312 



CHILE. 



Aug. 1834. 



when all the cattle are driven down^ counted^ and marked^ 

 and a certain number separated to be fattened in the irrigated 

 fields. Wheat is extensively cultivated, and also a good deal 

 of Indian corn : a kind of bean is, however, the staple article 

 of food for the common labourers. The orchards produce 

 an overflowing abundance of peaches, figs, and grapes. With 

 all these advantages, the inhabitants of the country ought to 

 be much more prosperous than they are. 



August 16th. — The mayor-domo of the Hacienda was 

 good enough to give me a guide and fresh horses; and in 

 the morning we set out to ascend the Campana, or Bell 

 mountain, which is 6400 feet high. The paths were very 

 bad, but both the geology and scenery amply repaid the 

 trouble. We reached, by the evening, a spring called the 

 Agua del Guanaco, which is situated at a great height. This 

 must be an old name, for it is very many years since a 

 guanaco has drunk its waters. During the ascent I noticed 

 that nothing grew on the northern slope but bushes, whilst 

 on the southern there was a sort of bamboo, about fifteen feet 

 high. In a few places there were palms, and I was surprised 

 to see one at an elevation of at least 4500 feet. These palms 

 are, for their family, ugly trees. Their stem is very large, and 

 of a curious form, being thicker in the middle than at the 

 base or top. They are excessively numerous in some parts of 

 Chile, and valuable on account of a sort of treacle made from 

 the sap. On one estate near Petorca, they tried to count 

 them, but failed, after having numbered several hundred thou- 

 sand. Every year in August (early spring time) very many 

 are cut down, and when the trunk is lying on the ground, 

 the crown of leaves is lopped off. The sap then immediately 

 begins to flow from the upper end, and continues so doing 

 for some months : it is, however, necessary that a thin slice 

 should be shaved oif from that end every morning, so as to 

 expose a fresh surface. A good tree will give ninety gallons, 

 and all this must have been contained in the vessels of the 

 apparently dry trunk. It is said that the sap flows much more 

 quickly on those days when the sun is powerful ; and likewise. 



