CANELOS TO BANGS 147 



them. Perhaps never a day passes without rain 

 on this mountain, and its summit is nearly always 

 enveloped in mist, which looks as if it were per- 

 manently hung up in the trees. The trunks and 

 branches of the latter, and often even the upper- 

 most leaves, are densely enveloped in mosses. 

 Various species of Plagiochila, Mastigobryum, Phyl- 

 logonium, Bryopteris, etc., hang from the branches 

 to the length of i to 3 feet, and in such thick 

 bunches that when saturated with rain they often 

 break off even green branches by their weight. I 

 have been told by the cargueros of Bafios that 

 when they pass with cargoes through the most 

 mossy parts of the Montana after much rain has 

 fallen they step with constant dread of being 

 crushed by some ruptured branch. I examined 

 hastily such mossy branches as had fallen across 

 our path, and often found on them a Holomitrium 

 and a Bryum, which I never got in any other 

 situation. 



We had fortunately fine weather until reaching 

 the cross of Abitagua ; after passing this we had 

 smart rain all the way down. The descent was 

 long and rugged and took us two hours and a half. 

 At the base was a stream of beautiful water quite 

 like that on the eastern side. On a hill of small 

 elevation, called Casha-urcu (" Prickly Hill," because 

 of the ground being strewed with thorny twigs of 

 bamboos), rising from the opposite bank of the 

 stream, we drew up for the night. 



June 25. We had heavy rain from midnight ; 

 when day broke we prepared for the journey, 

 hoping that the rain would pass, but in vain, tor 

 it abated not till two in the afternoon, when it was 



