Idle Days in Patagonia

Idle Days in Patagonia is a beautifully illustrated account of the fauna, and to a lesser extent the flora, of Patagonia. Far from being just a travelogue, Hudson combines his observations with elements of the adventure tale?the gentle naturalist being both shipwrecked and shot in the rich course of his travels. His passionate accounts of the world he finds are imbued with a literary air with such passages as a rhapsody on "the quality of whiteness" that one "finds only in solitude."This book is part anthropological study, part travelogue and part adventure story in one, all completed in a readable literary style that sheds light on this dark corner of the world.