OF THE QUITENIAN ANDES. 187 
another day's journey into the forest, he could with certainty show 
me more trees of the Cascarilla roja, which he had seen not many 
months previously, and, as on account of the revolution no one had 
this year entered the forests to collect Cascarilla, it was probable 
they were still untouched. But for this our stock of provisions 
would scarcely suffice, and I saw no probability of adding anything 
interesting to the general collection ; besides, I had to visit other 
forests in quest of other sorts of Cascarilla, and I saw the season 
was already passing for the flowers and seeds of most trees. We 
therefore on the following day retraced our steps up the valley, 
and after another day spent at Lucmas in drying my paper and 
adding what I could to my collection, I returned to Guataxi. 
I was unable to move far from the farm for above a fortnight 
afterwards, on account of the passage of the Government troops 
from Quito to Cuenca ; for their general, to avoid the cold and 
stormy Azuay, had decided on passing by Guataxi, whence by 
а rough track through the woods one may come out at Cañar 
in two or three days. The owner of Guataxí had taken a promi- 
nent part in a late rising against the Government—the insurgents 
had been defeated in a pitched battle on the flanks of Chimborazo, 
and now the victorious party threatened terrible things—so he 
judged it expedient to keep out of the way, and to hide all his 
horses and cattle in the hills. When the troops actually reached 
Chunchi, I went thither and had an interview with their chief, 
from whom I exacted a promise (which was faithfully kept) that 
nothing on the farm should be molested. You would be nowise 
interested with anything I could tell you of political squabbles 
here, which, were it not for the occasional bloody episodes and the 
wholesale robberies under the name of “contribuciones volun- 
tarias,” would seem more like children's quarrels than anything 
else. 
During this interval I was obliged to content myself with the 
flora of Guataxi. The cane-farm is about 7000 feet above the sea; 
the maximum temperature each day was generally about 78°, 
though it once reached 77°, and the minimum temperature varied 
from 55° to 60°. A plateau, about a thousand feet higher, belongs 
to the farm, and produces good crops of grain and potatos. The 
hills adjacent to the farm, except where under cultivagion and 
artificially irrigated, are covered with grass, amongst which. the 
Withered remains of a good many annuals were visible. . Almost 
the only annual still flourishing was, singularly enough, a species 
of Monnina, with violet flowers; and, as most of the species of 
