Cliap. xx.j TREES ANi) FLOWERS. 



467 



dry old sandal-wood still remained in the valleys ; but even 

 then there were no growing sandal-wood trees remaining.* 

 No doubt the general appearance of the vegetation is very 

 different now from what it was when the island was first 

 visited. 



I landed and climbed with a guide a steep path leading 

 directly up from the Bay to Selkirk's Monument. The island 

 is rented from the Chilian Government as a farm by a Chilian, 

 who employs a number of labourers and rears cattle and 

 grows vegetables, doing a very fair trade with passing vessels, 

 the crews of which, like our own, after a voyjge from such a 

 port as Tahiti, long for a little wholesome fresh food. A con- 

 siderable sum is also reahsed by the sale of the skins of the 

 P\ir-Seals. Close to the farmhouse at the Bay still remains a 

 row of old caves dug out in the hill side by the Buccaneers. 



In ascending the path the first tree was met with at about 

 700 feet altitude, all below had been cut down. We passed 

 through a hollow overgrown by a dense growth of the gigantic 

 Rhubarb-like Guniura chiknsis. Darwin remarked on the 

 large size of the leaves of this plant and height of its stalks as 

 seen by him in Chile, f The stalks of the plants he saw were 

 not much more than a yard in height. In this hollow the 

 stalks must have been 7 feet in height. We walked through a 

 narrow passage cut in a thicket of them with the huge circular 

 leaves above our heads. The leaves catch and hold a large 

 quantity of rain-water. The size attained by the Gunnera 

 varies with its situation. In many places the leaves are very 

 conspicuous on the hill-slopes, crowding closely as an under- 

 growth, and not rising high above the ground. 



It was now Spring in Juan Fernandez, as at Tahiti. Most 

 excellent Strawberries grow wild about the lower slopes of the 

 island, and especially well on banks beneath the cliffs close to 

 the sea-shore. The Strawberries are large and fine, but white 

 in colour, being, I believe, a Spanish cultivated variety. If 

 so, they have not at all reverted to the parent wild form, 

 either in colour or size; a few only were just beginning to 

 ripen. 



At this time of the year the foliage of the Myrtles, though 

 evergreen, looks half dead, and thus these trees show out con- 

 spicuously amongst the rest. Here and there examples of the 

 Magnoliaceous Tree " Winter's Bark " {Dryinis Winteri), a tree 

 common in the Straits of Magellan, were covered with showy 



* "Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.S. 'Adventure' and 

 'Beagle,'" Vol. I., p. 302. London, 1839. Visit of Capt. King, H.M.S, 

 'Adventure,' accompanied by Signor Berteio the Botanist, Feb., 1833." 



f C. Darwin, "Journal of Researches," p. 279. 



