ce 
206 A VISIT TO THE NORTHERNMOST FOREST OF CHILE. 
leaves at all; these appear only in spring-time, falling down as 
soon as the dry season begins. On the level parts at the foot of 
bs hills grows also the Duvaua dependens DC., which attains here 
much larger size than I ever have seen in the south, and is here 
coiled “Molle. 
We started on the 28th at —— five in ome morning, accom- 
panied by M. _ aballero and a son of S. Barrios Don Belisario, 
who were kind enough to ace Ro omay us as gui ie e road runs 
for nearly two ioae in the valley of the Limari, offering nearly 
nothing of interest, as we passed all that time between mud walls, 
which are = in use for enclosing the fields; then we ascended 
some 6 to 7 m. to the plain at the foot of the hills north of the river, 
and followed thie until midday ; and we had from this part a nice 
view over the green valley of the Limari, with its plantations 05 
houses, making such a fine contrast wit th the barren hills on 
sides of the seals on which the eye finds only here and ire i 
-them a a 
At nine o’clock the plain at the foot of the hills became broader 
and dryer, and from oe we found many places covered with 
different Crista @, and a spiny Adesmia 14-2 m. high, also very 
— This oidaeaih: is ted called ‘ Barilla, ” the general name 
for all the Adesmias in the north, and although it is similar to 
Adesmia arborea Bert., the commonest kind of this vast genus near 
aa its habit is quite different, and it may easily be a distinct 
ort 
sonth al the paar several little villages and hamlets, nearly all 
ith 3 a church in the centre, consisting mostly of we. and of ten 
ich 
From eleven ‘a: hree o’clock ee rested at the house of a relation 
of M. Belisario Benne who attended us with the proverbial 
hospitality of the north. From ner house, called Pepe: be 
left the valley of _ river to our left, internating us im 
mountain. unted in a narrow valley until we reached & a 
kind of plateau, perhaps 100 m. over the valley of the imari, a 
followed it for e time w aba descended then into another 
valley running likewios north to south, and crossed then a range of 
The hills tartans pcre and the eastern foot of Frai Jorge 
show on the plain above a scarce and poor vegetation, nearly — 
entirely formed of low shrubs of the Composite, some Ephedras — 
nearly destroyed by grub, and Adesmias, which became very ape 
