308 SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



is soft, and reckoned very fit for the carver. The pea- 

 sants of the Tyrol, where it abounds, make of it curious 

 carved works, which they dispose of among the common 

 people in Switzerland, who are fond of the resinous smell 

 which exhales from the wood. This Pine is a native of 

 Switzerland and Siberia. 



Some botanists make a distinction between the Siberian 

 Stone Pine and the Swiss, saying that the latter is of 

 lower growth, and not so straight, and that the cones are 

 different. The kernels are good to eat, and sometimes 

 form a part of a Swiss dessert ; they yield an abundance 

 of oil. The wood is finer grained than deal, more beau- 

 tifully variegated, and has a pleasing scent. A white 

 odoriferous resin is extracted from it. 



Some persons call the Pinus cembra the Evergreen 

 Larch. Harte speaks of the fragrance of this tree; and 

 Mr. Chalmers, in a note upon the passage, says this 

 beautiful tree grows on the Spanish Appennines : 



" The cembran pine trees form an awful shade, 

 And their rich balm perfumes the neighbouring glade." 



Schmidtmeyer, in his travels into Chili, speaks of a 

 Pine which he met with in the woods of Brazil, the 

 Araucana Pine, of which he says that the cones are as 

 large as a small human head, that the seeds contained in 

 them are like elongated chestnuts, and are sold in the 

 market-places of Rio de Janeiro. He describes the tree 

 as resembling in some degree the silver fir, in its general 

 appearance at some distance ; but it must have a dif- 

 ferent character when near, for, he says, the leaves are 

 more than half an inch broad, and about an inch and a 

 half long, drawn or curled in, and prickly. " The 

 earliest travellers in Paraguay," proceeds he, " and in 



