46 Cruise of the "Alert" 



channels in the month of October that is, in the early spring 

 we ourselves found the appearance of the country but little 

 different from our recollections of the previous midsummer. 

 There was, perhaps, more snow on the hill-tops, but there was 

 none at all on the lower slopes of the hills, and the evergreen 

 vegetation seemed almost as luxuriant as during midsummer. 



As might be expected from the large rainfall and comparatively 

 equable temperature, this climate is very favourable to the growth 

 of cryptogamous plants ; ferns, mosses, and Hepaticse abound, 

 clothing the stems of dead and living trees, and occupying every 

 shady nook and crevice. Among the ferns most commonly seen 

 were several beautiful species of the genus Hymenophyllum. Of 

 flowering plants there were also some of great beauty, the most 

 attractive of which were the Philesia buixfolia, the Desfontainea 

 Hookeri, the Berberis ilicifolia, the B. empetrifolia, and the Embo- 

 thrium coccineum. The former is a sort of under-shrub, of 

 creeping habit, and is most commonly seen twining round the 

 stem of the evergreen and antarctic beeches, to a height of six 

 or eight feet from the ground, its lovely, rose-coloured, bell-shaped 

 flowers showing to great advantage against the delicate background 

 of ferns and mosses, which, growing from the bark of the tree, 

 display the flowers, but almost conceal the branches of the 

 twining Philesia. There is another beautiful plant, of the same 

 natural order, met with in Southern Chili, which the people take 

 great pride in, showing to strangers as the glory of their gardens. 

 It is called the " Copigue" (Lapageria rosea}. The only trees 

 which attain to any reasonable size as such are the evergreen and 

 antarctic beeches (Fagus antarctica and F. betuloides), the winter's 

 bark (Drimys winteri), and the cypres (Libocedrus tetragonus). 

 The bark of the Drimys winteri was formerly employed in 

 medicine, but has latterly fallen into disuse, partly from the 

 difficulty of obtaining the genuine article in Europe. It has 

 tonic and stimulant properties. The infusion of the dried bark 

 is so hot and peppery as to burn the tongue and throat ; but, 



