402 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



Vicente. Many pelicans and gannets were flying about over 

 the water, the latter disappearing below the surface in pursuit 

 of their prey with the characteristic splash. 



On the afternoon of the 6th, I walked, with two compan- 

 ions, over the rocky hills of the promontory which separates 

 the bays of Coquimbo and Herradura, to the smelting works 

 at Guayacan, on the coast of the latter. Our route lay through 

 a rocky desert, abounding in tall branching Cacti, a species 

 of Cassia with large bunches of orange-yellow flowers, and a 

 shrubby Oxalis, the 0. gigantea. The last plant, the Churco 

 of the Chilians, attains a height of from three to six feet, and 

 in those districts where it occurs its branches are often 

 used as a substitute for laths in building houses. The bark 

 is thick, and possesses a very astringent taste ; the small 

 trefoil leaves are acid, like those of nearly all the other species 

 of the genus ; and the flowers are of a lemon-yellow colour. 

 Another plant, which specially attracted our attention, was 

 an AristolocMa (A. Chilensis), with variegated leaves and 

 curious tubular flowers of a lurid purple tint, covered in the 

 interior of the tube with thick white hairs, with their points 

 directed downwards. Their general form recalled that of the 

 pitchers of Nepenthes, and they emitted a most offensive 

 odour, suggestive of carrion. I was afterwards informed by a 

 friend that the plant is esteemed among the lower orders in 

 Chili as a remedy for small-pox. I also obtained specimens 

 of the Hahranthus hesperius, the Tropceolum tricolor, which 

 was twining around the Cacti, a fine purplish-blue Wither- 

 ingia, and a low shrub with curious green flowers, and a lobed 

 bladdery capsule, the Llagunoa glandulosa, belonging to the 

 order Sapindacece. At the smelting works we saw the process 

 of running off the liquid metal in its second-last stage into 

 moulds of sand, as had been previously witnessed by us at Lota. 



