Silas sees the hostile desert too clearly to share Edwyn's faith in Patagonia - a heaven-sent New Wales. But 7,000 miles from the old Wales, he and his family have no choice but to persevere. With Yeluc, the Tehuelche Indian who watches over the colony's first steps, compassion binds us to this fragile community who speak the tongue of heaven but suffer, grieve and endure on earth.
