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channels in the month of October— that is, in the early spring—
we ourselves found the appearance of the country' but little
different from our recollections of the previous midsummer.
There was, perhaps, more snow on the hill-tops, but there was
none at all on the lower slopes of the hills, and the evergreen
vegetation seemed almost as luxuriant as during midsummer.
As might be expected from the large rainfall and comparatively
equable temperature, this climate is very favourable to the growth
of cryptogamous plants ; ferns, mosses, and Hepaticæ abound,
clothing the stems of dead and living trees, and occupying every
shady nook and crevice. Among the ferns most commonly seen
were several beautiful species of the genus Hymenophyllum. Of
flowering plants there were also some of great beauty, the most
attractive of which were the Philesia buixfolia, the Desfontainea
Hookeri, the Berberis ilicifolia, the B. empetrifolia, and the Embo-
thrium coccineum. The former is a sort of under-shrub, of
creeping habit, and is most commonly seen twining round the
stem of the evergreen and antarctic beeches, to a height of six
or eight feet from the ground, its lovely, rose-coloured, bell-shaped
flowers showing to great advantage against the delicate background
of ferns and mosses, which, growing from the bark of the tree,
display the flowers, but almost conceal the branches of the
twining Philesia. There is another beautiful plant, of the same
natural order, met with in Southern Chili, which the people take
great pride in, showing to strangers as the glory of their gardens.
It is called the “ Copigue” {Lapageria rosea). The only trees
which attain to any reasonable size as such are the evergreen and
antarctic beeches {Fagus antárctica and F. betuloides), the winter’s
bark {Drimys winteri), and the cypres {Libocedrus tetragonus).
The bark of the Drimys zvinteri was formerly employed in
medicine, but has latterly fallen into disuse, partly from the
iifficulty of obtaining the genuine article in Europe. It has
ionic and stimulant properties. The infusion of the dried bark
is so hot and peppery as to burn the tongue and throat ; but,
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strangely enough, the spirit tincture extracts the tonic bitter with
but very little of the peppery principle.
The summits of the low hills, which are usually bare of trees
or brushwood, are covered with a sort of swamp formed of
astelias, gaimardeas, and calthas, whose interlacing roots form
a more or less compact sod, which, as one walks on it, shakes
from the fluctuation of the bog water beneath.
The rock of the district is a cross-grained syenite, intersected
with dykes of greenstone, of very variable thickness. This is the
prevalent rock ; but about Port Rosario, on the north side of
“ Madre de Dios” island, there is an outcrop of limestone. The
latter is of a pale-blue colour, in some cases assuming the character
of marble ; and when much exposed to the weather, presents a
curious honey-combed appearance, due to the solvent action of
the rain. This rock is unfossiliferous. The disintegration of the
.syenite from the usual atmospheric agencies is rapid enough ;
but the resulting detritus does not contribute to form a good
clay.
If an artificial section be made of the soilcap, or if advantage
be taken of a landslip to examine it carefully, it will be seen to
be composed of a dense network of interlacing roots, containing
in its interstices a small quantity of black mould, the latter
increasing in proportion as the basement rock is reached. This
spongy mass of tangled vegetation, ever saturated with moisture,
is the soil on which the trees clothing the hillsides take root.
On the little plateaus about the hill-tops, however, it only contains
the roots of the marsh plants above mentioned, and those
of an odd stunted bush. On first coming to this region, I was
much struck on seeing that the forest approaches so close to the
water’s edge, and that the banks overhang so much that frequently
the branches of the trees dip into the salt water ; and
in some places a black snag projecting above the surface of the
inshore water tells the fate of a tree that had perished from
immersion. These phenomena, among others to be hereafter
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