THE WARMER TEMPERATE ZONE. 117 



Lapageria. It strikes us as a little strange to find the 

 brushwood here composed of Fuchsias and Myrtles, to- 

 gether with Arbutus, etc. etc. ; and great masses of giant, 

 tree-like Grasses begin to remind us that every step we now 

 take towards the tropics, the character of vegetation is be- 

 coming more and more unlike the familiar forms at home ; 

 whilst, on the other hand, our thoughts are sent back occa- 

 sionally to the cold regions whence we started, by the sight 

 of the Mosses " which, even in the latitude of Conception, 

 still often cover the stems of the trees," and remind us over 

 how large a portion of the globe we have already travelled. 

 On the western side of the Andes, in the south of Chili, 

 there are forests of trees which particularly attract our at- 

 tention, and perplex us a little as to their exact nature. 

 They look more like Pines than anything else ; and yet the 

 fruit, " which grows just at the extremity of the twigs/ 7 

 instead of being a cone, is globular, and as large as a man's 

 head. These are the Chili Pines (Araucaritf)) which in this 

 part of the world ( represent/ as it is called, the Coniferous 

 trees of the Northern Hemisphere. The Chili Pine is Arau- 

 caria imbricata. The trunks of these trees are seventy or 

 a hundred feet high ; " the crown, which includes about a 

 fourth part of the whole height, is a perfect quadrangular 



