and as this is often done at full speed, the peasant will wind the end of the laso which he holds round his body, and suddenly stopping his horse, the entangled animal receives such a check that it is frequently upset. One end of the laso is often made fast to the sursingle, or girth of the saddle, particularly when a bull or large bullock is to be caught. On such occasions the horse, as if aware of the resistance he will have to make, turns his side towards the object, and inclines his body in the opposite direction. I have seen him dragged along by the beast, his feet making furrows in the ground, for more than two yards. The people are so expert in this art and so attached to it, that it is deemed quite disgraceful to miss the object. Several of the higher classes exercise it as an amusement, and not only in Chile, but in almost every part of South America which I visited; all classes, when residing in the country, carry the laso behind the saddle. Even the children are often seen throwing the laso, and catching the poultry, dogs and cats, in the houses, yards or streets. Thus this necessary accomplishment grows up with these people. In the late wars it has not been uncommon for the militia to carry their lasos, with which great numbers of Spanish soldiers have been caught and strangled. The rider being at full speed, the moment it was thrown, the unfortunate fellow who happened to be entangled could not extricate himself, and was dragged at the heels of his adversary's horse until he was killed.
Goats are fattened for their tallow and skins, which latter besides their application to the purposes of holding wine, spirits, cider, &c. are generally tanned with the bark of the palque or the peumo, instead of that of oak, and for shoes and similar articles make an excellent leather, called cordovan. The goats are altogether productive of great profit.
Some of the horses in the province of Conception are excellent, being similar in size and shape to the famous Andalusian. They are much valued in all South America, and fetch very high prices in Peru. I have seen them at Quito, which, considering the difficulties of transport that are to be surmounted, is a very great distance; but although every effort has been used to preserve the breed out of the territory of Chile, it has as yet been unavailing.
All kinds of provisions are plentiful in this province; poultry is remarkably cheap, fat and well flavoured; ducks and geese breed twice every year; turkeys and barn door fowls during the whole year; and from the mildness of the climate the broods thrive with little loss. The prices are consequently low: a good fat turkey may be bought for about one shilling, and fowls for sixpence a couple.
Apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums and cherries, are produced in such profusion that they are considered of no value. Figs are abundant and good; and the strawberry grows wild; I have seen some nearly as large as a hen's egg. The melons and sandias, water melons, are also very large, and are extremely nice, particularly the latter, to which the natives are partial. Olives do not thrive here. Near the river Maule there are cocoa nut trees or palms, differing from the other species of the same genus in the size of the nut, which is usually about as big as a walnut. Some of the trees are thirty feet high; the trunk is cylindrical, and free from leaves except at the top, where, similar to other palms, they form a circle, presenting a most beautiful appearance. The flowers are in four large clusters at the top of the tree, from whence the leaves spring. When in bud they are enclosed in a fibrous woody sheath, and when the fruit begins to form the spathe divides itself into two parts, each about three feet long and two broad. A bunch or cluster, often contains as many as a thousand nuts. Nothing can be more striking than this tree under the burden of its fruit, over which the branches form a kind of dome, supported by the column-like stem. The fruit resembles in every respect the tropical cocoa nut; the kernel is globular, having a space in the centre, which, when the nut is green, is filled with an agreeable milky tasted liquor, but when dry is quite empty. A curious method is employed for divesting the nuts of their outer rind. They are given to the horned cattle, and being swallowed by them, the filaceous substance is digested, and the nuts voided quite clean. All those sent to market have previously undergone this process! If a bunch of flowers or green nuts be cut from the palm, a large quantity of thick sweet sap, similar to honey, is yielded, and on the stem of the tree being tapped the same liquor is produced; this operation however weakens it so much, that the palm either dies or gives no more fruit for a number of years. The greatest quantity of this sap is obtained by cutting down the tree, and lighting a fire at the end where the branches grow: as the tree burns, the sap is driven out at the root and collected in calabashes; fuel is gradually supplied, until the whole of the trunk is consumed, and all the sap extracted, which sometimes amounts to about forty gallons. This tree seldom bears fruit till it is one hundred years old. Whether it be indigenous to Chile, or the produce of the tropical cocoa nut planted here, I could never ascertain. The natives make baskets of the leaves, and sometimes thatch their cottages with them. Walnuts are also grown, and together with cocoa nuts are exported to Lima, Guayaquil, &c. The gevuin is another species of nut, called by the Spaniards avellano, from its taste being like that of the hazel nut. This tree grows to the height of fifteen feet; the fruit is round, about three quarters of an inch in diameter, and covered with a coriaceous shell, which is at first green, afterwards of an orange colour, and when ripe of a dark brown; the kernel is divided into two lobes, and is generally toasted before being eaten. The molle may be classed without impropriety among the fruit trees, because the indians prepare from its berries (which are black, the size of peas, and grow in small clusters round the slender branches of the tree) a kind of red and very palatable wine, called chicha or molle. Frazier says in his voyage, "it is as pleasant and as strong as wine, if not more so." The taste is really agreeable, and its flavour peculiarly aromatic.
The maqui is another tree, bearing a fruit like a guind, or wild cherry, from which a pleasant fermented beverage is made, called theca. The people are fond of the fruit, and parties go into the woods to gather it. A friend told me, that in one of these excursions, when a boy, he had wandered into a wood to gather maqui, and seeing a woman in a tree with her face of a purple colour, he supposed that she had been rubbing it with the fruit for the sake of frightening him; however, determined to shew his courage, he ascended the tree, when, to his great surprise and terror, he found that it was an idiot belonging to the village, who had hanged herself with her handkerchief tied to one of the uppermost branches! The peumo produces a fruit which is much liked, though I never could eat it on account of its strong oily and rather rancid smell. The tree is tall, and its fruit has the appearance of green olives; to prepare it for eating it is dipped in warm water, but not boiled, because that operation renders it bitter. The pulp is whitish and buttery, and I have no doubt that as large a quantity of oil might be obtained from it as from the olive. Great quantities of murtillas, myrtle berries, are found in this province, and are very delicate. Pernetty, who saw some in the Falkland Isles, or Malvinas, says, "the fruit is of a beautiful appearance and very pleasant taste; by being put into brandy with a little sugar, it forms a delicious liquor, which has in a slight degree the smell of ambergris and of musk, by no means disagreeable even to persons who dislike those perfumes." From these berries the natives also make an agreeable fermented liquor, chicha de murtilla. The arrayan, a myrtle, grows to the height of seventy feet. The fruit, which is about the size of a large pea, is eaten, and has a pleasant taste. A delicate liquor is made from it, and the wood is very valuable.
The principal trees found in the province of Conception are the canelo, or boghi, which grows to the height of fifty feet, and produces good timber. It has two barks; the inner one is whitish, but when dried assumes the colour of cinnamon, and somewhat resembles that spice in taste. The Araucanians entertain so much veneration for this tree, that a branch of it is always presented as a token of peace, and when a treaty is concluded it is tied to the top of the Toqui's axe, and the President's baton. The luma grows from forty to fifty feet high; its wood is tough, and is used for small spars and oars, but it is too heavy for masts. Large cargoes are sent to Lima for coach making and rafters. On rich soils the espino attains the size of an oak. Its wood is very solid and of a dark brown, veined with black and yellow, and is capable of receiving an excellent polish. It is used for cart wheels, being very ponderous and durable, and makes excellent fuel, and the hardest and best charcoal. The flowers of the espino are flosculous, of a deep yellow colour, and so very fragrant that they are called aromas. A species cultivated
