VALPARAISO. 135 



than those we had left on the great road ; but having reached a beau- 

 tiful little stream, that leaps from stone to stone, now forming minia- 

 ture cascades, and now little lakes among the short thick grass, the 

 shrubs became of higher growth ; and as we brushed through them, 

 the fragrance that exhaled from their leaves brought Milton's bowers 

 of Paradise to my mind — 



" The roof 

 Of thickest covert, was inwoven shade ; 

 Laurel and myrtle, and what higher grew 

 Of firm and fragrant leaf: on either side 



each odorous bushy shrub 



Fenced up the verdant wall." 



The varieties of laurel and myrtle are most conspicuous ; and there 

 are abundance of other trees and shrubs, most of whose leaves emit, 

 on being crushed, a spicy flavour. One of the largest and most 

 beautiful is the canela, or false cinnamon, which is used in medicine 

 by both Indians and Spaniards, and whose properties are very similar 

 to those of the real cinnamon of the East. * It is moreover an inter- 

 esting tree, as connected with the history and superstitions of the 

 natives. Under it the PaganChilenos performed their sacrifices to 

 their deities, and invoked Pillam, the supreme judge ; and I believe 

 that some tribes of the Araucanians still revere it. It is certain that 

 the branches of this tree, dipped in the blood of sacrifices, are used 

 to sprinkle and consecrate places of council ; and that such branches 

 are considered as tokens of peace, and delivered accordingly to am- 

 bassadors on the forming of any treaty, f It was here as the oak 

 was to the ancient Druids ; and its beauty, its fragrance, and its wide- 

 spreading shade, give to it in amenity what it wants of the grandeur 

 of the king of forests. 



After riding some time, partly up the bed of the rivulet, partly 

 along its soft green margin and through its fragrant groves, we came 



* For a descriptive catalogue of some of the most remarkable trees of Chile, I refer to 

 the Appendix. I know it is botanically deficient; but having been drawn up by order of 

 government for a particular purpose, I believe it to be authentic as far as it goes. 



f e.g. That with the Spaniards in 1643. 



