Wanderings in Patagonia: Life Among the Ostrich-Hunters

In 1877, Julius Beerbohm, a twenty-three year old engineer, travelled to Patagonia with the intention of exploring the land between Port Desire and Santa Cruz. What was to unfold was a spectacular tale of endurance and spirit, set against the wildest extremes that nature has to offer. And in Patagonia, a land of glaciers and volcanoes, pumas, wild stallions, and 'giants', nature has quite an armoury from which to draw.

The 'giants' of this fantastic story are the Tehuelche Indians, who were described as such by Magellan's crew in 1520. Reports which followed found the Patagonians to be nine, and even twelve feet tall, and although such accounts were undoubtedly exaggerated, Patagonia is a place in which such wonders would not be wholly out of place.

The Tehuelche Indians are also the 'ostrich-hunters' of the title, and their pursuit was one of the many remarkable adventures in which Beerbohm finds himself involved over the course of his voyage. While unquestionably a descriptive work of great beauty, Wanderings in Patagonia is far more than that. The events of Beerbohm's tale follow in a manner that would be reminiscent of the classic adventure story, were it not in fact a very real account of an expedition across unfinished portion of the globe'.