APPENDIX. 497 



5. Alerce, the red Cedar of Molina. This tree is only found in Valdivia. 

 There is a great deal of it, but it grows at a considerable distance from the 

 port, in the skirts of the Corderillas. It yields plank of from eight to ten 

 yards in length, from twelve to eighteen inches in breadth, and from four to 

 six in thickness ; it is brittle, being liable to split on driving nails into it. It 

 is used to plank ships, and for floors and roofs of houses, and lasts well : for 

 which reason it is much used, large quantities of it being embarked in Chiloe 

 for Conception, Valparaiso, Callao, and other places on the coast. There is 

 reason to believe that it would make excellent water-casks ; because the 

 Abbe Molina says, in his work on the natural history of Chile, published in 

 Bologna, 1782, that the water contained in casks made of it, and carried to 

 Europe when he went thither, far from having grown bad (while that con- 

 tained in other barrels had become rotten several times), acquired a delicate 

 taste, and was only accidentally tinged by the colour of the wood ; and staves 

 for casks have been furnished to several vessels of war, at their particular 

 request. 



6. Algarobilla, is small and delicate ; the seed is used to make writing 

 ink : it grows in greatest abundance near Rancagua and Guasco. 



7- Algaroba, grows in the dry plains to the northward of the capital 

 (St. Iago) ; it grows four yards high, and half a yard in thickness. It pro- 

 duces yellow pods, three inches long and two lines thick, which are eaten by 

 sheep, who fatten well on them : the wood lasts very long, even under 

 water ; and is used for door-sills and thresholds, for axle- trees, and for mills. 



8. Algodon Gosipium, Cotton, thrives every where, if well treated. That 

 of Guasco and Copiapo is the best, on account of its softness and the length 

 of its staple. 



9. Almendko, Almond, is most abundant in the district of Santiago ; it is 

 exactly the same with that of Spain, and its fruit is used for the same pur- 

 poses : the wood is too brittle for use. 



10. Arayan, Myrtle, is found from Conception to Coquimbo. There are 

 two principal kinds ; the white, called also chequen, and the red. Each of 

 of these grows to six yards high, and half a yard in girth. The wood is little 

 used on account of its crookedness : in medicine it is used as in Spain. Its 

 fruit is a black berry, the flesh of which is white and rather dry. The natives 

 make a pleasant drink from it. If it were cultivated in walks or pleasure- 

 grounds, it would be charming by its beauty and fragrance. 



11. Belloto, Achras Mammoso, is only found in the neighbourhood of 



3 s 



