FEBRUARY. 41 



their way to Valparaiso and Lima; but they are now seldom to be 

 met with in the districts on the coast, and when they are, have lost 

 their flavour through age. 



" The wood of the Araucaria turns red when acted upon by the . 

 heat of a forest conflagration; but is white in its natural state, with 

 a deep yellow tinge at the centre. It yields to none in hardness and 

 soHdity ; and might hereafter be found of much value, were not the 

 places of its growth almost inaccessible. It is thought to be fit for 

 ship-building, but is much too heavy for masts. If a branch be 

 broken, or a scale of the unripe fruit pulled off, a thick milky sap 

 comes out, which soon changes into a yellowish resin, of a pleasant 

 smell, which is used medically by the Chilians for the cure of violent 

 rheumatic pains in the head, by applying it externally to the part 

 affected. 



" The Araucaria forest of Antuco is the most northerly known 

 in Chili; and it may be assumed that the 36th degree of S. lat. is 

 the boundary in that direction, beyond which this prince of all 

 extra- tropical American trees will not flourish. The southern limit 

 to which these forests extend is not sufficiently kno"vvn, though it 

 probably does not exceed the 46th degree. The want of informa- 

 tion on this point is scarcely to be wondered at, when so many more 

 important matters relating to western Patagonia remain unknown. 

 Between Antuco and Valdi\da it grows only within the Andes ; and, 

 as the Indians report, only on their w^estern sides, and never lower 

 than 1500 to 2000 feet below the snow-line, to which it seems in 

 many places to ascend. Farther south it descends lower, and is 

 found on hills of no great elevation, not far from the sea, in the 

 country of the Cuncos and in the vicinity of Osorno. The Corco- 

 bado, a mountain-range opposite the island of Chiloe, is said to be 

 covered with groups of these fine trees from the snow to the very 

 bottom, 



" The Ai'aucaria forests are nearly as bare of every thing else 

 as our Fir woods, and afford little to gratify the botanist in smaller 

 plants. Their usual localities are steep rocky ridges destitute of 

 water. We were obliged to fetch ours from a considerable distance 

 from the place of our bivouac, though our cookery required, indeed, 

 no great quantity; and after a very frugal supper we stretched our- 

 selves to sleep on the bare rock, lulled by the music of the nightly 

 tempest, which played in various tones among the lofty summits ; but 

 which would not have much disturbed us, accustomed as we were to 

 such lodgings, had not so thick a mist descended upon us about mid- 

 night as nearly to extinguish our fire. INIatters became more serious 

 when the storm of thunder and hail which followed seemed to remind 

 us that even an Araucaria forest was no shelter from the wrath of 

 the Cordillera.* It set us all shivering — my companions chiefly from 



• The Indians believe that the Cordillera, or great chain of the Andes, is the 

 abode of certain evil spirits, or gnomes, who watch over the treasures of gold and 

 silver which it contains, and manifest their anger when mortals invade their 

 secret recesses by the terrific storms which often arise there ^vithout any previous 

 warning. 



