AMERICAN LUMBER IN FOREIGN MARKETS. 51 



by a band of peat with minute alpine plants, and this again is succeeded by the line 

 of perpetual snow, which, in the Straits of Magellan, descends to between 3,000 and 

 4,000 feet. There is but little level laud, and where this happens to be the case, the 

 surface is in many places a mere bed of swampy peat. Indeed, even within the 

 forest, the ground is concealed by a mass of slowly putrefying vegetable matter, 

 which, being soaked with water, yields to the foot.* On the eastern side, however, 

 there are some open meadows fit for pasturage or cultivation. 



FORESTS NORTH OF THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. 



These magnificent forests extend northward from the Straits of Magellan along 

 the Andes on both slopes to about 34 of south latitude. In fact it is not yet known 

 definitely where they do terminate on the eastern or Patagonian slopes. Besides the 

 almost impenetrable forests of beech trees, there is a thick underwood, consisting of 

 a species of Berber is and other antarctic species, and the same thick layer of turf, which 

 is so universal in Terra del Fuego. Indeed, excepting the timber and the turf, the 

 vegetable kingdom produces here no useful objects whatever. Nevertheless, in the 

 hands of an energetic and laborious people, these forests of beeches could be exploited 

 and made a source of untold wealth ; but civilization has not yet penetrated these 

 primitive regions. 



EASTERN SLOPES OF THE SOUTHERN ANDES. 



Further north, along these eastern slopes of the Cordilleras, in the neighborhood 

 of the sources of the Rio Negro, there are forests of stately pines and wild apple 

 trees, and it is here that the Patagonian Indians have their permanent settlement, 

 in the midst of wide, open plains extending out from the sierras, well watered and 

 clothed in most luxuriant grasses. Capt. Musters, who penetrated these forests in 

 1869, speaks of them as "uniformly dense;" the trunks of the pine trees reaching a 

 height of 60 to 100 feet, and entirely bare of branches for two-thirds of their height. t 

 His descriptions, however, of the woods and rivers are too superficial to give us a 

 clear idea of the flora of these regions. The Argentine Government is now explor- 

 ing all the country along the eastern slopes of the Andes, with a view to opening it 

 up to settlement and improvement. A report on the vegetation is now in press and 

 will soon be issued. 



*Prof. Darwin describes an ascent he made of one of the mountains of this 

 country, from which I take the following: "I was anxious to reach the summit of 

 Bank's Mountain to collect alpine plants, for flowers in the lower part are few in 

 number. We followed a water course till it dwindled away, and we were then com- 

 pelled to crawl blindly among the trees. These, from the effects of the elevation 

 and of the impetuous winds, were low, thick, and crooked. At length we reached 

 that which from a distance appeared like a carpet of fine green turf, but which to 

 our vexation turned out to be a compact mass of little beech trees about 4 or 5 feet 

 high. They were as thick together as box in the border of a garden, and we were 

 obliged to struggle over the flat but treacherous surface. After a little more trouble 

 we gained the peat and then the bare slate rock. We obtained a wide view over 

 the surrounding country; to the north a swampy moorlnnd extended, but to the 

 south we had a scene of savage magnificence well becoming Terra del Fuego. There 

 was a degree of mysterious grandeur in mountain behind mountain, with the deep, 

 intervening valleys, all covered with one thick mass of forest. The atmosphere, 

 likewise, in this climate, where gale succeeds gale, with hail, rain, and sleet, seems 

 blacker than anywhere else. In the Straits of Magellan, looking due southward 

 from Port Famine, the distant channels between the mountains appeared from their 

 gloominess to lead beyond the confines of the earth." 



te At Home with the Patagonians, by C. G. Musters, pages 113 to 160. 



