ARAUCARIA. 4 1 



Indians eat the nuts, either fresh, boiled, or roasted, and distil 

 from them a spirituous liquor, dry and prepare a kind of flour 

 and pastry from them, or dry them for winter store, and for 

 trading to Concepcion and Valdivia, from -whence they find 

 their way to Valparaiso and Lima. It is the " Pehuen " or 

 monkey-puzzle of the Chilians, no animal of that kind at- 

 tempting to climb the trees. 



Dr. Pceppig says, such is the extent of the Araucarian forest, 

 on the Chilian Andes, and the amazing quantity of nutritious 

 seeds that each full-grown tree produces, that the Indians are 

 ever secure from want ; it yielding to those nomad nations a 

 vegetable substance, that is found in greatest plenty, the more 

 they recede from the whites. The kernels are dried, after being- 

 boiled, for winter use ; their time of ripening being towards the 

 end of March, at which time the cones break up and fall to 

 pieces shedding their seeds on the ground, and thus bestowing 

 a great boon on the poor Indians, which nothing but a small 

 parrot divides with them. And there is but little doubt when 

 the numerous young Araucarias which are now planting, or 

 have been planted in Europe, become large, and arrive at a 

 fruit-bearing state, but that as great a boon will be given to 

 future generations as that conferred on the present one by the 

 fruit of the Spanish chestnut, which is now so largely consumed 

 in all the towns and cities of Europe. 



The Chili Pine was first introduced into England by Mr. 

 Menzies, in 1795, and presented to Sir Joseph Banks, who 

 planted one of the first plants at his residence, Spring Grove, 

 near Hounslow, and sent the others to the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew ; and from which circumstance it formerly was called Sir 

 Joseph Banks's Pine. 



There are several seedling varieties of the Chili Pine, 

 distinguished in the nurseries, but such differences are only 

 retained while the plants are young, with the exception of the 

 variegated kind. 



