428 Foreign Motices. 



appearance; is of vigorous vegeiationj and is likely to last for five hun- 

 dred years to come. (Id.) 



The Araucaria. — The foUoAving account of the Araucuria, probably 

 the Jl. excelsa, we extract from a review of La Cruz's Expedition 

 across the Pampas, in the April number of the Edinburgh Review. It 

 will be read with interest. D. Basilio Villarino explored the Rio Ne- 

 gro, in 1782, nearly to the sources of the southern branch, and an ac- 

 count of his expedition is added to that of Le Cruz's by way of sup- 

 pleinent, in anticipation of its appearance in his future volumes: — 



" Villarino obtained from the Indians some bags of pinones, as he 

 calls the nuts of the araucaria; but he appears to have remained quite 

 ignorant of the true character of that fruit, and of the tree which pro- 

 duces it. We have already remarked that the River Laga, or the Val- 

 ley of Antuco, is the northern limit of the araucaria, where its presence 

 is indicated by the name Rio dos Pinos, given to more than one moun- 

 tain-stream; the araucaria being in common language styled a pine. 

 But, so far north, the araucaria flourishes only at an elevation of nine 

 or ten thousand feet above the sea, and it cost the botanist Poeppig a 

 hard day's labor to climb to the nearest of the pine woods, as they are 

 commonly called, from the Valley of Antuco. The araucaria, the most 

 majestic of extra-tropical trees, rises to the height of fifty or a hundred 

 feet, without a branch, and with a perfectly straight stem, and termi- 

 nates in a dense crown of dark foliage, resembling in form a compressed 

 cone. The fruit is of the size of the largest melon, and contains two 

 or three hundred nuts or kernels, each equal in size to two almonds. 

 These, when boiled, taste like chestnuts, and are extremely nutritive. 

 The wood of the araucaria is hard and heavy, and might, perhaps, prove 

 a valuable timber, if the situation in which it grows were not generally 

 so inaccessible. The forests of the araucaria, which cover the flanks 

 of the Southern Andes, might, perhajjs, alone supply food enough for 

 all the aboriginal tribes from Antuco southwards to the Straits of Ma- 

 gellan. But the jealous and petty warfare of the Indians prevents the 

 proper gathering of the fruit. The increase of their herds, also, and 

 the wheaten bread obtained in traffic with the whites, have familiarized 

 them with a more grateful and substantial diet. It is by no means to 

 be deplored, that an article of food, obtained with so little exertion of 

 toil or foresight as the araucaria, and consequently so peculiarly adapt- 

 ed for the support of mere savage life, should fall into disuse, and yield 

 up its place to the produce of industry." 



" From Pequen, or Pehaen, the native name of this tree, the tribes 

 in whose country it grows are called Pequenches." (La Cruz's Expe- 

 dition across the Pampas, in the Edinburgh Review, p. 58.) 



Art. II. Foreign Notices. 

 ENGLAND. 



London Horticultural Society, — The annual meeting of the London 

 Horticultural Society was held on May 1st last. The report of the 

 auditors was read, from which we learn that the amount of various re- 

 ceipts, for the previous year, ending May 1st, was £7180, 10s. 9c?. 



