348 



CftONOS ARCHIPELAGO. 



Jan. 1835. 



from the ground to the tip of the upper leaf, not less than 

 four feet. 



So very close is the general resemblance with the culti- 

 vated species, that it is necessary to show that they have 

 not been imported. The simple fact of their growth on the 

 islands, and even small rocks, throughout the Chonos 

 Archipelago, which has never been inhabited, and very 

 seldom visited, is an argument of some weight. But the 

 circumstance of the wildest Indian tribes being well ac- 

 quainted with the plant, is stronger. Mr. Lowe, a very 

 intelligent and active sealer, informs me, that on show- 

 ing some potatoes to the naked savages in the Gulf of Tri- 

 nidad (lat. 50°), they immediately recognised them, and calling 

 them Aquina,'^ wanted to take them away. The savages 

 also pointed to a place where they grew; which fact was 

 subsequently verified. The Indians of Chiloe, belonging to 

 another tribe, also give them a name in their own language. 

 The simple fact of their being known and named by distinct 

 races, over a space of four or five hundred miles on a most 

 unfrequented and scarcely known coast, almost proves their 

 native existence. Professor Henslow, who has examined the 

 dried specimens which I brought home, says that they 

 are the same with those described by Mr. Sabine* from 

 Valparaiso, but that they form a variety which by some 

 botanists has been considered as specifically distinct. It 

 is remarkable that the same plant should be found on the 

 sterile mountains of central Chile, where a drop of rain 

 does not fall for more than six months, and within the 

 damp forests of the southern islands. From what we know 

 of the habits of the potato, this latter situation would 

 appear more congenial than the former, as its birthplace. 



In the central parts of the Chonos Archipelago, in lat. 

 45° 30', the forest has assumed very much the same charac- 



* Horticultural Transact., vol. v., p. 249. Mr. Caldcleugh sent home 

 two tubers, which being well manured, even the first season produced 

 numerous potatoes and an abundance of leaves. 



