This Is Owing To A Slightly
Different Proportion In The Kinds Of Trees.
The evergreens
do not appear to be quite so numerous, and the forest in
consequence has a brighter tint.
As in Chiloe, the lower
parts are matted together by canes: here also another kind
(resembling the bamboo of Brazil and about twenty feet in
height) grows in clusters, and ornaments the banks of some
of the streams in a very pretty manner. It is with this plant
that the Indians make their chuzos, or long tapering spears.
Our resting-house was so dirty that I preferred sleeping
outside: on these journeys the first night is generally very
uncomfortable, because one 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 the size of a shilling which had
not its little red mark where the flea had feasted.
12th. - We continued 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 a 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 in the 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.
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