Feb. 1835. 



VALDIVIA. 



363 



pertinaciously tell me the Indian name for every little point, 

 rivulet, and creek. In the same manner as in Tierra del 

 Fuego, the Indian language appears singularly well adapted 

 for attaching names to the most trivial divisions of the land. 

 I believe every one was glad to say farewell to Chiloe. Yet 

 if we could forget the gloom and ceaseless rain of winter, 

 Chiloe might pass for a charming island. There is, also, 

 something very attractive in the simplicity and humble po- 

 liteness of all the poor inhabitants. 



We steered along shore to the northward, but owing to 

 thick weather, did not reach Valdivia till the night of the 

 eighth. The external features of the whole line of country 

 were the same with the central parts of Chiloe. The forest 

 was nowhere cleared away. On the sea-coast bold rocky 

 points projected, but further inland the older formations 

 were covered up by plains, belonging to geological periods 

 of no great antiquity. The next morning, after anchoring 

 in the fine harbour of Valdivia, the boat proceeded to the 

 town, which is distant about ten miles. We foUowed the 

 course of the river, occasionally passing a few hovels, and 

 patches of ground cleared out of the otherwise unbroken 

 forest; and sometimes meeting a canoe with an Indian 

 family. The town is situated on the low banks of the 

 stream, and is so completely buried in a wood of apple- 

 trees, that the streets are merely paths in an orchard. 



I have never seen any country where apple-trees appeared 

 to thrive so well as in this damp part of South America. 

 On the borders of the roads there were many young trees 

 which had evidently planted themselves. In Chiloe, the 

 inhabitants possess a marvellously short method of making 

 an orchard. At the lower part of almost every branch, small, 

 conical, brown, wrinkled points project: these are always 

 ready to change into roots, as may sometimes be seen, 

 where any mud has been accidentally splashed against the 

 tree. A branch as thick as a man^s thigh is chosen, and is 

 cut off just beneath a group of these points; all the smaller 

 branches are lopped off, and it is then placed about two feet 



