CHILI. 



197 



Statistic*, supplies excellent wood of a fine yellow colour. The 

 '""'Y" 1 "' Jloripondio, remarkable for the beauty of its form, and 

 the ambery fragra:io- of its flowers, which, by uniting its 

 branches at the top, exhibits the appearance of a spueri- 

 cal crowu ; a single flonpondio is sufficient to perfume a 

 whole garden. The cuneilo or Winter's bark, held sacred 

 by the Araucanians, who carry branches of it on reli- 

 gious occasions, and, after concluding a peace, present 

 them to the enemy as a token of reconciliation and 

 friendship. The carob tree, remarkable for the extreme 

 hardness of its thorns, which are sometimes employed in- 

 stead of nails. The maqui, a species of cornel, from whose 

 berries the Indians procure a sort of beverage called 

 t/ieca ; in the juice of iia leaves it affords a specific in ca- 

 fes of sore throat. The luma, or lofty myrtle, attains the 

 height of 40 feet, and is exported to Peru for the use of 

 coach uak-rs ; the wine of its berries is reckoned a power- 

 ful stomachic. The qui/lai is a new genus, and named 

 from the Chilian word quilcan, to wash ; its bark, when 

 reduced to powder, and sufficiently moistened, foams 

 like soap, and supplies the domestic purposes of that 

 substance. It is even more efficacious than soap in 

 cleansing woollen cloths, but is apt to induce a yellowish 

 tinge when applied to linene. The wood is so hard and 

 tough as to be used in place of metal for stirrups. The 

 littii, or caustic laurel, gives out, in summer, an effluvia 

 of a very peculiar quality, and operating only on cer- 

 tain constitutions. In some it occasions painful swell- 

 ings or pustules, on the face and hands, either when 

 stopping undc-r its shade, or passing near it, while on 

 others it has no sensible effect. Its leaves, which are oval 

 end wrinkled, are of a dark greeii, and an inch in length; 

 the fruit is similar to that of the common laurel ; its 

 wood is employed in houses and shipbuilding, and is va- 

 lued for the extreme hardness which it acquires by re- 

 maining for some time under water. The bollen is found 

 upon the sea coast, and, in point of appearance, is one of 

 the finest trees in Chili ; it is reckoned highly poisonous ; 

 the budi, however, when pulverized, are given by phy- 

 sicians as a powerful emetic, the dose not exceeding half 

 a scruple ; the maylcn is a beautiful evergreen, of a new 

 genus, found in the vicinity, of the lithi ; and affording 

 an antidote to its poison ; the patagi/a, whose trunk 

 will sometimes measure eight yards in circumference, is 

 much valut-d for a small flower in shape and smell re- 

 sembling the lily. Chili, in its fruit trees, is greatly in- 

 ferior to the tropical countries of America. The princi- 

 pal of them are the cocoa nut, the guevin, the pehuen, 

 the peumo, and the lucuma. The fruit of the Chilian 

 cocoa nut does not exceed in size a walnut ; it grows in 

 bunches containing sometimes a thousand individual nuts. 

 The kernel is well tasted, and supplies an excellent oil. 

 The ixheun, or Araucaman pine, is by some supposed to 

 be a new genus ; its branches form a quadrangular pyra- 

 mid ; the leaves are three inches in length, heart-shaped, 

 hard and shining ; its fruit attains the size of a man's 

 head, and in taste resembles the chesnut. The ji'timo is 

 anew genus, having four speck-x, and many varieties ; 

 the fruit of one of these (the peunius mammosa) yields 

 kernels so hard as to serve for rosaries to the inhabitants! 

 the bark is employed in tanning leather, and in dyeing. 

