296 VALDIVIAN ORCHARDS. [chap. xiv. 



the north, stood out in proud pre-emhience : scarcely 

 another peak in the long range showed its snowy summit. 

 I hope it will be long before 1 forget this farewell view or 

 the magnificent Cordillera fronting Chiloe. At night we 

 bivouacked under a cloudless sky, and the next morning 

 reached San Carlos. We arrived on the right day, for 

 before evening" heavy rain commenced. 



February a^th.~ Sailed from Chiloe. During the last 

 week I made several short excursions. One was to 

 examine a great bed of now-existing shells, elevated 35c 

 feet above the level of the sea : from among these shells, 

 large forest-trees were growing. Another ride w^as to 

 P. Huechucucuy. I had with me a guide who knew the 

 country far too well ; for he would pertinaciously tell me 

 endless Indian names for every little point, rivulet, and 

 creek. In the same manner as in Tierra del Fuego, the 

 Indian language appears singularly well adapted for 

 attaching names to the most trivial features of the land. 

 I believe every one was glad to say farewell to Chiloe ; yet 

 if we could forget the gloom and ceaseless rain of winter, 

 Chiloe might pass for a charming island. There is also 

 something very attractive in the simplicity and humble 

 politeness of the poor inhabitants. 



We steered northward along shore, but owing to thick 

 weather did not reach Valdivia till the night of the 8th. 

 The next morning the boat proceeded to the town, which is 

 distant about ten miles. We followed the course of the 

 river, occasionally passing a few hovels, and patches of 

 ground cleared out of the otherwise unbroken forest ; and 

 sometimes meeting a canoe with an Indian family. The 

 town is situated on the low banks of the stream, and is 

 so completely buried in a wood of apple-trees that the 

 streets are merely paths in an orchard. I have never seen 

 any country where apple-trees appeared to thrive so well 

 as in this damp part of South America ; on the borders of 

 the roads there were many young trees evidently self-sown. 

 In Chiloe the inhabitants possess a marvellously short 

 method of making an orchard. At the lower part of almost 

 every branch, small, conical, brown, wrinkled points 

 project ; these are always ready to change into roots, as 

 may sometimes be seen, where any mud has been accident- 

 ally splashed against the tree. A branch as thick as a 

 man's thigh is chosen in the early spring, and is cut 

 off just beneath a group of these points ; all the smaller 



