103 



several succeed very well in the nortliern pro- 

 vinces, among which are the sugar-cane, the 

 pine-apple, the cotton, the banana, the sweet 

 potatoe, jalap, mechoacan, and others of less 

 importance. Besides these. Chili produces a 

 great number of plants that appear to be pe- 

 culiar to it. There are some that are common 

 to all the provinces, others are conlined to cer- 

 tain districts. In my different herborizations 

 while in Chili, I collected about three thousand 

 plants, the greater part of which are non-de- 

 script, and not to be found in any botanical 

 work. Among these were a number vdiose 

 flowers are remarkable for their beauty find 

 fragrance, and which, in their season, give the 

 fields the appearance of so many parterres ; but 

 the inhabitants in general pay but little attention 



in the fields, as the turnip, succory, endive, &c. Nor arc the 

 aromatic herbs less common, as bahu^ iniig--ivortj camoniih', 

 and a kind of mouse-ear, which has the smell of a Inacinth ; 

 the alkcugi, or winter-cherry, wlsose fruit is more odoriferous 

 tlian that of France ; a species of sage, called by the Indians 

 palghi, that gro'.vs like a shrub, with a leaf resembling rose- 

 mary, and an odour like Hungary water, iusses grow ria- 

 turally upon the hills ; the most common kind are entirely 

 destitute of thorns, or have but a very few. In the fields is 

 found a flower similar to the kind of lily called in Eritany 

 guernexkdses', the Indian name of which is liuto; it consists 

 of six petals, two of wiiich are in the form of a phnne. The 

 root, when dried in an oven, furnishes a very white meal, 

 wiiich is excellent for ])astry. i'Vaxier 5 Voyage, vol. i. 