 The fruit of the Incuma, which is also a new genus, in 

 taste and size is somewhat similar to the peach. The 

 rations kinds of European fruit trees, vines, pulse, gar- 

 den herbs, and flowers, are all found to succeed, and 

 many of them to improve in Chili. Indeed, so favoura- 

 ble is its climate to vegetation, that at the same time, in 

 the same orchard, fruit may be seen in all degrees of 

 progress, in the bud, in the flower, green, and perfectly 



ripe. Pear and cherry trees produce twice a year. Ex- Statistics. 



tensive forests of apple trees are found in the province of ^~~Y~~ / 



Quiilota, while oranges, lemons, and citrons, occur every 



where in the open fields. The grapes raised on the 



banks of the river Plata are most esteemed, and afford a 



sort of muscadel called Conception wine, which is equal 



to the beat wines of Europe. The melons are excellent 



in their flavour, of an elongated form, with a very slender 



rhind. Among the numerous varieties, the musk melon 



aad the scritti are the first in estimation. 



Among the shrubs, the most remarkable are the tJtu- Shruks. 

 raria, of a new genus, anil equal in its properties to that 

 of Arabia; the puga, which supplies the inhabitants 

 with cork, and which presents a very fantastical appear- 

 ance, putting out from its root three or four trunks, in 

 length about 20 inches, and as much in diameter; the 

 tuna, a species of Indian fig, and equal to any of those 

 in Europe ; the kali of Alicar.t, in great abundance ; and 

 a certain climbing shrub which affords an alkaline salt 

 for the use of soap boilers. Besides these are seven spe- 

 cies of myrtle, of which the most valuable is the agni, or 

 murtella, yielding a pleasant odoriferous liquor, which 

 is reckoned superior to the best muscat. There are many 

 shrubs likewise of a medicinal quality, which the native 

 Chilese have understood and employed from time imme- 

 .morial. Among these we may notice the cullcn (psoralea Medicina'. 

 gi'aaJulo'a) indigenous to Chili, and well known as a 

 powerful stomachic and vermifuge, the leaves of which, 

 with those of the yelloxv cullen, a shrub of the same 

 species, affords a balsam of amazing efficacy in the cure 

 of wounds ; a species of acacia, or mimosa, named_y'are/- 

 lu, wiiich, from its branches, gives a vulnerary balsam. 

 The root of the gtutcuru is also employed as a specific 

 for all sorts of wounds, being of a quality powerfully 

 astringent ; it is used also with great success in cases of 

 ulcvr, scrophula, and dysentery. The expressed juice of 

 ti is of excellent effect in inflammatory fevers ; 



the wood is extremely brittle, and is employed by the 

 indiaiis for producing fire. " This they accomplish," 

 says Molina, " by friction, turning rapidly between their 

 hand* a small stick of this wood, in a hole made in ano- 

 ther piece of the same kind." 



The herbage, particularly in the valliesof the Andes, Herbs 

 is so tali and luxuriant, as entirely to conceal the sheep 

 that pasture among it. There are three species of poi- 

 sonous herbs which occasion madness in the animals 

 that happen to browse them, especially in horses. The 

 most injurious of these herbs is the hippotiuuuca, which 

 if a hor>e eat he will certainly die, unless immediately 

 thrown into profuse perspiration. Of the alimentary 

 herbs, the most valuable are the gua, or maize, which 

 was the only species of corn cultivated in America be- 

 fore its discovery by Columbus, and still continues to be 

 a very general crop in Chili ; a species of bean called 

 degul, and tii-j i;iiiniia, a kind of chenopodium, which af- 

 fords an agri-table stomachic beverage ; the magu, a sort 

 of rye, and the tuca, a species of barley, have been sh- 

 perseded in the estimation of the Araucanians, by the 

 European wheat, which is now cultivated in their room. 

 The potatoe h indigenous to America, and M. Bomare 

 consider* Chili as its native soil. There are two species 

 of it, with about 30 varieties. The root of one of thesa 

 (the sulanum cart) is in shape cylindrical, and sweet to 

 the taste, 'flu-re are two species of the gourd, the 

 white flowered gourd, and the yellow flowered ; of the 

 first are many varieties, some yielding a fruit that is sweet 

 and nourishing, others a bitter fruit which is employed 

 to ferment cider, and which, being of a large size and 

 spherical, furnishes the inhabitants with their calabashes 



