n i l % '.
i
deep iu the ground: the operation is performed in the earliest
part of the spring. During the succeeding summer, the
stump throws out very long shoots, and sometimes even
bears fruit. I was shown one which had produced as many
as twenty-three apples, but this was thought very unusual.
The ensuing summer, the first year shoots throw out others,
and by the third season the stump is changed (as I have
myself seen) into a well-wooded tree, loaded with an
abundance of fruit. I understand there is one kind of apple-
tree in England, which can be treated in a similar manner;
but I believe the rapidity of growth, and at the same time
production of fruit, is very inferior to that of the trees in
Chiloe. An old man near Valdivia illustrated his motto,
“ Necessidad es la madre del invención,” by giving an account
of the several useful things he manufactured from his
apples. After making cider, he extracted from the refuse a
white and very finely-flavoured spirit: by another process he
procured a sweet treacle, or, as he called it, honey. He likewise
showed us wine derived from the same fruit. The
children and pigs seemed almost to live, during this season of
the year, in the orchards.
F e b r d a r v 1 1 th .—I set out with a guide on a short ride,
in which, however, I managed to see singularly little, either
of' the geology of the country, or of its inhabitants. There
is not much cleared land near Valdivia: after crossing a river
at the distance of a few miles, we entered the forest, and then
passed only one miserable hovel, before reaching our sleeping-
place for the night. The short difference in latitude, of 150
miles, has given another aspect to the forest, compared to
that of Chiloe. This is oiving to a slightly different proportion
in the kinds of trees. The evergreens do not appear
to be quite so numerous; and the forest in consequence is
coloured by a brighter and more lively green. In the same
manner as in Chiloe, the lower parts are matted together by
canes. Here also another kind of the same family (resembling
the bamboo of Brazil, and about twenty feet in height), grows
in clusters, and ornaments the banks of some of the streams
in a very pretty manner. 11 is with this plant that the I ndians
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.
1 2 t h .—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 hiU, which commanded
a fine view of the Llanos. The Hew 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 west coast makes me
remember with pleasure the free, unbounded plains of Patagonia;
yet with the true spirit of contradiction, I cannot
forget how sublime is the silence of the forest. The Llanos
are the most fertile and thicldy-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 Enghsh park. I t is curious how frequently
a plain seems hostile to the growth of trees. Humboldt
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 moisture
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
ft! i