440 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES LEGIONS. 



Some of these have also found their way to the Juan Fernandez group, where 

 before the arrival of man the flora was essentially distinct from that of South 

 America, presenting even a greater resemblance to that of 'New Zealand. Most of 

 the species were found only on tlie island of Mas a Tierra, and amongst them was a 

 palm unknown elsewhere, which was simply called chonta, the general name of all 

 palms in the Quichua language. Nearly all the arborescent species in this island 

 have aromatic properties. The sandalwood, which was supposed to have dis- 

 appeared from the archipelago, still survives in some of the more secluded districts. 



Fauna. 



The Chilian fauna, in some respects less rich than its flora, comprises only a 

 small number of mammals. The ape and even the jaguar are absent, and the 

 vicuna is rare, except in the recently annexed northern provinces ; but, on the 

 other hand, the southern regions are roamed by large herds of the gnanaco. The 

 huemul (huelmul, guelmul, cer^"^^s c/ii/ensis), which figures on the Chilian escutcheon 

 like the unicorn on the British arras, is not peculiar to the country ; it is met also 

 in the Peruvian Andes, where it has received the name of cervus anUnensis. In 

 Chili proper it is even very rare, though it abounds in the Magellanic lands. The 

 pudu, another species of deer, and the smallest of the whole family, also inhabits the 

 austral provinces. But the chinchilla dreads the cold, and ranges no farther south 

 than 32° south latitude : it avoids the Andean uplands, and is seen only in the 

 coast range and in the intermediate zone on the foothills of the Andes. Chili also 

 possesses the coypu [myopotauius coi/pus), a rodent which corresponds to the North- 

 American beaver, and which, like it, frequents the river banks. 



Far more numerous than the mammals are the birds, which also present some 

 highly original types. Several species are seen nowhere else, not even in Argen- 

 tina, which is separated from Chili only by the Cordillera of the Andes. The 

 condor, which in the equatorial Andes hovers only above the uplands, descends in 

 Chili to the lower parts of the Andean slopes, and ranges southwards into Pata- 

 gonia. Three or four species of humming-birds flit amidst the flowering plants 

 of South Chili. Parrots also are seen in the woodlands as far south as Magellan 

 Strait, as had already been noticed by Sarmiento in 1580. 



All these birds, whose brilliant plumage seems a reflection of the fierce tropical 

 solar rays, have adapted themselves to the fogs, the rains, and the dull grey skies 

 of the Patagonian Andes. But taken as a whole, the avifauna of the watery 

 archipelagoes comprises but few species, except as regards the seafowl. 



The reptile order, which is somewhat numerously represented, presents a great 

 difference of forms between the dry and the moist regions. In the Atacama 

 Desert and in the Copiapo and Coquimbo districts the lizard family prevails, 

 whereas frogs and toads are chiefly met in the marshy and peaty lands farther 

 south. Chili possesses no representatives of the turtle family, although they are 

 found in Argentina on the other side of the Andes. Nor are there any venomous 

 snakes or insects, except a species of spider which keeps to the wheat-fields; its 



