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Show 364 VALDIVIA. Feb. 1835. deep in 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 appletree 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, " N ecessidad es la madre del invencion," 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. FEBRUARY llTH.-1 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 sleepingplace for the night. The short difference in latitude of 150 miles, has given another aspect to the forest, com~ared to that. of .Chiloe .. This is owing to a slightly different proportion 1.n the kinds of trees. ,.fhe evergreens do not appear to be qmte so n~merous ; and the forest in consequence is coloured by a bnghter 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 ~he bamboo of Brazil, and about twenty feet in height), grows m clusters, and ornaments the banks of some of the streams Feb. 1835. VALDIVIA. 365 in a very pretty manner. It is with this plant that the Indians make their chuzos, or long tapering spears. Our restinghouse 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 shjlling, which had not its little red mark, where the flea had feasted. 12TH.-We continu~d 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 hill, which commanded a fine view of the Llanos. The view 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 thickly-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, aroU:nd which single trees encroached, in the same manner as in an English park. It 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 grou~d 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 ~ater (which are themselves fringed with |