Morning journal and courier., 1885-04-02
The Puzzle Monkey Tree and a Flow
er aa EarOa a g a Sfraat GnS Eax,,n

L
| er as Large as a street Gas lamp.
| from a Letter (Chanlion, ChiliD from Miss Ma
| rianne North to the Pail Mall Gazette.
| My chief object in coming to Chill was to
| see and paint the old forests of Araucaria
imbricata, known in England the puzzle
monkey tree, rather unreasonably, as there
are no monkeys here to puzzle; probably
! they crossed the Cordilleras in disgust at the
general prickliness of all plants here, espec-
| tally the arauearias, and never came back
| again. It was not easy to make out how to
reach these forests; some people talked of
difficulties and even dangers; they said I
must sleep out, be eaten by pumas or carried
| off by Indians noble race which has never
yet been conquered by the white man; others
declared the trees no longer existed, having
been all sawed up into sleelers for railways.
1t was lovely ride from Angole and its
| terrible dust. First, we mounted over rocks
| and more dust for some two thousand feet
| among puzas and succulent and prickly
! plants (which prepare themselves for the
| long dry SEASON by boarding moisture and
| growing weapons of defense to prevent other
| thirsty creatures benefting by it), and then
| leaving glorious view of snowy volcanoes
| behind us, we entered the mixture of forest
| and pastoral scenery l have just described,
| passing stream after stream of clear running
| water and more lovely flowers than l had
seen in all Chill before. The embothrium,
| or burning bush was in full beauty growing
| in long sprays of six or eight feet high quite
| covered with the purest vermilion flowers
| formed something like honeysuckles. But
| saw none grow into such tree as l saw in
1 my cousins garden in Cornwall last year
| Perhaps it may enj joy new soil and climate
| and treat England as our common weeds do
| Chill. They have quite driven the natives
soI1fO M ffS
| and show unbroken masses of camomiles,
| thistles, turnips and cornfiowers far stronger
| than those of Europe. Near the streams
| were masses of huge gunnera leaves (whose
stalks are eaten like rhubarb), lovely ferns
| with pink, furry stalks and young leaves,
and most exquisite scarlet flower, some
| thing like mimulus which dipped its roots
in the running water and grew nowhere else.
A small bamboo and many other graceful
plants grew over these things, and overhead
hung from the branches of the oaks most
| beautiful lauranthus, with bright green
leaves and pale green buds, changing as they
opened to yellow, then turning orange, and
| becoming deep red before they dropped.
The flowers were often half slnothered in the
| gray 1ichen, commonly called ssold mans
| beard, /" which waved in every wind and grew
| in masses all the oaks. The beech had it's
| own pet parasite, a tiny mistletoe forming
perfect balls of every shade of green and
| gold, and over the bushes climbed many
| species of pea, lapageria and lovely pink star
| flowers, which hooked themselves up by the
| long tendrils at the ends of their loaves,
while some yellow stars seemed to have no
| leaves, only tendrlls. Tall fuchsia trees were
| there too, and budlea with its golden balls,
| sweet as honey, and whose leaves when
| toasted and pounded form the popular cure
| for all wounds and Sores Another bush.
called the pinche looks like lilac and white
heath, and is said to be a cure for all dis
eases. The grass was in flower, quite red
and lilac and sprinkled over with exquisite
| scarlet lilies, alstroemerias of many tints,
| tropeolum, and four species of orchids SO