THE FOREST TREES OF BRITAIN. 
469 
eight or twelve in number, form a circle 
round the trunk ; they diminish till they are 
but four or six in a ring, and are of most 
regular formation, all spreading out horizon- 
tally and bending upwards only at their tops. 
They are thickly invested w^ith leaves that 
cover them like scales, and are sharp-pointed, 
above an inch broad, and of such a hard and 
woody texture that it requires a sharp knife 
to sever them from the parent stock. The 
general aspect of the araucaria is most 
striking and peculiar, though it undoubtedly 
bears a distant family likeness to the pines of 
our country. The fruit, placed at the ends of 
the boughs, are of a regular globular form, as 
large as a man's head, and each consists of 
beautifully imbricated scales, that cover the 
seeds, which are the most important part of 
this truly noble tree. Such is the extent of 
the araucarian forests, and the amazing quan- 
tity of nutritious seeds that each full-grown 
tree produces, that the Indians are ever secure 
from want : and even the discord that pre- 
vails frequently among the different hordes, 
does not prevent the quiet collection of this 
kind of harvest. A single fruit contains be- 
tween two and three hundred kernels ; and 
there are frequently twenty or thirty fruits 
on one stem ; and, as even a hearty eater 
among the Indians, except he should be wholly 
deprived of every other kind of food, cannot 
consume more than two hundred nuts in a 
day, it is obvious that eighteen araucarias will 
maintain a single person for a whole year. 
The kernel, which is of the shape of an 
almond, but double the size, is surrounded 
with a tough membrane, which is easily re- 
moved ; though relishing when prepared, it 
is not easy of digestion, and containing but a 
small quantity of oil, it is apt to cause dis- 
orders in the stomach with those who are not 
accustomed to this diet. The Indians eat 
them either fresh, boiled, or roasted ; and the 
latter mode of cooking gives them a flavour 
something like that of a chestnut. For win- 
ter's use, they are dried after being boiled ; 
and the women prepare a kind of flour and 
pastry from them. The collecting of these 
fruits would be attended with great labour, if 
it were always necessary to climb the gigantic 
trunks, but as soon as the kernels are ripe, 
towards the end of March, the cones drop oiF 
of themselves, and, shedding their contents on 
the ground, scatter liberally a boon which no- 
thing but the little parrot, and a species of 
cherry-finch, divides with the Indians. In 
the vast forests, of a day's journey in extent, 
that are formed by these trees, in some dis- 
tricts the fruits lie in such plenty on the 
ground, that but a small part of them can be 
consumed. 
" The wood of the araucaria is white, and 
towards the centre of the stem bright yellow. 
It yields to none in hardness and solidity, 
and might prove valuable for many uses if the 
places of growth of the tree were more acces- 
sible. It has been used by the Spaniards for 
ship-building ; but it is much too heavy for 
masts. If a branch be scratched, or the scales 
of an unripe fruit be broken, a fragrant milky 
juice immediately exudes, that soon changes 
to a yellowish resin, which is considered by 
the Chilians as possessing such medicinal vir- 
tues, that it cures the most violent rheumatic 
headaches when applied to the spot where the 
pain is felt. 
" The araucaria was first introduced into 
England by Menzies, who accompanied Van- 
couver in his expedition to Chili in 1795. 
Living specimens were given by him to Sir 
Joseph Banks, one of which is still growing 
at Kew. It was at first supposed to be deli- 
cate, and was protected from frost during 
winter, but it suffered from this mode of treat- 
ment, and having been deprived of its lower 
branches, the character of the tree was de- 
stroyed. One of the finest and handsomest 
trees in England stands in the garden of 
R. Dawson, Esq., Tottenham. It is twenty 
feet high ; the branches descend to the ground 
on all sides, and the main stem is densely 
covered with leaves down to the very roots. 
It w^as planted out at the height of four inches 
in April, 1832. 
" A writer in the Gardener's Chronicle 
recommends that the seeds of this tree, when 
planted, should not be buried beneath the 
ground, but simply laid on the surface, with 
a small quantity of earth raised around them, 
but not so as to cover them. 
"Young plants, which in 1838 were sold 
at from three to five guineas each, may now 
be purchased for about two shillings each. 
" Although the Araucaria, of which we 
have been speaking, derives its name from 
the Araucanos, a people of Chili, and there- 
fore, strictly speaking, is a South American 
tree, there are two other species which inhabit 
the Eastern world. One of these, the Norfolk 
Island Pine, Araucaria excelsa, ranks among 
the most magnificent of known trees, rising 
to the almost incredible height of two hun- 
dred and twenty feet, with a trunk thirty feet 
in circumference. Mrs. Meredith, in her en- 
tertaining Notes and Sketches of New South 
Wales, thus describes some young trees which 
grew near her house in that country : — ' The 
Norfolk Island pine is certainly the most noble 
and stately tree of all the pine family that I 
have ever seen, beautiful as they all are. The 
tall, erect and tapering stem, the regularity of 
the circling branches, lessening by small de- 
grees from the widely-spread expanse below, 
to the tiny cross that crowns the summit of 
