120 
of Valparaiso are dreary, and the vegeta- 
tion at Santiago is forced. The climate 
deserves all the praise that Molina has la- 
vished upon it: the splendour of the sum- 
mer, the mildness of the winter, and the 
indescribably lovely prospects which pre- 
vail throughout Chili, render travelling : 
The sky is here as brilliant as in the tropi- 
cal districts, and there are none whatever 
of those pests that embitter life there, nei- 
ther insalubrious air, nor pestilential disor- 
on the contrary, reckon upon enjoying the 
glories of nature in the freest and most 
cheerful manner. Civilization has greatly 
increased in Chili since the cessation of 
Spanish mis-rule, and now exists to a 
greater extent than in any other part of this 
vast continent; while trade and prosperity 
are daily augmenting. The intestine broils, 
which succeeded the Revolution, have 
ceased, and the inhabitants become daily 
more sensible of the value of peace, and 
. more desirous of preserving it. The abun- 
dant opportunities for commercial prospe- 
rity which this country possesses, together 
with the industrious disposition of its in- 
habitants, will soon raise it to a greater 
degree of influence than Peru or Colombia 
can hope to attain. For the Naturalist, 
there here exists an abundant harvest to 
be discovered and described, and from the 
partial information that we have been able 
to collect respecting its Geology, the votary 
of this science may find employment for 
many years. The most interesting part of 
the Andes is situated in the Indian country 
(southward from lat. 37°); but no security 
can be expected while travelling in that dis- 
trict, so long as Pincheira and some other 
di iards continue to reside there. 
e volcano of Antuco alone is visited by 
strangers ; but the other far more interest- 
ing portions of these mountains yet remain 
eological survey of the 
mountains of Pehuenchin, easterly from 
Antuco, might be expected to afford very 
valusbid results, as the plains are surround- 
BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
ed by large mountains of rock-salt, 
some very large lakes of Asphaltum. Hi 
there are springs that periodically ej 
boiling waler, and bare plains, where, ac- 
travelling through these unexplored dis- 
The environs of Valparaiso and 
Concepcion may be probably exhausted, 
partly because they are poorer, and partly ` 
because almost every expedition that goes - 
round Cape Horn, touches in its way at — 
one or other of these places; but the more _ 
distant Andes afford in the greatest abun- - 
dance new and very rare plants, which no 
Naturalist has yet seen. 
dreadfully dry during summer, yet in the 
rainy season and beginning of spring (from 
June to October) they are covered with a 
profusion of beautiful though fugacious 
plants. The Flora of the Andes has hi- 
therto only been explored at one single. 
and rather barren point, along the way from 
Santa Rosa to Mendoza, where some Eng 
lishmen have made collections, without | 
being themselves Botanists, for the sake of / 
long tract to the Biobis, no Botanist has | 
ever ventured far from the coast. TM 2 
Flora of the Southern Andes, only taki 
a little circle of from three to six geog 
phical miles about Antuco, is a proof what 
discoveries might be expected from an ex- 
amination of that mighty chain, the Andes, 
in its full extent. Those alpine meadows 
exceed in verdure and abundance of plants 
the most celebrated stations in Carinthia, : 
and the district exactly lying between Con- 
cepcion and Chiloé, that is at the sea, and 
on the loftiest Andes, is the very spot which 
a Botanist should select as his station, 
P 
