THE VENERABLE DON BOSCO
"Just as we set foot on Argentine territory the government prepared a scientific expedition into unexplored Patagonia, We asked to form part of it but a refusal was given us, because, it was said, it was too early yet, and that later on, when the ways should be open to penetration of civilization among these barbarous and violent tribes, we should be able to commence our work. In fact, only in 1879 did the first four missionaries set out for Patagonia. But their attempt was fruitless, because the vessel on which they traveled was wrecked in the waters of Rio Negro, the great river that is the principal means of communication with Patagonia and is ordinarily navigated by the largest warships. With difficulty the missionaries saved their lives.
"In the following year the Argentine government, suffering exceedingly from the continual incursions of the savage tribes of Patagonia into the civilized regions, prepared against them an armed expedition of 2,000 men under the minister of war himself, who was afterwards to become President of the Republic. The Salesians asked to accompany the expedition, proposing to attempt by means of the Cross that conquest which the Argentine troops were preparing to make with the sword. They were given place in the official headquarters, and lived as the soldiers on the long march up to the lines of the unexplored and terrifying region.
"The first contact of the white soldiers with the
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