180 



BOTANICAL INF0K5IATI0N. 



For other purposes, such as benches, shelves, bedsteads, etc., the never- 



failing Cd/ia hrava {Gh/nerium saccharoides) is all they require. . After 



trying in vain to buy boards, I went to two posts on the Huallaga, and 



in each of them bought an old canoe. I had then to go again with a 



carpenter to cut them up into pieces of a convenient size, which had to 



be conveyed to Tarapoto on Indians' backs, and afterwards laboriously 



adzed down into something like boards. All this, with the trouble of 



looking up Indians, the making of two boxes and preparing boards for 



other two, left me little leisure for anything else for the space of near a 

 month. 



" Supposing that all is right, I propose extending my stay at 

 Tarapoto to a little over the twelvemonth, say to somewhere in Au- 

 gust. I shall thus be able to gather a few things which illness and 

 fatigue obliged rae to leave at the time of my arrival. I have been on 

 the top of three mountains, and their vegetation is so nearly identical 

 that I should hardly find work at Tarapoto for a second year. Mathews 

 was five months at Tarapoto, where he is said to have gathered very 

 few plants, and only in the Pampa. Moyobamba he was accustomed 

 to visit every year, but Chachapoyas was his residence. I have endea- 

 voured to explore the places which I know he did not, but I cannot 

 expect much novelty if I follow his track to the Cordillera. There are 

 three courses open to me from Tarapoto ; one is to go towards the 

 coast (by Moyobamba, Chachapoyas, etc.), which, for the reason just 

 mentioned, is not to be thought of; the second is to ascend the Hua- 

 llaga to Huanuco, a perilous voyage of from four to six weeks, where 

 every year numbers of cargoes are lost, and only light goods can be 

 taken. The immediate vicinity of Huanaco is all cultivated ; but the 

 highest mountains of Peru are accessible from thence, and the frigid 

 lake of Lauricocha, the source of the Amazon ; but I presume this 

 district has been much explored, as it is far more easily reached from 

 Lima than from here. The last course is to descend the Huallaga, and 

 then (unless I go direct home) ascend to Quito either by the Fastaza 

 or Napo. There is a Quitenian at Tarapoto who has several times 

 made the voyage to Quito by both these routes, and who talks of 

 going again next autumn. I am strongly inclined to accompany him, 

 notwithstanding that I must thus again risk a painful and dangerous 

 voyage. In five or six weeks from Tarapoto I could reach Hambato 

 or Riobamba. whence to Quito is but a few days. By the Napo T 



