124 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



Wingo, another of Anatto, and some roots of the 

 twining Bignonia (Carajaru) planted by the door. 

 The Governor resides in the convent, which is 

 remarkable for having an upper story, the flooring 

 of which is of bamboo planks resting on rafters of 

 Tarapoto palm. The ground floor is scarcely made 

 any use of, for the kitchen is a low shed standing a 

 few yards apart ; but the upper story is divided 

 along the middle by a bamboo partition, the 

 northern half being open at the sides, so as to form 

 a wide veranda, where the family pass the day ; 

 and the southern half is divided into two dormi- 

 tories, where they keep their household gods and 

 pass the night. The whole is very light and 

 cleanly, with superabundance of ventilation ; but we 

 have not yet experienced any high winds, the force 

 of the squalls being broken by higher ground across 

 a valley to north and north-east. We live with 

 the Governor, who has given up one of the dormi- 

 tories to us. 



From the village there is a track in a northerly 

 direction which continues all the way to the river 

 Napo. At half an hour from the village it crosses 

 a stream called Baha-yacu, whose mouth is a very 

 little below the port ; there are a few chacras on it, 

 and the gold-washings are said to be the best of 

 any of Bombonasa. The banks are steep and fall 

 in with every flood. The water runs over beds 

 of indurated clay, such as most of the rock on the 

 Bombonasa ; though easily broken by the foot, it 

 resists remarkably the action of water. Pebbles 

 of quartz and blocks of compact blue stone are 

 evidently alluvial deposits. 



In something under half a day the track brings 



