OVALLE's historical relation of CHILfe. ^7 



ter climates ; and when thofe who have been either bom or bred in thofe hot countries 

 come to Chile, they are forced to abftain, and keep a watch upon their appetites, till 

 their ftomachs are ufed by little and little to the ftrength of the food of that country, 

 and can digeft it. 



CHAP. II. — Of the four Seafons of the Tear^ and particularly (f the Winter and Spring : 

 with a Defcription of fome Flowers and medicinal Plants. 



THE four feafons of the year which are in Europe, the fpring, the fummer, 

 the autumn, and the winter, are with the fame duration of time enjoyed in Chile, 

 though not exactly under the fame na^mes, at the fame time ; for the fpring begins 

 about the middle of the European Auguft, and lafts to the middle of November ; then 

 begins the fummer, which holds to the middle of February ; which is followed by the 

 autumn, which lafts to the middle of May ; and then the winter enters, and makes all 

 the trees bare of their leaves, and the earth covered with white frofts, (which never- 

 thelefs diflblve about two hours after fun-rife, except in fome cloudy days, that the 

 ificles laflffrom one day to another ;) the winter ends again about the middle of Auguft, 

 It is very feldom that the fnow falls in the valleys or low grounds, though fo great a 

 quantity is upon the mountains, that it fijls up fometimes all the hollow places to the 

 height of feveral pikes, and there remains, as it were, in wells and refer vatories, to 

 provide, as it does in due time, fo many fprings ;ind rivers with water, fo fertilizing 

 the valleys and plains, that they produce infinite crops of all forts in the autumn, and 

 enrich the kingdom. But notwithftanding that it feldom fnows in the valleys and 

 plains, yet it is fo cold in them, that few parts in Europe are colder ; which proceeds 

 not only from the degree of elevation this land is in, but alfo from its neighbourhood 

 to thofe vaft mountains called the Cordillera, which fend out fuch fliarp and piercing 

 winds, that fometimes they are infupportable ; therefore the fea-coaft is much more 

 temperate and warm ; but in return much more expofed to vehement tempefts of 

 winds, than the inland parts, where thefe ftorms are in fome meafure fpent before they 

 reach them, and fo cannot whip them and torment them as they do the fea-coafts. 



For fome proteftion againft thefe fharp cold winds, God Almighty has placed feveral 

 great clufters of thorn-bufties, which thrive fo well, that it is the ordinary fewel of all 

 the countries about the town of St. Jago, and the valleys near it. It is a plant not 

 unHke an oak, though more durable ; the heart of th^ wood is red, and incorruptible j 

 of it they make coals for the furnace, and other fhop ufes. In other parts the true 

 oak ferves for the fame purpofe ; as the territory of the city of Conception,, where 

 there are very large woods of them, which are fo thick, that though they have already 

 ferved for the ufes of the natives fo many years, yet when they are entered, they can 

 hardly be pafled in the middle ; and this within half a league of the city j for further 

 up in the country there are forefts, where no man every fet his foot. 



Though thefe oaks, as alfo the fruit-trees, lofe their leaves in winter, yet there are 

 wild trees which do not, though all covered with ice and fnow ; and the cold is fo far 

 from injuring them, that when the fun melts the froft, they look brighter and more 

 beautiful. As foon as the firft rains come, the fields begin to be clothed in green, and 

 the earth is covered in twenty or thirty days with grafs ; amongft which nature pro- 

 duces a fort of yellow flower in fuch abundance, that the plains andt valleys look like 

 carpets of green and yellow. 



,1 Thefe 



