THE CHILI PINE. 



427 



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 a 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 spread- 

 ing out horizontally and bending upwards only 

 at their tops. 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 stock. The general 

 aspect of the Araucaria is most striking and 

 peculiar, though it undoubtedly bears a distant 

 family likeness to the Pines of our country. The 

 fruit placed at the ends of the boughs, are of 

 regular globular form, as large as a man's head, 

 and each consists of beautifully imbricated scales, 

 that cover the seeds, which are the most important 

 part of this truly noble tree. Such is the extent 

 of the Araucarian forests, and the amazing quan- 

 tity 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 contains between two and three hundred 

 kernels; and there are frequently twenty or thirty 

 fruits on one stem ; and, as even a hearty eater 



