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C. SKOTTSBERG 



established in 1750 which, with short interruptions, existed until 18 14, and a number 

 of free colonists also settled in Cumberland Bay. In this as well as in the valleys 

 of Puerto Frances and Puerto Ingles the lower slopes were cleared by forests 

 fires; in 1816 the Cumberland (Colonial) valley was again ravaged by fire (Johow 

 p. 17), and the number of introduced plants must have increased. No foreign 

 vessel ventured to enter the harbour, but as the Spaniards did not hold Masa- 

 fuera, which was left uninhabited and lacks harbours, this island was visited by 

 the enemy on certain occasions. G. W. ANDERSON and Hawkesworth report 

 on the visits to Masafuera in 1765 by Commodore (later Admiral) Byron and 

 by Captain CARTERET. I shall quote some of their remarks on the scenery and 

 vegetation. 



a) From Byron's voyage. "The \-alleys have a beautiful verdure, and their 

 sides are full of trees from the top to the bottom" (Anderson p. 235). "This 

 island is very high, and the greater part of it covered with wood; but towards 

 the north, where I lay, some spots seemed to have been cleared, upon which 

 numbers of goats were feeding, and they had a green and pleasant apperance" 

 (Hawkesworth p. 86). b) From Carteret's voyage Anderson publishes a drawing 

 of the north side, with Buque Varado well in sight, and the valley below Cerro 

 Verde, all rather exact. He speaks of the "impenetrable thickness of the woods", 

 and tells that "we saw severel leaves of the mountain cabbage ' — presumably 

 De7idroseris macropJiylla. Hawkesworth, who published the same picture, "NW 

 side of Masafuero", relates Carteret's vivid description of the sudden rise of the 

 streams after a heavy rain: "I enquired the Lieutenant after the people on shore, 

 and he told me, that the violent rain that had fallen in the night, had suddenly 

 brought down such torrents of water through the hollow or gully where they had 

 taken up their station, that they were in the utmost danger of being swept away 

 before it, and though with great difficulty they saved themselves, several of the 

 casks were intirely lost" (p. 325). The existence of extensive forests during the 

 latter half of the 18th century is well testified. It has been the privilege of our 

 time to destroy them. 



In January 1823 Mrs. Maria Graham spent a few days on Masatierra, and 

 I.e. 347 — 353 she gives some notes on the geography and botany of this island. 

 The native plants of interest were presented to her by her companion, lord COCH- 

 RANE; among those he brought from Portezuelo she mentions "giant fuscia" 

 (fuchsia), "andromedas, and myrtles", but especially "a lovely monopetalous 

 flowering shrub; the leaves are thickset, shiny green, the flower and berry of 

 the richest purple ' — undoubtedly Rhapithamnus venusttis . The "andromedas" were 

 of course Pernettya rigida, the myrtles very likely Ugni Selkirkii, but nothing 

 even distantly resembling a fuchsia has ever been collected in the islands. Appar- 

 ently she never collected either the large-flcwered IVa/ileiibergia, named for her 

 by Hemsley, or Escallonia Callcottiae (Mrs. Graham later became Mrs. Callcott). 

 She did not extend her walks beyond the colony and the Anson valley. The 

 seat of the former Spanish setdement had lost its native flora, but introduced 

 fruit trees and naturalized vegetables were plentiful, near the sea the ground was 

 covered with radishes and wild oats, and along the trail to Anson valley were 



