IN VARIOUS TARTS OF THE GLOBE. 187 



neighbouring mountains. The only plants I found in flower 

 here wei'e a curious stemless Composite and a dwarf Loasa 

 (Urtiga), with brilliant red flowers. 



After a fortnight's absence from Cluiquisaca I returned and 

 prepared to start for Cochabaniba, and to proceed thence by the 

 valleys of the interior to La Paz. The country between Chu- 

 quisaca and Cochabamba is of no botanical interest ; the first 

 6 leagues of the road lie in a deep ravine enclosed by mag- 

 nificent but barren mountains ; 9 leagues more bring the traveller 

 to the Rio Grande, which I had already cros.'-ed twice since 

 entering Bolivia; it forms the boundary between Chuquisaca 

 and Cochabamba. A little further on I entered a series of 

 valleys dotted with small houses and covered with fields of 

 Maize, which forms one of the principal sources of wealth in 

 this department. 



The environs of Cochabamba are reputed to be so beautiful 

 that I was quite amazed to find myself close to the town without 

 having seen anything but a series of almost barren ugly hills and 

 fields of round flints. I did not then know that the celebrated 

 part was on the other side of the town ; it consists of a long string 

 of meadows and kitchen-gardens edged with pyramidal willows, 

 and lying between the town and some grey stony mountains like 

 those which I saw on my arrival. It is more like Gentilly, near 

 Paris, than any place I know ; the willows of Cala-Cala being 

 there replaced by poplars, not very unlike them in appear- 

 ance. The climate of Cochabamba is hotter than that of most of 

 the other elevated towns in Bolivia, and consequently many fruits 

 are successfully cultivated here which are not met with in other 

 towns unless imported into them. Peaches (Durasnos) are very 

 abundant, but they are not nearly so good as our own, doubtless 

 because the people have never thought of growing them except 

 on standards. Strawberries are large, but have little taste. The 

 Pine Apples, Plantains, and Corossols {Atiotia muricata), which 

 are found in the market, are brought from the deep valleys, 

 called Yungas,* situate on the eastern side of the great Cordillera 

 of the Andes, the snow-white tops of which are, as it were, 

 above the town. On the 20th of November I crossed this chain 

 by the pass called Llave, or the Key. The vegetation which I 

 met with here was very like that I had observed whilst on the 

 mountains in the provinces of Tomina and Cinti ; there was 

 Geranium or Erodium, forming, as it were, a carpet, Violets, 

 stemless Composites, Crowfoots, Luzula, and a little lower, some 

 Calceolarias and two beautiful Gesnerads, with yellow or scarlet 

 flowers hanging in tufts over the damp sides of the rocks. 



* The mean temperature of these valleys is 20° to 22° C. 



