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góod eating ; of the others, oiie is used as provender for horses, 

 and the other in making ink. Among the plants of Cujo, is 

 one that is very singular ; it is called the Jlower of the air^ froRi 

 its having no root nor ever being fixed to the earth. Its native 

 situation is an arid rock or a dry tree around which it entwines 

 itself. This plant consists of a single shoot, resembling the stalk of 

 the gillyflower, but its leaves are larger and thicker, and so hard 

 that they seem to the touch like wood. Each shoot, or stalk, 

 produces two or three white transparent flowers, in size and shape 

 resembling the lily ; they are full as odoriferous as that flower, and 

 may be preserved fresh for more than two months on their stalks, 

 and for several days when plucked ofi; But the most wonderful 

 property of this plant is, that* it niay be transported without any 

 difficulty for upward of three hundred miles, and will produce 

 flowers annually if only suspended upon a nail. 



This province abounds with birds, among which are two parrots 

 that are difitírent from those of Chili. The first is a little less than 

 the turtle dove, and has a greenback and whitish belly ; the other, 

 called fieriqidto^ is rather larger. Its plumage is a dark green, ex- 

 cept the head, which is black, and a mixture of red upon the back. 

 The partridges are of two kinds. The first called martinetta is of 

 the size of a domestic fowl, has a beautiful tuft upon its head, and 

 is adorned with handsome plumes of various colours ; its flesh is 

 very delicate, and its eggs are green. The common partridge is 

 in great abundance, and so tame that a man with a reed, to which a 

 snare is fastened, will take twenty or thirty of them in a few hours. 

 The ahbanil^ or mason, so called from the manner of constructing 

 its habitation, is a snufl^coloured bird, of the size of a thrush ; be- 

 fore it begins to build, it mixes clay very carefully with feathers and 

 pieces of straw, then dividing it into little balls, carries them in its 

 claws and bill to its mate, who first forms the bottom upon the trunk 

 of a tree, into a circle of eight or nine inches in diameter, making 

 it perfectly smooth ; upon this it raises a wall about a hand's breadth 

 in height, leaving a small aperture to go in at ; it next proceeds 

 to lay a second floor, which contain s the nest, and also an opening 

 communicating with the lower room ; when this is completed it 

 continues the suri^ounding wall to the same height as the first, and 

 covers the whole with a handsomg arch. This edifice becomes, 

 when dry, so firm as to resist the most violent winds and rain. In 

 the northern parts of this province is a species of pheasant called 

 chunna^ which isas large as a hen, and of an ash colour ; the flesh 

 Is as delicate as that of the European pheasant. This bird is easily 



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