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Show 298 1'1ERRA DEL FUEGO. June, 1834. peds is rendered very simple; and with regard to the conditions of their former existence, the principal difficulties have, I think, already been removed. Having concluded this long discussion on the analogies which may be drawn from the existing climate of the southern parts of America, together with its productions, we will return to the description of Tierra del Fuego. There is one vegetable production in this country which is worthy of mention, as it affords a staple article of food to the aborigines. It is a globular fungus of a bright yellow colour, and of about the size of a small apple, which adheres in vast numbers to the bark of the beech-trees. It probably forms a new genus, allied to the morell. In the young state it is elastic and turgid, from being charged with moisture. The external skin is smooth, yet slightly marked with small circular pits, like those from the smallpox. When cut in two the. insi.de is seen to consist of a white fleshy substance; whiCh vtewed under a high power resembles, from the numerous thread-like cylinders, vermicelli. Close beneath the surface, cup-shaped balls, about one-twelfth of an inch in diameter, are arranged at regular intervals. These cups are filled with a slightly adhesive, yet elastic, colourless, quite transparent matter; and from the latter character they at first appeared empty. These little gelatinous balls could be easily detach~d from the surrounding mass, except at the upper extremity, where the edge divided itself into threads which mingled with the rest of the vermicelli-like mass: The external skin directly above each of the balls is pitted, and as th.e fungus grows old, it is ruptured, and the gelatinous mass, whiCh no doubt contains the sporules, is disseminated. the bottom, and that the flakes of icc when they rise to the surface often " b~ing with th.em l~rge stones.'' All that seems to be required i~ producmg ground-ICe, IS, that there should be sufficient movement in the fluid, so that the whole is cooled down to the freezing point, and then the wat~r cl'ysta!lizes, wherever there is a point of attachment. June, 1834. EDIBLE FUNGUS. 299 After this process of fructification has taken place, the whole surface becomes honeycombed, with empty cells (as represented in the accompanying woodcut), and the fungus shrinks, and grows tougher. In this state it is eaten by the Fuegians, in large quantities, uncooked, and when well chewed has a mucilaginous and slightly sweet taste, together with a faint odour like that of a mushroom. Excepting a few berries of a dwarf arbutus, which need hardly be taken into the account, these poor savages never eat any other vegetable food besides this fungus.* I have already mentioned the sombre and dull character of the forests, t in which two or three species of trees grow, to the exclusion of all others. Above the fo~est land, there are many dwarf alpine plants, which all sprmg from the mass of peat, and help to co~pose it. The central part of Tierra del Fuego, where the clay-slate formation * In New Zealand, before the introduction of the potato, the root of the fern was consumed in large quantities. At the present day I should think Tierra del Fuego was the only country in the world, where a cryptogamic plant afforded a staple article of food. t Captain FitzRoy informs me that in April (our October) the leaves of those trees which grow near the base of the mountains change colour, but not those in the more elevated parts. I remember having read some observations showing, that in England the leaves fall earlier in a warm and ~ne autumn, than in a late and cold one. This chaqge in the colour bemg retarded in the more elevated and therefore colder situations, must be owing to the same general law of vegetation. The trees of Tierra del Fuego during no part of the year entirely shed their leaves. |