NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



673 



ft. The watch size barometers are less 

 accurate than those about three inches 

 in diameter. For tropical rains, the 

 rubber poncho made in Latin America 

 is the best possible thing. For the 

 cold drizzles of the highlands, the native 

 woolen poncho is preferable. This can 

 be obtained in any of the highland towns 

 and is a comfortable and altogether 

 e.Kcellent thing. For use in the low- 

 lands, a mosquito bar of fine bobbinet 

 should be provided. For sleeping, a 

 light cotton hammock is the best thing 

 if one is accustomed to it. The folding 

 canvas cot is good, but much heavier 

 and more costly to transport. Three 

 or four heavy blankets are required 

 for the highlands. 



The best means of carrying funds is 

 in the form of New York drafts, which 

 should be payable to one's self and in 

 denominations of fifty or a hundred 

 dollars. These can be sold in Quito or 

 in Guayaquil and a better rate obtained 

 than for letters of credit and travelers' 

 checks, though the latter are fairly 

 satisfactory. 



All equipment should be packed in 

 'small trunks (the army locker is best) 

 and canvas sacks so as to be carried on 

 mule back when necessary. Pack sad- 

 dles are not required, as they are fur- 

 nished with the pack mules hired in 

 the country. 



REFERENCES 



The classic work on Ecuador is Teo- 

 doro Wolf's "Geografia y Geologia del 

 Ecuador," published at Leipzig in 1892. 

 Though now out of print, occasional 

 second-hand copies may be secured in 

 Guayaquil and Quito. Wolf spent many 

 years in accumulating the data con- 

 tained in this book, which is probably 

 the most exhaustive study published. 

 Considering the wide range of subjects 

 he attempted to cover, it is no wonder 

 that occasional inaccuracies are in- 

 cluded. The English naturalist, Rich- 

 ard Spruce, traveled in Ecuador 

 during the years 1857 to 18G0, after 

 having come up from the Amazonian 

 plain. He had been commissioned by 



the British government to secure seeds 

 and plants of the various quinine- 

 yielding trees — species of Cinchona — 

 which, due to his efforts, were success- 

 fully established in the Asiatic tropics. 

 His "Notes of a Botanist in the Amazon 

 and Andes" (London, 1908) contain 

 much information on Ecuadorian natural 

 history, and make excellent reading. 

 More recently (1909) the Italian natu- 

 ralist, Enrico Festa, has written a 

 book entitled "Nel Darien e nel Ecua- 

 dor," which will be found useful, as 

 also Hans Me3^er's "In den Hoch-Anden 

 von Ecuador" (Berlin, 1907) and Wil- 

 helm Siever's "Reise in Peru und Ecua- 

 dor" (Leipzig, 1914). H. E. Anthony, 

 who collected mammals in Ecuador for 

 the American Museum of Natural 

 History in 1921, has published interest- 

 ing articles in the National Geographic 

 Magazine, October, 1921, and Natural 

 History {Journal of the American Mu- 

 seum of Natural History) for September- 

 October, 1921. An excellent account 

 of a journey through the little-known 

 region at the eastern base of the Andes 

 is given by Sinclair and Wasson, under 

 the title "Explorations in Eastern 

 Ecuador," in the Geographical Review 

 for April, 1923. Other data on this 

 region will be found in James Orton's 

 "The Andes and the Amazon" (New 

 York, 1870) and Dr. Hamilton Rice's 

 article, "From Quito to the Amazon 

 via the River Napo," which appeared 

 in the Geographic Journal for 1903. 

 Manual Villavicencio's "Geografia de 

 la Republica del Ecuador" (New York, 

 1858) is also of interest. "The Com- 

 mercial Travelers' Guide to Latin 

 America," published by the U. S. De- 

 partment of Commerce (obtainable from 

 the Superintendent of Documents, 

 Government Printing Office, Washing- 

 ton, D. C, price $1.25), will be 

 found useful. 



As to maps, the one published by 

 Wolf in connection with his book is 

 probably the best, but it is scarce and 

 expensive at the present day. Felici- 

 simo Lopez, using the Wolf map, has 

 prepared an excellent and portable 



