The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-01-06
FOREST REPRESENTATIVES

Man Awed By Nature in the Patagon
 ian WildernesS-Litle Animal Life.
 There are at least 5000 square miles of unexplored forest in Patagonia.
 It is a region unknown and myste- rious, which has never been deeply en- tered by man; we lived for four months lok like. From afar they appear to ing to gain some knowledge of their interiors. As has been said, no man lives in them, nor is it probable that man has eyer lived there, and this for one all-sufficient reason-the absence of anything to live on.
 We'll do I remember my first sight of the forests and the intense longing which took hold upon me to make my way into their virgin fastneses. It is a strange desire, this to go where no one else has yet been. It springs, suppose, from the thought that in the unknown everything is possible, though few things perhaps come to pass.
 First, I must try to give you some idea of what these wonderful forests look like. From afar they apear to trim the slopes and spurs of the noun tains with a seemingly impenetrable mass of blackness, reaching, and often running up into the snow line. As you approach, the color assumes it's true hue, a deep, dense green, a green that seems to have the quality of absorbing light, so that as you gaze upon the expanse of foliage stretching back into the distances fold beyond fold, as the valleys and mountain sides close in be- hind each other, the impression of gloom and mystery holds upon your mind.
 Go nearer still and you will find the trees ranged in heavy phalanxes, and between their close-set trunks has grown up an undertangle of thorn, Old storms have overthrown many of the giants, so that they lie prostrate in los and 20s, or lean against their yet quick companions awaiting the slow decay of things.
 But it is hard to describe these vast and nameless tree-kingdoms in general terms.
 Of the few animals to be found in these parts the chief is the huemal. He is a deer of medium size, and one of the most beautiful in the world. With out them the forests would be bare of life indeed We found parrots, owls and hawks in some of our wanderings, while on other spots there seemed to be no sign of life at all save a few small rodents, and even these as we went farther into the recesses, disap- peared. And then we came to know the spell of universal silence which lies upon these forest depths.
 The aspect of the forestland and the trees of which it is composed varied greatly. Some were bare and desolate below as a northern forest, others-one on the west of Lago Rica channel comes especially to my mind-were ab- solutely tropical in their deep luxuri- ance In another, a majestic place, the dark forest of tall antarctic beech was draped with long trailing Spanish moss, and on the carpet of moss beneath them lay here and there a dead tree
 Few places are more sad and lonely than this region when rain is falling. After rain you are shut in and encir- cled by mists, which in their turn may be dissipated by a sudden fierce squall. In summer the climate is very humid and many of the plants have the fat wet aspect usually observed only in the IIOplCS, llt lluSG anu itdNy NtStlH- ton stifles you. Once having lived in that great black unsuitable woodland, | you can never quite shake off its in- 1. fuences from your life.
 As for our doings from day to day, | there is little to tell. It was contin- ! uous battle with nature, never with ! man. There was so little of animal life to break the monotony. The for ests were always beautiful, generally dark often the ground underfoot was spongy, for there were marshes every where, which in spring flower p1enti- fully.