BOTANICAL EXCURSION TO SALINAS. 383 
. We arrived at the estate of “ El Sinchig,” from which we 
enjoyed a magnificent view of the country we had just gone 
over, with the snowy summit of Chimborazo on the left. 
The house is built on an eminence, just on the verge of the 
_ cultivated district, and surrounded by a shrubbery of Fuchsia 
. triphylla entwined with a Loasa (No. 156) having fine 
. erange-coloured flowers. Leaving the farm-house, we enter a 
. harrow pass with very steep hills on either side, clothed with 
. trees of a distinct species of Polylepis, (No. 17), arborescent 
_ Composite, Valeriane, and, in short, the same vegetation 
. Observable on Chimborazo. We ascend on the left hand 
_ Side of the ravine, and pursuing a narrow path traced on its 
_ gfassy summit, we arrive, after a couple of hours? riding, at 
. the village of Salinas. | 
_ The salt springs have been the means of assembling a 
_ population on these lofty regions where the climate is too 
. Severe to be rendered available for the cultivation of the more 
_ hardy vegetables. The process for the extraction of salt is 
Conducted in a manner I have not seen practised elsewhere. 
_ À piece of ground is selected, having a gentle declivity, and 
. divided into different spaces of about 30 yards in length by 
6 in breadth, each of which has its respective proprietor. 
— When the weather is fair, and especially during sun-shine, 
: : the whole population, men and women, are busily employed 
_ M bathing the heated surface with a quantity of the salt 
. Water, which runs down and collects in a reservoir from 
_ Which it is repeatedly carried up in pitchers to undergo the 
. Same operation. When the briny fluid has acquired a high 
-. degree of concentration it is transferred to the boiler, usually 
_ Made of copper, where it is speedily evaporated. The resi- 
. Qum is immediately formed into cakes, weighing about a 
_ Couple of pounds each. As might be expected, the salt is 
very deliquescent and bitter, from the presence of the 
 Muriates of lime and magnesia. The water recently drawn - 
_ ‘Tom the spring contains protoxide of iron held in solution 
. 2y carbonic acid, and a quantity of sulphate of lime, all of 
_ Which are separated during the first stage of the process, that 
