OF THE QUlTETsIAN ANDES. 1S7 



auotber 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 Gruataxi. 



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 

 a rough track through the woods one may come out at Canar 

 in two or three days. The owner of Guataxi 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 w^ay, 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 73°, 

 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 cultivation 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 



