RESIDENCE AT TARAPOTO 75 



[The next letters to Mr. Bentham are nearly a 

 year later, and from these I give a few more extracts 

 of general or botanical interest.] 



To Mr. George Bentham 



TARAPOTO, PERU, March 10, 1857. 



I am still a prisoner here, what with revolutions 

 on the one hand which render the Sierra very unsafe 

 to pass, and with the swollen rivers on the other ; 

 as soon as the latter abate we hope to be off. 



... I cannot collect more, because excursions 

 to be profitable would be long and expensive, and 

 I want to save my money for my Ecuadorean 

 expedition ; so I am ruminating on dried herbs, 

 and working off arrears in my Journal. 



To Mr. George Bentham 



TARAPOTO, PERU, March 14, 1857. 



I believe I told you some time ago of my inten- 

 tion of proceeding to Guayaquil in company with 

 two Spaniards (Don Ignacio Morey and Don Victori- 

 ano Marrieta), who are going thither to purchase 

 hats. . . . We had made our arrangements 

 going overland, but the revolution which has 

 come almost general throughout Peru, and which 

 nobody thinks can be closed in less than six months, 

 renders the roads impassable. We have therefore 

 reverted to our original project of proceeding up 

 the Pastasa. . . . The advantage of thi. 1 - 

 that one thus avoids the yellow fever of the 

 of Peru and Ecuador, and its disadvantages 



