EXPLANATION OE THE PLATES. 



PLATE I. 



COAST OF CHILE. 



VEGETATION OF THE HEIGHTS ABOUT VALPARAISO. 



March. 



This season of the year is here the driest, the country throughout having a 

 burnt appearance. In August and September, the present landscape would 

 doubtless have been a rich meadow adorned with the beautiful flowers of numerous 

 LUiacece ; at present there is everywhere the bare reddish soil ; the few plants 

 here and there visible are for the most part dried up, and the thorny bushes 

 covering the rocky slopes without leaves. The aspect is that of a steppe during 

 a dry season. Equally monotonous, and often much more bare, appear about this 

 time all those little plateaus commencing immediately behind Valparaiso ; only 

 valleys exhibit a crowded vegetation, including trees, though they be of no consider- 

 able height. The generally stunted growth of the woody vegetation in exposed 

 places is ascribed to the influence of regular and violent winds to which these coast 

 districts are subject. The most prominent amongst the shrubs elsewhere attain 

 the size of trees; they are the Caven [or Espino] {Acacia Cavenia, Hook, et Arn.) 

 and the Lithi {Laurus caustica, Mol.). Both of them contribute considerably 

 towards the physiognomy of the country. The Lithi may be known by its dark 



thick foliage and its fantastically twisted branches ^12 1 — 15 ; the Caven, 



by its broom-shaped growth, as well as by its numerous radiating branches, bear- 

 ing long spines and very delicate leaves (10 1.) In this district the Lithi is very 

 plentiful, and produces in places protected from the winds, where it can freely 



