The Genus Araucaria. 423 



were sown in Talcahuano, only two sprung up, which shortly 

 afterwards died. An Alpine atmosphere and a severer climate 

 than can be expected in the lower tracts of the country, and 

 above all a stony soil, seem to be indispensable for its growth. 

 In the immediate neighbourhood of Antuco not a single tree 

 of Araucaria can be seen, and it requires a fatiguing excursion 

 to gratify the naturalist's desire to behold a wood of these truly 

 regal trees." The writer then goes on to say : " Towards the 

 evening we had ascended the moderately high ridges that form 

 the background of the valley," which runs between Antuco 

 and the fort of Trun Leuvu, "and the dense crown that was 

 seen above these, from afar, had indicated our near approach to 

 the desired aim, and added new vigour to our exertions. 

 When we arrived at the first Araucarias, the sun had just set, 

 still some time remained for their examination. What first 

 struck our attention were the thick roots of these trees, which 

 lie spread over the stony, and nearly naked soil, like gigantic 

 serpents, two or three feet in thickness ; they are clothed with 

 a rough bark, similar to that which invests the lofty pillar-like 

 trunks, of from fifty to one 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 

 diminish till they are but four or six in a ring, and are of most 

 regular formation, all spreading out horizontally, and bendiug 

 upwards only at their tips; they are thickly invested with 

 leaves, that cover them 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 undeniably bears a distant family like- 

 ness to the pines of our country; its fruits, placed at the ends of 

 the boughs, are of a "regularly 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 nomade 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 commerce. 



" Such is the extent of the Araucaria forests and the 

 amazing quantity of nutritious seeds that each full-grown tree 

 produces, that the Indians are ever secure from want, and 

 even the discord that prevails frequently among* the different 

 hordes does not prevent the quiet collection of this kind of 

 harvest. A single fruit (cabeza, 'ahead') contains between 200 

 and 300 kernels, and there are frequently twenty or thirty fruits 



