"To the every-day tourist who must have every stage of his journey mapped out for him, to whom a good dinner and a bottle of wine are a sine qua non, I have nothing to say."

"But to the man who would see for himself a country as it was left by the Creator before the hand of man has touched it — who will voluntarily put himself back many generations to live for awhile the life of his more primitive ancestors; who will care to live with the sky as his boundary and to sleep with the stars for a roof, as, with his feet stretched to the camp fire he thinks of far-off home and distant scenes, whilst ever and anon the stillness of the night is broken by the bark of the fox or the cry of some wandering puma seeking his prey—to him I can offer a vast field and scope for his wanderings, a life free for a short while from the daily worries and conventionalities of civilisation, where his time and his way are his own, to choose how he will and to go where he will; and I hope that he may find this small book of some assistance to him before he sets out."

W.O.Campbell - Through Patagonia. 1901

 

"sadly their idea of tourism is no more progressive than their ancestor's"

SR. Gaurdian Review. Sunday 14th October 2004.


PATAGONIA has until the last two years been practically a terra incognita, and even now, when sonic few rays of light are beginning to be thrown on to that dark part of the continent of South America, many of the legends circulated are extremely unreliable. It will have also been noticed that of the many letters and pamphlets which have been published, amid even in Musters’ great book on his, wanderings in the country, there will be found no helpful directions to assist the reader to see for himself the wonders detailed, therein.

It has therefore occurred to me that a book which, without giving needless details of what is to be found there, would act as a finger-post to point out the way and leave its readers to form their own impressions of the country, might meet with some acceptance.

It has been said that, to write the description of any country, it is a sine qua non that the writer should never have visited that particular land. As I have failed to comply with this condition, and have myself spent much tune wandering in Patagonia, I feel I may justly claim the indulgence of my readers for the shortcomings in this small book.

W.O.Campbell - Through Patagonia. 1901

 

"...if the stay-at-home who reads these same pages as he sits by his comfortable fireside, disturbed only by the rain which patters on the window panes or drips on the roof, has been able to picture to himself the great continent as it stretches in undisturbed solitudes far from the roar and traffic of the great city, and to put himself for one short hour in the place of the wanderer in all his successes and disappointments, and can feel with him in the dull strain of anxiety or the quick sigh of relief—if these things are brought about, then I think that this book will not have been written in vain."

W.O.Campbell - Through Patagonia. 1901

 

"..posh brothers Ollie and Jules Campbell set about re-creating his experiences in Patagonia, complete with cravats, armadillo stew and a thinly concealed air of Victorian superiority. There is plenty of scenery to wow the armchair traveller..."

Watch it: the best of the rest. Sunday times. 14 Oct 2004.