87 



tatoe, jalap, mechoacan, and others of less importance. 

 Besides these Chili produces a great number of plants 

 that appear to be peculiar to it. There are some that 

 are common to all the provinces, others are confined 

 to certain districts. In my different herborizations 

 while in Chili, I collected about three thousand 

 plants, the greater part of which are non-descript 

 and not to be found in any botanical work. Among 

 these were a number whose flowers are remarkable 

 for their beauty and fragrance, and which, in their 

 season, give the fields the appearance of so many 

 parterres ; but the inhabitants in general pay but 

 little attention to them, and prefer decorating their 

 gardens with exotic flowers received from Europe 

 rather than to cultivate their own. 



The domestic animals live during the whole year 

 in the open fields, and from their feedhig on the 

 aromatic plants, so abundant in Chili, their flesh ac- 

 quires a flavour superior to what it has in any other 

 country. The Chilians have no occasion to provide 

 hay for their cattle, as the herbage never fails, and 

 there is a constant succession of the different plants 

 which serve them for food. In the cities the horses 

 are fed with barley and a species of clover. Tre- 

 foil, called by the Indians gualputhe^ is one of 

 the most common plants of the country ; of this 

 there are not less than twelve different kinds to be 

 found in the meadows, which contain much lucerne, 



the fields is found a flower similar to tlie kind of lily called in 

 Brittany guerneziaises^ the Indian name of which is Uiiio ; it con- 

 sists of six petals, two of which are in the form of a plume. The 

 root when dried in an oven furnishes a very white m«al which is 

 excellent for pastry. — Frazkr's Voyage^ vol. i. 



