26 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



from Yurimaguas to the pongo, and on banks grow 

 abundantly the Gynerium, Enkylista, Lythracea, 

 and other species frequent also on the Maranon 

 and Huallaga. It was a tedious navigation up the 

 winding Mayo to the mouth of the Cumbasa. 

 There were, the Indians said, twelve turns, and we 

 had expected but two or three, and it was accord- 

 ingly near sunset when we got to that river. To 

 our great annoyance we found that it had fallen so 

 much that there was no possibility of our getting 

 our laden canoes up to the pueblo of Juan Guerra, 

 which is nearly a mile within. We slept therefore 

 at the mouth, and the next morning had the cargoes 

 carried overland to the village. 



[A letter to his friend Teasdale describes the 

 more personal and social aspects of the voyage up 

 the Solimoes, and will supplement the purely 

 geographical and botanical notes in the Journal.] 



To Mr. John Teasdale 



TARAPOTO, July 1855. 



I had a long and wearisome voyage from the 

 Barra to this place, lasting from March 15 to June 

 21. I was eighteen days in getting up to Nauta- 

 a distance of some 1500 miles -- in the steamer 

 Monarca ; a wonderful difference this from the 

 sixty-three days spent in getting from Santarem to 

 the Barra, a distance scarcely one-fourth so great. 

 When we were going smartly along by day it was 

 really delightful, though the coasts are exceedingly 

 flat much more so than those of the Amazon below 

 the Barra. I was, however, never tired of admiring 



