Conifers 



everything about them gives an archaic or, shall we 

 say, a " Jurassic " look. The stiff, clumsy branching, the 

 solid, thick, and knobby stem, with a swollen bulging at 

 the base, is altogether unlike anything that we are ac- 

 customed to. Their large seeds used to be the main 

 support of some of those fierce Indian tribes in Southern 

 Chile who were never conquered by the Spaniards even 

 after 250 years of continual warfare. They are more 

 ancient even than those other fine conifers which occur 

 in the forests of the Andes farther to the south, such 

 as Fitzroya, Libocedrus, and Saxegothea, all of which 

 belong to an ancient group of conifers. 



In the extreme south of South America they are 

 perhaps being crowded out by the antarctic beech, 

 which is more hardy and perhaps better fitted for the 

 terrible storms and icy blizzards of that savage and 

 even to-day almost unexplored territory. 



The way in which these archaic coniferous genera, 

 and especially Araucaria, appear in the most unexpected 

 places all about the Pacific, is perhaps best explained 

 by supposing that they really are the last isolated 

 remnants of the most ancient tree type in the world, 

 which have just managed to survive in odd and out 

 of the way islands and mountain woods (see p. 282). 



The general distribution of the more modern pines, 

 spruces, and larches quite agrees, however, with the 

 theory that they are preliminary associations, able to 

 exist on poor land, in high mountains and the frozen 

 north, but unable to compete with deciduous trees 

 where the soil and climate is good and kindly. 



The appearance of a '' forest primaeval " differs of 

 course in different latitudes. In the more northerly 

 latitudes one is apt to be bitterly disappointed. The 

 trees are scraggy, stumpy, badly grown, and loaded with 

 old man's beard and other lichens. In more genial 



242 



