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Great Dame rose from beside the fireplace and came to greet us, and a little white poodle bounced out, sniffing at our feet.  A canary sang from a cage, and under the kitchen stove were a large family of Angora kittens.  Beside the window was a grand piano, and while I was thinking how much the man must love music to have managed getting a grand piano out here in the wilderness, he admitted to being a composer.  His own drawings, striking, bold wood-cuts and linoleum cuts of gaucho life, adorned the walls, along with a collection of old and native weapons and firearms.  He has edited a magazine and is now writing a book. 

For two years he has lived on Isla Victoria, and took us out to see the trails that he has cut through the dense forest.  One part of the island is to have a few animals close by the landing, fenced in so that visitors can see them; on the rest of the land deer and pheasants are to roam free.  There are four lakes on the island, and in one of them we came across six black-necked swans calmly swimming among the reeds.  

The forest is beautiful, with every tree and leaf so unlike any other vegetation that we have ever seen that the effect is that of a stage setting.  The largest tree, which has a closely growing small evergreen leaf like boxwood is called coihui (Notophagus dombeyi).  There is another good sized tree with a bark so smooth and white the tree seems to have been peeled clean.  Barberries were more like our own species, and the autumn coolness had turned them brilliant orange.  A curious parasitic vine called quintral grows thickly in the forest, strangling the trees it grows on, but producing masses of brilliant honeysuckle-shaped red blossoms.  These bloom all winter, even under coverings of snow, and all winter humming-birds come to them.  

After a long walk through the damp and dripping forest we came back to sit by the fire and drink bowls of hot soup.  Francke came back with us in the launch, under a sky where black clouds rolled up, threatening us, and drenching the full moon.  

May 30 - Bariloche

The Park Service wanted us to see their big swanky hotel at LLao-Llao, and we drove over there in the morning, over a narrow muddy mountain road that showed us at every turn fresh picture-postcard views of incredibly blue water and purple mountains.  The hotel, although closed, was really worth seeing.  While it is big, de luxe affair, it has kept a rustic effect, and is panelled throughout in native wood.  A beautiful golf course and a pretty little chapel adjoin the hotle.  There are 450 room each one with bath, and the dining room will seat two thousand people.  It's The last word in refrigeration, heat, fire protection.  Great glassed-in verandahs show one gorgeous view after another, and the fireplace in the banquet hall is so big that ten tall men could stand in it at the same time.  

A guard took us all over the place, but there was nothing to eat in spite of the pantry shelves being still stocked