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

Feb. 1835. vALDiviA. 365 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. The first night on these journeys is generally an uncomfortable one, because one's body 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 of the size of a shilUng, 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 the 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 amongst a 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 Pata- gonia; yet with the true spirit of contradiction, I cannot forget how sublime is the silence of the forest. The Llanos are the most fertile and thickly-peopled parts of the country as they possess the immense advantage of being nearly free from trees. Before leaving the forest we crossed some flat little lawns, around which single trees encroached, in the same manner as in an English park. It is curious how fre- quently a plain seems hostile to the growth of trees. Hum- boldt found much difficulty in endeavouring to account for their presence in certain parts of South America, and their absence in other parts. It appears to me, that the level state of the surface very frequently determines this point but the cause of its doing so I do not know. In the case of Tierra del Fuego, the deficiency of trees on level ground is probably owing to the accumulation of too much mois- ture in such situations. But to the northward of Maldonado, in Banda Oriental, where we have a fine undulating country, with streams of water (which are themselves fringed with