h the rainfall is much less than that of Ancud and
Valdivia. The line of perpetual snow, which is 6000 ft. above
sea-level between lat. 41 deg. and 43 deg., descends to 3500 (to 4000)
ft. in Tierra del Fuego, affording another indication of the low maximum
temperatures ruling during the summer. At the extreme south, where
Chilean territory extends across to the Atlantic entrance to the
Straits of Magellan, a new climatic influence is encountered in the
warm equatorial current flowing down the east coast of South America,
which gives to eastern Tierra del Fuego a higher temperature than that
of the western shore. The Andes, although much broken in these
latitudes, also exert a modifying influence on these eastern
districts, sheltering them from the cold westerly storms and giving
them a drier climate. This accounts for the surprising meteorological
data obtained from Punta Arenas, in 53 deg. 10' S., where the mean annual
temperature is 43.2 deg. and the annual rainfall only 22.5 in. Other
observations reduce this annual precipitation to less than 16 in.
According to observations made by the Swedish Antarctic Expedition
(1901-1903), at Orange Bay, Hoste Island, in lat. 55 deg. 31' S., long.
68 deg. 05' W., which is more exposed to the westerly storms, the mean
temperature for 11 months was 41.98 deg. and the total precipitation
(rain and snow) 53.1 in. The mean maximum temperature was 49.24 deg.,
and the mean minimum 35.83 deg. The observations showed 284 days with
rain or snow, of which 70 were with snow.

_Flora_.--The indigenous flora of Chile is less extensive and less
interesting than those of Argentina and Brazil, but contains many
peculiar genera and species. A classification of this flora
necessitates its division into at least three general zones--the
desert provinces of the north, central Chile, and the humid regions of
the south. The first is an arid desert absolutely barren along part of
the coast, between Tacna and Copiapo, but with a coarse scanty
vegetation near the Cordilleras along watercourses and on the slopes
where moisture from the melting snows above percolates through the
sand. In the valleys of the Copiapo and Huasco rivers a meagre
vegetation is to be found near their channels, apart from what is
produced by irrigation, but the surface of the plateau and the dry
river channels below the sierras are completely barren. Continuing