102 



rimú, the first rimú, and May, incm-rimuy or the 

 second rimú. 



Sect. IV. Medicinal Plants. — -A knowledi^e of 

 the virtues of plants and herbs, acquired by long 

 experience, forms almost the whole of the medical 

 science of the Chilians, particularly of those abori- 

 gines who have never embraced Christianity. The 

 machis and ampives, names given to their physicians, 

 are only skilful herborists, who, in reality, often per- 

 form extraordinary cures. The virtues of many 

 plants are known only to them, as, either from 

 hatred to the Spaniards, or to enhance their own 

 consequence, they studiously conceal their proper- 

 ties : notwithstanding which, near two hundred va- 

 luable medicinal herbs have been discovered, besides 

 a great number of shrubs and trees, which at present 

 form an important branch of foreign commerce, the 

 most celebrated of whicli a.re the cachanlahuen, the 

 viravira, the retamilla, the payco and the quincha- 

 malt. 



The cachanlahuen (gentian cachanlahuen) called 

 by M. Bomxare and some other authors chancelague 

 and chanchalagua, is not a native of Panama, as is 

 stated in the Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences 

 for 1707, nor does it grow, as M. Bomare has men- 

 tioned, in Guayaquil, but only in Chili, from whence 

 it has been transported to the other parts of Amt- 

 rica, and to Europe. This plant is a species of 

 the centaury, and greatly resembles the common 

 kind, but it differs from it in having a rounder stalk , 

 a less fibrous leaf, and branches opposed to each 



