were quite twenty acres of peach trees, and when Lyon and I wished to
be of use, the manager frequently asked us to hitch-up the wagon, and
bring him in a few sackfuls of peaches for preserving.

Espartillar boasted a great neglected wilderness of a garden, as
untidy and unkempt as a fashionable pianist's hair, but growing the
most wonderful collection of fruit. Here pears, peaches, lemons,
guavas, and strawberries flourished equally well in the accommodating
Argentine climate, and the pears of South America, the famous _peras
de agua_, must be tasted before their excellence can be imagined.
The garden was traversed by an avenue of fine eucalyptus trees,
amongst whose dusky foliage little screaming green parrakeets darted
in and out all day long, like flashes of vivid emerald light. The
garden was also, unfortunately, the favourite recreation-ground of a
family of lively skunks, and the skunk is an animal whose terrific
offensive powers necessitate extreme caution in approaching him.
Should a young dog unwarily attempt to tackle a skunk, he had to be
rigorously quarantined for a fortnight, for otherwise the
inexpressibly sickening odour was unendurable.

Beyond the garden enclosure, the dun-coloured expanse of treeless
featureless camp stretched its endless flat levels to the horizon, the
wooden posts supporting the wire fences being the only sign that man
had ever invaded these vast solitudes. Our minds are so constituted
that we set bounds to everything, for everything to which we are
accustomed has limits; one had a perpetual feeling that were one only
to ride over the camp long enough, towns and human habitations must be
reached somewhere. A glance at the map showed that this was not so.
Due south one could have ridden hundreds of miles with no variations
whatever to mark the distances achieved. This endless camp had