Feb. 1835. 



VALDIVIA. 



365 



in a very pretty manner. It is with this plant that the Indians 

 make their chuzos^ or long tapering spears. Our resting- 

 house was so dirty that I preferred sleeping outside. The 

 first night on these journeys is generally an uncomfortable 

 one, because one^s body is not accustomed to the tickling 

 and biting of the fleas. I am sure, in the morning, there 

 was not a space on my legs of the size of a shilling, which 

 had not its little red mark, where the flea had feasted. 



12th. — We continued to ride through the uncleared forest ; 

 only occasionally meeting an Indian on horseback, or a troop 

 of fine mules bringing alerce planks and corn from the 

 southern plains. In the afternoon one of the horses knocked 

 up : we were then on the brow of a hill, which commanded 

 a fine view of the Llanos. The view of these open plains 

 was very refreshing, after being hemmed in and buried 

 amongst a wilderness of trees. The uniformity of a forest 

 soon becomes very wearisome. This wxst coast makes me 

 remember with pleasure the free, unbounded plains of Pata- 

 gonia; yet with the true spirit of contradiction, I cannot 

 forget how subhme is the silence of the forest. The Llanos 

 are the most fertile and thickly-peopled parts of the country ; 

 as they possess the immense advantage of being nearly free 

 from trees. Before leaving the forest we crossed some flat 

 little lawns, around which single trees encroached, in the 

 same manner as in an English park. It is curious how fre- 

 quently a plain seems hostile to the growth of trees. Hum- 

 boldt found much difficulty in endeavouring to account for 

 their presence in certain parts of South America, and their 

 absence in other parts. It appears to me, that the level 

 state of the surface very frequently determines this point ; 

 but the cause of its doing so I do not know. In the case of 

 Tierra del Fuego, the deficiency of trees on level ground 

 is probably owing to the accumulation of too much mois- 

 ture in such situations. But to the northward of Maldonado, 

 in Banda Oriental, where we have a fine undulating country, 

 with streams of water (which are themselves fringed with 



