Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

1829. TOWN DURABLE WOOD. 275 house, and opposite to it is the church, also built of stone. On the side next the sea is the Yntendente's residence, a low range of wooden buildings, erected without regard to taste, convenience, or comfort ; and opposite to this are two or three dwellings, very little superior to common huts, or ranchos. Within the last few yeai's, however, some substantial build- ings have been erected by the more wealthy people in the town, an example which is likely to be followed. During our visit, several were built equally creditable for strength and con- venience; and not a little remarkable for the rapidity, with which they were completed. Wood, being abundant, and cheap, as well as easily worked, is the only material used in the construction of houses, which, with the exception of the provision-store, and the church, are all built of it ; and notwithstanding the perishable nature of the material, which is not protected by paint, or any external coating, from the humidity of the climate, they are of extraordi- nary durability. The treasury, one of the oldest houses in the place, has been built upwards of seventy years ; and is even now tight, and dry, and by no means unserviceable : but its removal has been ordered, and, probably ere this, it has been replaced by another. In Chacao, where, in former days, the Yntendente resided, the greater number of the government-buildings, not less than sixty or seventy years old, are still standing. This durability can only be accounted for by the nature of the wood, and the practice of charring the ends of the timbers before they are inserted in the ground. The lower frame is of ' Roble ;' {ty the beams are of laurel, and the floors and partitions, as well as the weather-boarding and shingles, of ' Alerse :' the latter forms an excellent substitute for tiles, or slate, being much lighter, and almost as durable. Some of the houses are thatched with reeds ; but this shift is only used by those who cannot afford the expense of shingling. The inclosures, round the houses, are fenced with stakes of CO A kind of beech, found every where on these shores. The literal meaning' of Roble, is oak. — R. F. t2