Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.3)

348 ciiONOS AKCHiPELAGO. Jan. 1835. from the ground to the tip of the upper leaf, not less than four feet. So very close is the general resemblance with the culti- vated species, that it is necessary to show that they have not been imported. The simple fact of their growth on the islands, and even small rocks, throughout the Chonos Archipelago, which has never been inhabited, and very seldom visited, is an argument of some weight. But the circumstance of the wildest Indian tribes being well ac- quainted with the plant, is stronger. Mr. Lowe, a very intelligent and active sealer, informs me, that on show- ing some potatoes to the naked savages in the Gulf of Tri- nidad (lat. 50°), they immediately recognised them, and calling them " Aquina," wanted to take them away. The savages also pointed to a place where they grew; which fact was subsequently verified. The Indians of Chiloe, belonging to another tribe, also give them a name in their own language. The simple fact of their being known and named by distinct races, over a space of four or five hundred miles on a most unfrequented and scarcely known coast, almost proves their native existence. Professor Henslow, who has examined the dried specimens which I brought home, says that they are the same with those described by Mr. Sabine* 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 the southern islands. From what we know of the habits of the potato, this latter situation would appear more congenial than the former, as its birthplace. In the central parts of the Chonos Archipelago, in lat. 45° 30', the forest has assumed very much the same charac- * Horticultural Transact., vol. v., p. 249. Mr. Caldcleugh sent home two tubers, which being well manured, even the first season produced numerous potatoes and an abundance of leaves.