146 ALERSE OF CHILI. 
parts west of Cape Froward: but from the poverty of the 
soil it is of very stunted growth." 
To the above information given by Captain King, a few 
notices are added by Captain Fitzroy, as to the mode in 
which the ;4/erse is obtained. “ The forests of Alerse are 
like mines to the Calbucano, or native, and nothing but old 
age or accident can check him from making boards after he 
has had one season of good luck. A man and his wife, if 
industrious, and if their fortune has led them to find plenty 
of fine-grained straight trees, at not more than the usual 
distance, three to five miles from the sea, can cut and bring 
down five hundred boards in a month. "The place where the 
trees are felled is called an Astillero. Here, on the flanks of 
the Cordillera, the pair will work for four or five weeks, then 
go home and clean their potatoe-grounds and attend to 
domestic matters, till their feet heal and a paralytic motion of 
the legs, acquired in the Astillero, has ceased. When quite 
refreshed they return for another cargo, and work till their 
feet and limbs can stand it no longer. A third trip is after- 
wards made by the husband for a fortnight to a nearer 
Astillero, where he cuts pieces of timber and plank (tablones 
and cuartones) as large as he can carry, and then goes home 
to collect his harvest, make chicha, and sow corn for next 
year. As soon as the children can walk a few miles, their 
parents take them to the Astillero, and beginning with half- 
boards to carry, the load is increased as they grow stronger. 
At about sixteen they borrow an axe, and make the boards 
they afterwards carry. The profitable parts of the forest are 
now, of course, much farther from the sea than they were, Ae 
owing to constant thinning. To get a load of twenty boards 
twice as much labour is necessary as was required for the 
purpose thirty years ago. The largest Alerse tree that has 
been found by any Calbucano, during the last forty years 
measured 30 feet in girth at 5 feet from the ground, and 
more than 76 feet to the first branches. "This famous trunk 
gave eight lengths of boards and half a length. The two 
largest individuals seen by Mr. Douglas in his excursion for 
