the dry stem of a tree.  This plant consists of a single shoot, like the stem of a gilly-flower, but its leaves are larger and thicker, and are as hard as wood.  Each stalk produces two or three white transparent flowers, in size and shape resembling a lily, and equally odoriferous with that flower.  They may be preserved fresh on their stalks for more than two months, and for several days when plucked off.  This plant may be transported to almost any distance; and will produce flowers annually, if merely hung up on a nail.

In the northern parts of Cujo there are mines of gold and copper, but they are not worked owing to the indolence of the inhabitants.  It has also rich mines of lead, sulphur, vitriol, salt, gypsum, and talc or asbestos.  The mountains near the city of Juan are entirely composed of white marble, in stratified slabs of five or six feet long by six or seven inches thick, all regularly cut and polished by nature.  From this the inhabitants prepare an excellent lime, which they use in building bridges over the streams and canals of irrigation.  Between the city of Mendoza and La Punta, on a low range of hills, there is a large stone pillar, 150 feet high and 12 feet diameter, called the giant, on which there are certain marks or inscriptions resembling Chinese characters.  Near the Diamond river there is another stone, having marks which appear to be characters, and the impression of human feet, with the figures of several animals.  The Spaniards call it the stone of St Thomas; from a tradition handed down from the first settlers, said to have been received from the native Indians, that a white man with a long beard, formerly preached a new religion from that stone to their ancestors, and left the impression of his feet, and the figures of the animals that came to hear him, as a memorial of his sanctity.

The aboriginal natives of the province of Cujo are called Guarpes, of whom there are now very few remaining.  They are of a lofty stature, very thin, and of a brown colour, and speak a quite different language from that of the Chilese.  This people was anciently conquered by the Peruvians, after having taken possession of the northern part of Chili; and on the road across the Andes from Cujo to Chili, there still are some small stone buildings, or tambos, which had been erected for the accommodation of the Peruvian officers and messengers.  The first Spaniards who attempted to reduce this country were sent by Valdivia, under the command of Francisco de Aguirre, who returned to Chili after the death of Valdivia.  In 1560, Don Garcia de Mendoza sent a force under Pedro del Castillo, who subdued the Guarpes, and founded the cities of San Juan and Mendoza.  The latter, which is the capital, is situated on a plain at the foot of the Andes, in lat 33 deg. 54’ S. long. 68 deg. 34’ W. This is supposed to contain about 6000 inhabitants, and is continually increasing in population, owing to its vicinity to the celebrated silver mine of Uspallatta,