The
Woods Came Down To The Sea-Beach, Just In The Manner Of
An Evergreen Shrubbery Over A Gravel Walk.
We also enjoyed
from the anchorage a splendid view of four great snowy
cones of the Cordillera, including "el famoso Corcovado;"
the range itself had in this latitude so little height, that few
parts of it appeared above the tops of the neighbouring
islets.
We found here a party of five men from Caylen, "el
fin del Cristiandad," who had most adventurously crossed in
their miserable boat-canoe, for the purpose of fishing, the
open space of sea which separates Chonos from Chiloe. These
islands will, in all probability, in a short time become peopled
like those adjoining the coast of Chiloe.
The wild potato grows on these islands in great abundance,
on the sandy, shelly soil near the sea-beach. The tallest
plant was four feet in height. The tubers were generally
small, but I found one, of an oval shape, two inches in
diameter: they resembled in every respect, and had the same
smell as English potatoes; but when boiled they shrunk much,
and were watery and insipid, without any bitter taste. They
are undoubtedly here indigenous: they grow as far south,
according to Mr. Low, as lat. 50 degs., and are called Aquinas by
the wild Indians of that part: the Chilotan Indians have a
different name for them. Professor Henslow, who has examined
the dried specimens which I brought home, says that
they are the same with those described by Mr. Sabine [1] from
Valparaiso, but that they form a variety which by some
botanists has been considered as specifically distinct. It is
remarkable that the same plant should be found on the sterile
mountains of central Chile, where a drop of rain does not
fall for more than six months, and within the damp forests
of these southern islands.
In the central parts of the Chonos Archipelago (lat. 45 degs.),
the forest has very much the same character with that along
the whole west coast, for 600 miles southward to Cape Horn.
The arborescent grass of Chiloe is not found here; while the
beech of Tierra del Fuego grows to a good size, and forms a
considerable proportion of the wood; not, however, in the
same exclusive manner as it does farther southward. Cryptogamic
plants here find a most congenial climate. In the Strait
of Magellan, as I have before remarked, the country appears
too cold and wet to allow of their arriving at perfection; but
in these islands, within the forest, the number of species and
great abundance of mosses, lichens, and small ferns, is quite
extraordinary. [2] In Tierra del Fuego trees grow only on the
hill-sides; every level piece of land being invariably covered
by a thick bed of peat; but in Chiloe flat land supports the
most luxuriant forests. Here, within the Chonos Archipelago,
the nature of the climate more closely approaches that
of Tierra del Fuego than that of northern Chiloe; for every
patch of level ground is covered by two species of plants
(Astelia pumila and Donatia magellanica), which by their
joint decay compose a thick bed of elastic peat.
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