Aug. 1, 1835.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
THE GENUS ARAUCARIA. 7 
occupies only about the upper quarters of the stem, and resemble a 
large depressed cone. The lower branches, eight or twelve in number, 
form a circle round the trunk ; they diminish till they are are but four 
or six iu a ring, and are of most regular formation, all spreading out 
horizontally, and bending upwards only at their tips ; they are thickly 
invested with 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 branch. The 
general aspect of the Araucaria is most striking and peculiar, though it 
undeniably bears a distant family likeness to the pines of our country ; 
its fruits placed at the end of the boughs are of a regularly globular 
form, as large as a man's head, and consist of beautifully imbricated 
scales that cover the seeds, which are the most important part of this 
truly noble tree. The Araucaria is the palm of those Indians who in- 
habit the Chilian Andes, from lat. 37° to 48°, yielding to these 
nomade nations a vegetable sustenance that is found in the greater plenty 
the more they recede from the whites, and the more difficult they find 
it to obtain corn by commerce. 
" Such is the extent of the Araucaria 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 prevails 
frequently among the different hordes does not prevent the quiet collec- 
tion of this kind of harvest. A single fruit (cabeza l a head ') contains 
between 200 and 300 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 sustenance, cannot 
consume more than 200 nuts in a day, it is easily seen that eighteen 
Araucarias will maintain a single person for a whole year. The kernel, 
which is the shape of an almond, but double the size, is surrounded with 
a coriaceous membrane that is easily removed. Though relishing when 
prepared, it is not easily digestible, and, containing but a small quantity 
of oil, it is apt to cause disorders in the stomach with those who are not 
accustomed to this diet. When the scarcely matured seeds are dried in 
the sun, a sugary substance exudes, which appears to reside chiefly in 
the embryo. The Indians eat them either fresh, boiled, or roasted 
and the latter mode of cooking gives them a flavour something ^like a 
chestnut. For winter's use they are dried, after being boiled, and the 
women prepare a kind of flour and pastry from them. 
" The collecting 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 off of 
themselves, and shedding their contents on the ground, scatter liberally 
a boon which nothing but the little parrot and a species of cherry- 
finch divide with the Indians. In the vast forests, of a day's journey 
in extent, that are formed by these trees in the districts of Pehuenches 
and Huilliches, the fruits lie in such plenty on the ground, that but a 
