97 



The liliaceous plants oiFer a great variety through- 

 out Chili, and are known to the Araucanians by the 

 generic name of giL I have collected myself more 

 than twenty- three différent species of them, many of 

 which were adorned with superb flowers. 



In the province of St. Jago is found a species of 

 wild basil (ocymum salinum) differing in its appear- 

 ance from the common or garden species only in its 

 stalk, which is round and jointed; but in its smell and 

 taste it resembles more the alga, or sea- weed, than 

 the basil. This plant continues to increase in growth 

 from the first opening of the spring to the commence- 

 ment of winter, and is every morning covered with 

 ^line globules that are hard and shining, and give 

 it the appearance of being coated with dew. The 

 husbandmen collect and make use of this salt instead 

 of the common kind, which it far exceeds in taste. 

 Each plant produces daily about half an ounce, a 

 phenomenon, the cause of which I am not able satis- 

 factorily to explain, as it grows in a very fertile 

 soil, exhibiting no appearance of salt, and at more 

 than sixty miles distance from the sea. 



Sect. III. Herbs used in Dying, — From time im- 

 memorial have the Chilians made use of indigenous 

 plants for dying; and such is their excellence, that 

 they comm.unicate the liveliest and most durable 

 colours to their cloths, without the aid of any foreign 

 production.* I have in my possession a piece of 



* Besides the medicinal herbs, they have others for dying, the 

 colours of which are very durable and do not change in washing. 

 'Among the?/e istKe r<°?7¿Q7Zj a species of madder, -^'ith a leaf some- 



Yei>. P 



