The independent position enjoyed at present by Mr. John Hamilton is the best patent of nobility of his life of work and sacrifice. For in Patagonia fortune is fickle towards the weak and vacillating and to make one in those lands temperament and character are needed which are proof against reverses and disappointments. That Mr. Hamilton was of this stamp is proven by his success and the expansion of his business within and without the boundaries of the territory studied in this work.

An indefatigable worker, it may be said of him, that from the time he settled he never had a moment's repose, and even now, old as he is, his activity belies the testimony which his snowy hair gives of his years.

The firm of Hamilton and Saunders is one of the most renowned in Argentina as well as in Chilian Patagonia, and its stockbreeding establishments are models as far as plant, type of cattle and methods of administration are concerned.

The "Punta Loyola" estancia, where Mr. Hamilton usually resides is the first one that the traveller in route for Gallegos will happen to see when the ship bears into the river which gives it name to the capital.

Those homesteads, painted white and red, are the outposts of the establishments which the labour of Patagonian pioneers has progressively raised, from the sea-coast to the slopes of the Andes.

Hamilton, at "Punta Loyola", and Rudd at "Cape Fairweather" are the two "look-outs" left by the settlers near the Atlantic when they started on the march to the interior of the territory.