351 
over the stony and nearly naked soil, like 
gigantic serpents, two or three feet in thick- 
ness: they are clothed with a rough bark, 
similar to that which invests the lofty pillar- 
like trunks, of from fifty to a hundred feet 
in height. The crown of foliage occupies 
only about the upper quarter of the stem, 
and resembles a large depressed cone. The 
lower branches, eight or twelve in number, 
form a circle round the trunk; they dimi- 
nish till there are but four or six in a ring, 
and are of most regular formation, all 
spreading out horizontally, and bending 
upwards only at their tips. They are 
thickly invested with leaves, that cover 
em like scales, and are sharp-pointed, 
above an inch broad, and of such a hard 
and woody texture, that it requires a sharp 
knife to sever them from the parent branch. 
‘The general aspect of the Araucaria is 
most striking and peculiar, though it un- 
deniably bears a distant family-likeness to 
the Pines of our country. Its fruits, placed 
at the ends of the boughs, are of a regu- 
larly globular form, as large as a man's 
head, and consist of beautifully imbricated 
scales that cover the seeds, which are the 
most important part of this truly noble 
tree. The Araucaria is the Palm of those 
Indians who inhabit the Chilian Andes, 
from lat. 37° to 48°, yielding to these no- 
made nations a vegetable sustenance that 
is found in the greater plenty, the more 
they recede from the whites, and the more 
difficult they find it to obtain corn by com- 
merce. Such is the extent of the Arauca- 
ria forests (Pinares), and the amazing 
quantity of nutritious seeds that each full- 
grown tree produces, that the Indians are 
ever secure from want, and even the dis- 
cord that prevails frequently among the 
different hordes does not prevent the quiet 
collection of this kind of harvest. A sin- 
gle fruit (cabeza, “a head,") contains be- 
P. c tween two and three hundred kernels, and 
there are frequently twenty or thirty fruits 
on one stem. d as even a hearty eater 
among the Indians, except he should be 
wholly deprived of every other kind of 
sustenance, cannot consume more than two 
ACCOUNT OF THE ARAUCARIA IMBRICATA OF CHILI. 
hundred nuts in a day, it is easily seen that ! 
eighteen Araucarias will maintain a single 
person for a whole year. The kernel, which 
is the shape of an Almond, but double the 
size, is surrounded with a coriaceous mem- 
brane that is easily removed ; though re- 
lishing when prepared, it is not easily 
digestible, and containing but a small 
quantity of oil, is apt to cause disorders in 
the stomach with those who are not accus- - 
tomed to this diet. When the scarcely- 
mature seeds are dried in the sun, a sugary 
substance exudes, which appears to reside 
chiefly in the embryo. The Indians eat 
them, either fresh, boiled, or roasted, and 
the latter mode of cooking gives them a 
flavour something like a Chestnut. For 
winter's use they are dried, after being 
boiled, and the women prepare a ki 
flour and pastry from them. The collect- 
ing these fruits would be attended with 
great labour, if it were always necessary to 
climb the gigantic trunks: but as soon as 
the kernels are ripe, towards the end of 
March, the cones drop off of themselves, 
and shedding their contents on the ground, 
scatter liberally a boon, which nothing but 
the Little Parrot (Psittacus choraeus, 
Mol.) and a species of Cherry-Finch divide 
with the Indians. In the vast forests, of a 
day's journey in extent, that are formed by n 
these trees in the districts of Pehuenches . 
and Huilliches, the fruits lie in such plenty 
on the ground, that but a very small 
of them can be consumed. In former 
times, a great quantity came to Concepcion — 
and Valdivia, by trading with the Indians, 
and thence they found their way to Valpa- 
raiso and Lima, but now they are 
seen any where near the coast, or they sa E 
too old to be palatable. 
all the seeds of Araucaria 
were sent to Europe did not vegetate, 19 
because the colfectors did not procure them : 
from the Indian country, but bought them SS 
in the market at Valparaiso, where they are = 
offered for sale boiled and dried. My €* — 
cursion to Quillay-Leuvu obtained for mé 
fresh seeds of the Araucaria, which eu 
ed Germany in October, 1829, being. ecto? 
PTT en en 
