196 EELATION BETWEEN CLIMATE AND VEGETATION 



journey that I found, amongst many interesting- plants, Cinchona 

 micrantha, and a species of Cascarilla, to which I gave the 

 name of C. Carua. On leaving Mapiri I was glad to find the 

 hot damp forests, in which I had lately been travelling, give 

 place to smiling Pajonales, with their green turf and large shrubs, 

 amono-st which were the magnificent Lasiandra Fontanesiana, 

 then in full flower, and the frutescent variety of Cinchona 

 Calisaya, with its pink panicles of sweet scented flowers. 



Near Aten I again saw Coca plantations, which are kept by 

 the inhabitants of the province of Caupolican, to make up for 

 the continually diminishing commerceof bark, which is threatened 

 with destruction in consequence of the increasing scarcity of 

 Quinquina trees. 



Aten is separated from A polobamba by a magnificent plain, 

 dotted with coppices, in which I found a new species of Cin- 

 chona, C. asperifolia. Leaving the last named town, which is 

 the capital of the province, 1 made for the Punas, passing 

 through the valley of the Rio Tuiche and the region of per- 

 petual snow. This journey was too similar to those already 

 described to require any special notice. The six days' march 

 carried me above the forest vegetation, and it was only here and 

 there that I saw some half frozen bushes, and an orange-flowered 

 stin"-ing stemmed Loasa. The waters of the Rio Tuiche, like 

 those of other streams which rise from glaciers, were here of a 

 milky whiteness, and the heat from which I had lately suffered 

 was replaced by chilling blasts. In this dismal cold region is 

 the wretched village of Pelechuco. Five more leagues passed 

 and I was near the top of the Cordillera, the peaks of which 

 were all covered with enormous masses of pale green ice, threaten- 

 ino- every instant to fall down the abyss they overhung. At the 

 foot of these glaciers I found a curious Composite, fashioned, 

 one would think, expressly for svich places ; the Indians call it 

 Quea-quea (Cotton-cotton), in consequence of all its parts, and 

 more especially its flowers, being covered with a thick layer of 

 cotton used by the natives for lampwicks, and as a substitute for 

 amadou. 



The western slope of the Cordillera of Pelechuco is very 

 gradual, forming naked plains dotted with small lakes of black 

 water, and covered with a scarcely perceptible turf, which 

 nevertheless supports thousands of Alpacas and Llamas which 

 are reared in this part of Bolivia and some of the neighbouring 

 points of Peru. These Punas, which are nmch higher than the 

 summit of Mont Blanc, are probably the most elevated in- 

 habited parts of the globe. My thermometer placed in the sun 

 fell one morning to —10° C. On the 1st of June I rejoined my 

 caravan, which I liad left on the borders of the lake. 



