A gleam of ceasing rain--it was not sunshine--gave courage to some of the more energetic members of the party to go forth to inspect the heaps of wood about to be made into charcoal in the neighbourhood of the estancia, if any could be reached on dry land. For to-morrow the visit to the La Gallareta factory will occupy the day, and the Charcoal piles are too interesting a sight to be left unvisited now that we are in the wood department of the Santa Fé Land Company. In the northern districts where trees are numerous it is necessary to "distroncar" the land before the soil can be brought into condition suitable for the plough. In other words all the trees and roots must be removed before ploughing operations commence. But the timber so obtained is not wasted; the branches and all pieces not big enough to be used for sleepers, etc., are cut up into various suitable lengths and piled together in such a manner that when finished the heap presents the appearance of a huge beehive; the centre of this dome running from the apex to the ground is a hollow cylinder; this tube or pipe is filled up with the small sticks and twigs from the trees, and when all is in readiness the contents of the cylinder are fired from the top, the fire slowly burns downwards and sets light to the surrounding logs which in their turn smoulder till they become charcoal. But the match is not applied until the whole mass of wood has been covered up and plastered over with mud, to prevent the entrance of any air. The kiln thus forms an enclosed retort, and the wood is carbonised and makes excellent charcoal, which eventually finds its way to Buenos Aires and other cities, where immense quantities are used for cooking and heating purposes. If all goes well, the kiln being well built, and no air admitted, some thirty to forty tons of charcoal are produced from one of these heaps; not infrequently, however, the crown breaks in; this allows the air to enter, the wood is completely burnt, and the labour expended on this "horno" is represented by a few cartloads of useless ash. The thought of these possible failures was too much for The Instigator; he held forth, at length, upon the advisability of bringing a little science to bear upon the problem of preventing any waste of the material itself or of the by-products. His theory is that to make the best use of nature's lavish gifts in the way of wood products, an iron or brick still should be erected, on the inside of which the heavy tarry products would naturally accumulate, and so find their way to the base of the kiln where they could be collected and run out into casks for utilisation, whilst the lighter vapours are condensed in the hood of the still to be chemically treated later for their highly valuable properties, and the charcoal itself would be a more certain production from these brick or iron kilns than it is from the present heaps. At this point of his lecture the weather became impossible, and when The