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to its very summit. It is covered with dense forests of Erica arborea and Mediterra- 

 nea (which some travellers have called Pine trees). Several of these heath trees are 

 forty feet high, and at eighteen inches from the ground their stems are two feet in di- 

 ameter, — E. Mediterranea always the largest. At the very summit is a small species 

 (perhaps new), in habit like Mr. M'Nab's E. ramulosa. The Madeira mahogany 

 {Laurus Indica andfcetans) is in great abundance, and as large as English oaks. In 

 five days we collected 460 species of plants on the island. At the Cape de Verds, Ru- 

 biaceous annuals and grasses were the principal plants found. But Brazil, at which 

 we next touched, may be denominated the head-quarters of Flora. I went about 150 

 miles inland, in a N.E. direction, from Rio de Janeiro, travelling most of the way 

 through forests of flowering trees, fantastically adorned with innumerable parasitical 

 and epiphytal plants. These trees were often propped up by aerial roots, which re- 

 minded one of the rigging or stays of a ship. The undergrowth in such places consists 

 of palms, arborescent and many other ferns, with a goodly number of Solanaceous and 

 Rubiaceous shrubs. The Organ Mountains, seventy miles from Rio, after all that 

 ]\Ir. Gardner and others have done, abound in thousands of fine plants not yet known. 

 I spent about eight days on these mountains, and found plants so varied and attrac- 

 tive that I did not know well which to select. On rocks there are Gesnerias, Gloxi- 

 nias, Cacti, Tillandsias and Orchideee in the greatest profusion. I calculate that more 

 than one half of the plants of Brazil are still unknown to botanists. Insects, birds 

 and quadrupeds are as varied, in proportion, as the vegetable kingdom. We spent 

 about two mouths on Tierra del Fuego. Here was a contrast to Brazilian vegetation: 

 stunted birches, with Misodendrums in tufts like birds' nests on their tops — scrubby 

 barberries — winter bark — and Embothrium (a splendid Proteaceous shrub), were the 

 characteristic features. The face of the hills is covered with spongy, mossy turf, in 

 which we found a Primula (like Scotica), Drosera, Pinguicula, several species of Per- 

 uetlia, a Myrtus, and the charming Calixenia; with many nice things which I thought 

 well adapted for your alpine frame. 



" We reached Chili in the dry season, so that we did not find much in flower till 

 we arrived at the mountains. Behind Santiago, on the Andes, at the region of perpe- 

 tual snow, we found an immense number of alpine plants belonging to genera and 

 tribes new to us. Figure to yourself ten or twelve kinds of Umbelliferous plants, with 

 heath-like leaves, and fruit as large as that of Heracleum, and yet none of them over 

 an inch in height. In Peru, behind Lima, we crossed the Andes at the height of 

 16,000 feet, and descended a considerable way on the opposite side, along one of the 

 branches of the Amazon. This was a rich journey for us in plants, — fine Rhododen- 

 drons at the height of 13,000 feet. At the base of the snow was a dense sward of 

 plants, none of them over an inch high, principally composed of Saxifrages, Compo- 

 sitJB, Gentianas, and curious Calceolarias. At 14,000 feet we found vast patches of an 

 Echinocactus, so wrapped up in its own wool, that at a distance we took the patches 

 for sheep. The scenery here was of the grandest kind. We saw some splendid Cacti, 

 Alstrcemerias and Tropaeolums, and on our way down, fields of T. tuberosum and Ox- 

 alis crenata. Very little rain falls in the vicinity of Lima, so that to raise fruit and 

 vegetables recourse must be had to irrigation. The Cherimolia (Annona tripelala) is 

 here the finest of all fruits I ever tasted. 



"You will, no doubt, have heard of our discovering an Antarctic continent, (Ross 

 says 'tis only a batch of islands). Of this I can't speak, having been left at Sydney 

 with the other scientific gentlemen. Here we chartered a schooner, and v.ent to New 



