of the Toldos		[98]
Tehuelche matrons		[100]
A Tehuelche beauty		[102]
Boleadores		[104]
Sons of the Pampas		[110]
The Tehuelche Toldos		[114]
Onas stalking guanaco		[120]
Store-clad Indians		[124]
Tehuelche spying guanaco	(In Colour)	[132]
Best head of Huemul (Xenelaphus bisulcus)	Shot by the author	[146]
Rest-and-be-Thankful Camp		[150]
Huemul in summer coat	(In Colour)	[152]
Descending the Barranca		[158]
Guanacos descending a hillside	(Photogravure)	[160]
A Patagonian lagoon	(In Colour)	[168]
The Italian engineers' waggon		[174]
Sierra Ventana		[176]
The drinking place	(Photogravure)	[186]
Fiord of Lake Argentino, showing forest on Mt. Avellanada		[190]
End of Southern Fiord of Lake Argentino		[192]
The Wild Man	(Photogravure)	[194]
The World of Ice		[202]
The fire		[220]
A glade in the Lake Rica Forest		[226]
The Leader of the Herd	(Photogravure)	[230]
As it was in the beginning		[232]
Camp Thieves	(In Colour)	[244]
Pearson's Puma	(In Colour)	[252]
The North Fiord		[264]
Our launch among the ice		[270]
Another view of the Glacier de los Tempanos		[274]
Eventide		[278]
The last reach		[284]
TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS
The pampas (showing first division)		[1]
One of our Gauchos		[1]
Among the Andes		[3]
A Tehuelche Cacique		[7]
Lakes and the distant Cordillera (showing second division)		[8,9]
A Patagonian Estancia		[11]
Argentine Gaucho		[12]
Half-breed Gaucho		[13]
J. B. Scrivenor		[17]
T. R. D. Burbury		[20]
Welsh Settlement of Trelew		[21]
Humphrey Jones, Jun.		[23]
The start on our long trek		[27]
Mr. Langley's Estancia on the road to Bahia Camerones		[29]
Frederick Barckhausen		[31]
A pampa round-up		[34]
J. B. Scrivenor (geologist) and mula		[39]
The big Overo, a buckjumper		[41]
The hunter's return		[44]
Felis concolor puma		[45]
Guanaco hounds (father and mother of the author's hound, Tom)		[46]
Ready to be cargoed		[50]
Mrs. Trelew		[52]
Yegua Rosada		[53]
The Asulejo		[54]
Cargoing-up		[56, 57]
The author's two best horses, the Cruzado and Alazan		[59]
Settlement of Colohuapi		[64]
Our brand		[66]
The Germans		[69]
River Senguerr, where disaster overtook us		[71]
The Old Zaino		[72]
The Guanaco (an intimate of the Old Zaino's)		[73]
The Alazan colt (nearly killed on the Senguerr)		[74]
Wildgoose Camp		[77]
Bad stalking (califate-bush on pampa)		[78]
Wati! Wati! (Tehuelche exclamation of surprise)		[83]
Indian Toldo		[85]
Arrowheads and knife, found near Colohuapi, Chubut (now in collectionof Mr. E. M. Sprot)		[89]
Beauties of Tierra del Fuego		[108]
Tehuelches visit Gallegos		[113]
On ahead		[118]
Horsham Base Camp		[123]
Lake Buenos Aires		[126]
Señor Hans P. Waag, of the Argentine Boundary Commission		[128]
Inlet of Lake Buenos Aires		[131]
The horses retrieved		[135]
Sterile ground to north of Lake Buenos Aires		[139]
Lake Buenos Aires from the Cañadon of the River de los Antiguos		[145]
Grassy camp		[154]
Young guanaco		[156]
First huemul camp		[162]
The off-saddle		[165]
Jones smokes the pipe of victory		[166]
The Indian trail		[171]
River Olin		[172]
River Belgrano		[174]
The home of the Indian who gave us mutton		[176]
La Gaviota		[177]
Santa Cruz		[178]
Residents of Santa Cruz		[179]
The main street, Santa Cruz		[182]
Ford on the River Santa Cruz		[184]
Estancia of Mr. E. Cattle		[193]
The launch, with Mr. Cattle and Bernardo on board		[197]
Bernardo Hähansen		[207]
Where the squalls came from		[215]
Forests under the snows where wild cattle breed		[224]
Edge of forest		[233]
Guanacos on sky-line		[237]
The huemul doe which touched the author. Photographed with smallcamera as she retired		[243]
Best head of huemul (Xenelaphus bisulcus) shot by the author. Sideview		[249]
Head of guanaco		[254]
Guanaco chico (captured with lasso)		[256]
Red mountain wolf (Canis montanus)		[260]
Hellgate		[262]
Beyond man's footsteps		[265]
Glacier de los Tempanos		[273]
Glacier and glacial detritus		[275]
Cañadon of the River Katarina		[281]
River Katarina		[283]
Lake Pearson		[285]
Punta Arenas		[292]
The author		[293]
Skin of Grypotherium, outer view		[306]
Skin of Grypotherium, inner view		[307]
MAPS
Map showing route of Expedition through Patagonia		[36]
Map of the Eastern Portion of Lake Buenos Aires		[172]
Map of Lake Argentino and District (showing routes)		[188]

INTRODUCTION

Patagonia is a country about which little is known to the world in general, books dealing with it being few and far between, while the aspect of that quaint tail of South America and its wild denizens has practically never before been pictorially brought under the eye of the public. The following pages have been written with the idea of familiarising my readers with the conditions of life in Patagonia, and of reproducing as strongly as possible the impressions we gathered during our journey through regions most interesting and varied, and, as regards a certain portion of them, hitherto unvisited and unexplored.

The original motive with which these travels were undertaken lay in a suggestion that a couple of years ago created a considerable stir amongst many besides scientific people, namely, that the prehistoric Mylodon might possibly still survive hidden in the depths of the forests of the Southern Andes. In a lecture delivered on June 21, 1900, before the Zoological Society, Professor E. Ray Lancaster, the Director of the British Museum of Natural History, said: "It is quite possible—I don't want to say more than that—that he (the Mylodon) still exists in some of the mountainous regions of Patagonia." Mr. Pearson, the proprietor of the Daily Express, most generously financed the Expedition in the interests of science, and entrusted me with the task of sifting all the evidence for or against the chances of survival obtainable on the spot.