THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. 419 



manner on horseback, their main object being to endeavour to 

 ride one another down. A strong breeze was blowing, causing 

 a vast amount of dust, which partially concealed the move- 

 ments of the soldiers, who presented rather a mean appear- 

 ance, arising from the smallness of their stature. 



The heavy rains which had recently fallen had clothed 

 the arid hills of Valparaiso with verdure, the Calccolo.rias 

 forming splendid golden masses on many of the slopes, and a 

 multitude of beautiful flowers coming into bloom. Thus, in 

 the course of a single day spent in rambling about among the 

 quebradas behind the town, I obtained three species of 

 Calceolaria; three of Loasa, or Chilian nettle, with white, 

 yellow, and orange blossoms ; two handsome Orchids of the 

 genus Chlorcea; the Trichopetalum stellatum ; a beautiful 

 Liliaceous plant, the Pasithea coRruUa, with gTasslike leaves, 

 and a flow^er-stem often exceeding two feet in height, bearing 

 a loose panicle of exquisite blue flowers ; Zeucocoryne ixi- 

 oides, with flowers varying from purple to bright blue ; a large 

 orange-flowered Geum; an CEnothera, with large white flowers, 

 growing in marshy places ; the Alonsoa incisce/olia, denomi- 

 nated, on account of its bright scarlet corollas, "Flor de 

 Soldado ;" several Vetches ; sl -pur-ple Oxalis ; several species 

 of Valerian ; Mimulus parviflorus ; Gunnera scahra ; an 

 Acce7ia ; a Poly gala, with blue flowers; a blue Myosotis ; 

 two species of Tupa ; several species of SisyrincJiium ; a 

 Verbena, Tropceolum tricolor, etc. etc. A few weeks later 

 many other species came into bloom, among which I may 

 mention a climbing Composite, with its leaves terminated by 

 tendrils, the Mutisia latifolia ; the Scilpiglossis sinuata ; seve- 

 ral yellow-flowered species of Oxalis, and the lovely Caly- 

 dorea speciosa, whose deep blue flowers, with yellow hearts, 

 abounded on the sun-baked slopes of many of the hills. 



