Note 68 — Chapter II

An estero is a tract of country covered by water to the depth of two or three feet. The bottom is usually hard, but it is full of holes and hummocks. High pampa grass and reeds not infrequently obscure the view, and clouds of insects make life miserable. If the tract extends to more than a day’s journey, the night passed on a dry hummock, holding one’s horse and listening without a fire to the wild beasts, is likely to remain present to one in after-life, especially if alone; the only things that seem to link one to humanity are one’s horse and the familiar stars. Perhaps that is why Capella has always seemed to me in some sort my own property.