These Palms Are, For Their Family, Ugly Trees.
Their Stem Is Very Large, And Of A Curious Form, Being Thicker
In The Middle Than At The Base Or Top.
They are excessively
numerous in some parts of Chile, and valuable on account of
a sort of treacle made from the sap.
On one estate near
Petorca they tried to count them, but failed, after having
numbered several hundred thousand. Every year in the early
spring, in August, very many are cut down, and when the
trunk is lying on the ground, the crown of leaves is lopped
off. The sap then immediately begins to flow from the upper
end, and continues so doing for some months: it is, however,
necessary that a thin slice should be shaved off from
that end every morning, so as to expose a fresh surface. A
good tree will give ninety gallons, and all this must have
been contained in the vessels of the apparently dry trunk.
It is said that the sap flows much more quickly on those
days when the sun is powerful; and likewise, that it is
absolutely necessary to take care, in cutting down the tree,
that it should fall with its head upwards on the side of the
hill; for if it falls down the slope, scarcely any sap will
flow; although in that case one would have thought that the
action would have been aided, instead of checked, by the force
of gravity. The sap is concentrated by boiling, and is then
called treacle, which it very much resembles in taste.
We unsaddled our horses near the spring, and prepared to
pass the night. The evening was fine, and the atmosphere so
clear, that the masts of the vessels at anchor in the bay of
Valparaiso, although no less than twenty-six geographical
miles distant, could be distinguished clearly as little black
streaks. A ship doubling the point under sail, appeared as
a bright white speck. Anson expresses much surprise, in his
voyage, at the distance at which his vessels were discovered
from the coast; but he did not sufficiently allow for the height
of the land, and the great transparency of the air.
The setting of the sun was glorious; the valleys being
black whilst the snowy peaks of the Andes yet retained a
ruby tint. When it was dark, we made a fire beneath a little
arbour of bamboos, fried our charqui (or dried slips of beef),
took our mate, and were quite comfortable. There is an
inexpressible charm in thus living in the open air. The evening
was calm and still; - the shrill noise of the mountain
bizcacha, and the faint cry of a goatsucker, were occasionally
to be heard. Besides these, few birds, or even
insects, frequent these dry, parched mountains.
August 17th. - In the morning we climbed up the rough
mass of greenstone which crowns the summit. This rock, as
frequently happens, was much shattered and broken into
huge angular fragments. I observed, however, one remarkable
circumstance, namely, that many of the surfaces presented
every degree of freshness some appearing as if
broken the day before, whilst on others lichens had either
just become, or had long grown, attached. I so fully believed
that this was owing to the frequent earthquakes, that I felt
inclined to hurry from below each loose pile. As one might
very easily be deceived in a fact of this kind, I doubted its
accuracy, until ascending Mount Wellington, in Van Diemen's
Land, where earthquakes do not occur; and there I saw
the summit of the mountain similarly composed and similarly
shattered, but all the blocks appeared as if they had been
hurled into their present position thousands of years ago.
We spent the day on the summit, and I never enjoyed one
more thoroughly. Chile, bounded by the Andes and the
Pacific, was seen as in a map. The pleasure from the scenery,
in itself beautiful, was heightened by the many reflections
which arose from the mere view of the Campana range with
its lesser parallel ones, and of the broad valley of Quillota
directly intersecting them. Who can avoid wondering at the
force which has upheaved these mountains, and even more
so at the countless ages which it must have required to have
broken through, removed, and levelled whole masses of them?
It is well in this case to call to mind the vast shingle and
sedimentary beds of Patagonia, which, if heaped on the
Cordillera, would increase its height by so many thousand feet.
When in that country, I wondered how any mountain-chain
could have supplied such masses, and not have been utterly
obliterated. We must not now reverse the wonder, and doubt
whether all-powerful time can grind down mountains - even
the gigantic Cordillera - into-gravel and mud.
The appearance of the Andes was different from that
which I had expected. The lower line of the snow was of
course horizontal, and to this line the even summits of the
range seemed quite parallel. Only at long intervals, a group
of points or a single cone showed where a volcano had
existed, or does now exist. Hence the range resembled a
great solid wall, surmounted here and there by a tower, and
making a most perfect barrier to the country.
Almost every part of the hill had been drilled by attempts
to open gold-mines: the rage for mining has left scarcely
a spot in Chile unexamined. I spent the evening as before,
talking round the fire with my two companions. The Guasos
of Chile, who correspond to the Gauchos of the Pampas, are,
however, a very different set of beings. Chile is the more
civilized of the two countries, and the inhabitants, in
consequence, have lost much individual character. Gradations
in rank are much more strongly marked: the Guaso does not
by any means consider every man his equal; and I was quite
surprised to find that my companions did not like to eat at
the same time with myself.
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