14th February 1835

Valdivia
We reached Valdivia by noon & had the good fortune to find boats from the Beagle, so that I got on board the same evening. — I forgot to mention as a proof how congenial this climate is to the Apple tree, that in several places in the forest I found trees which must have been sown by chance. An old man illustrated his motto that "Necessidad es la Madre del invencion" by giving an account of how many things he manufactured from apples: After extracting the cyder from the refuse, he by some process procured a white & most excellently flavoured spirit (which many of the officers tasted); he also could make wine. — by a distinct process he produced a very sweet & well tasted treacle or as he called it honey. — None of these processes require much attention.

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