In the third season the stump is
changed (as I have myself seen) into a well-wooded tree, loaded
with fruit. An old man near Valdivia illustrated his motto,
"Necesidad es la madre del invencion," by giving an account of the
several useful things he manufactured from his apples. After making
cider, and likewise wine, he extracted from the refuse a white and
finely flavoured spirit; by another process he procured a sweet
treacle, or, as he called it, honey. His children and pigs seemed
almost to live, during this season of the year, in his orchard.
FEBRUARY 11, 1835.
I set out with a guide on a short ride, in which, however, I
managed to see singularly little, either of the geology of the
country or of its inhabitants. There is not much cleared land near
Valdivia: after crossing a river at the distance of a few miles, we
entered the forest, and then passed only one miserable hovel,
before reaching our sleeping-place for the night. The short
difference in latitude, of 150 miles, has given a new aspect to the
forest compared with that of Chiloe. 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.
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