In Santa
Cruz province, Argentina, sheep ranching began in the late
1870s. The high cost of stocking this empty territory led
some ranchers to purchase animals in the developed pampas
north of the Río Negro, driving them southward overland.
The work presented here is
the private log of Thomas Saunders, a member of one such
expedition. Born in Scotland in 1857, he came to Patagonia
via the Falkland Islands [Malvinas]. Other members of his
group were William Hope, Henry Jamieson and fellow-Scots
John Hamilton and John McLean.
In terse language, Thomas
records the group's daily progress, the route followed,
landmarks, significant events and people. The journey
was made in two stages: first, 2 months from the Río
Negro to the Río Chubut; then a further 11 weeks
to San Julián, where the diary ends. [For another
report, including later stages,
see Hamilton.]
The diary is presented in
its original form, together with a page-by-page transcript.
Thomas's spelling and writing is "idiosyncratic"
(especially in Spanish), so a standardized English text
and glossary have been added. Click here to download complete
standardized text.
N.B. Words marked in the text
with colour cannot be read confidently. |