Fes. 1910.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 71 
general appearance to that of a Highland moor. There 
were grasses and mosses, and a little plant with a black 
berry and with a habit of growth and appearance resembling 
Empetrum or Vaccinium. On the dry ground was a 
Berberis with small elliptical leaves. Judging by the 
stumps, the trees were not conifers. I think they were a 
species of Nothofugus or Southern Beech, probably 
N. antarctica. 
Proceeding further, we were held up by snow showers, 
and had to remain at anchor in a Jittle sheltered bay for 
more than twenty-four hours. <A neighbouring hillside 
was covered with dense forest which invited inspection, 
but I was unable to obtain leave to go ashore. An officer, 
who had been ashore there before, told me that the trees 
were not conifers except for an occasional cypress (possibly 
Libocedrus tetragona). 
Next morning we were steaming in a north-westerly 
direction up the narrow and most beautiful part of the 
Straits. On the northern side were high snow mountains 
with glaciers, the lower slopes being clothed with a dark 
green belt of forest. A species of Nothofagus grew down 
to the water’s edge, and showed a very remarkable degree 
of wind-pruning. The trees near the water’s edge were 
only a few inches in height, but inland they showed 
a rapid increase in stature. The trees were crowded to- 
gether like Box, and looked as if one could walk on the 
tops of them. I think the condition must have been partly 
due to the salt from the water. (The water is probably 
only moderately saline in these places.) 
Leaving the Straits, our next port was Coronel, which is 
a coaling station. Here we were met by a friend who lives 
in Concepcion, and two of our party (including myself) 
accompanied him to that town by means of a light railway 
which is owned by the Arauco Colliery Company. We 
jogged along over a flat sandy plain covered with aromatic 
evergreen bushes, mostly “ boldo” (Pewmus boldus), a little 
white anemone covering the ground in patches. 
There were plantations of Pinws insignis on the hills 
above Concepcion. The open ground on the hills was 
covered with charming little flowers, the only one I can 
remember being a small strawberry plant with a very large 
