THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE 273 



least 4500 feet. These palms are, for their family, ugly trees. 

 Their stem is very large, and of a curious form, being thicker 

 in the middle than at the base or top. They are excessively 

 numerous in some parts of Chile, and valuable on account of 

 a sort of treacle made from the sap. On one estate near 

 Petorca they tried to count them, but failed, after having 

 numbered several hundred thousand. Every year in the early 

 spring, in August, very many are cut down, and when the 

 trunk is lying on the ground, the crown of leaves is lopped 

 off. The sap then immediately begins to flow from the upper 

 end, and continues so doing for some months : it is, how- 

 ever, necessary that a thin slice should be shaved off from 

 that end every morning, so as to expose a fresh surface. A 

 good tree will give ninety gallons, and all this must have 

 been contained in the vessels of the apparently dry trunk. 

 It is said that the sap flows much more quickly on those 

 days when the sun is powerful ; and likewise, that it is abso- 

 lutely necessary to take care, in cutting down the tree, that 

 it should fall with its head upwards on the side of the hill; 

 for if it falls down the slope, scarcely any sap will flow; 

 although in that case one would have thought that the action 

 would have been aided, instead of checked, by the force of 

 gravity. The sap is concentrated by boiling, and is then 

 called treacle, which it very much resembles in taste. 



We unsaddled our horses near the spring, and prepared to 

 pass the night. The evening was fine, and the atmosphere so 

 clear, that the masts of the vessels at anchor in the bay of 

 Valparaiso, although no less than twenty-six geographical 

 miles distant, could be distinguished clearly as little black 

 streaks. A ship doubling the point under sail, appeared as 

 a bright white speck. Anson expresses much surprise, in his 

 voyage, at the distance at which his vessels were discovered 

 from the coast ; but he did not sufficiently allow for the height 

 of the land, and the great transparency of the air. 



The setting of the sun was glorious; the valleys being 

 black whilst the snowy peaks of the Andes yet retained a 

 ruby tint. When it was dark, we made a fire beneath a little 

 arbour of bamboos, fried our charqui (or dried slips of beef), 

 took our mate, and were quite comfortable. There is an 

 inexpressible charm in thus living in the open air. The even- 



