1 66 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



On the morning of the tenth day after the death of 

 her companions she arrived at the bank of the 

 river, just at the moment when two Indians were 

 embarking in a boat. These good people suc- 

 coured her and conducted her to Andoas, whence 

 she could continue her journey to La Laguna, and 

 from there descend into the valley of the Amazon 

 as far as Cayenne, where her husband was expect- 

 ing her. During the time that she had wandered 

 lost in the forest of Canelos, her hair had become 

 perfectly white ; and to the end of her life she 

 could never speak, nor even think, of those terrible 

 days without a shudder. Every time that the 

 author recalls the calamities with which this poor 

 lady was overwhelmed, he feels that his own 

 sufferings in the same region were but very 

 inconsiderable. 



But to treat now of the vegetation. He does not 

 think that he is mistaken when he claims for the 

 forest of Canelos the honour of being the richest 

 cryptogamic locality on the surface of the globe. 

 The trees even, in certain parts, seem to serve no 

 other purpose than to support ferns, mosses, and 

 lichens. The epiphytic ferns, which are the most 

 abundant, are principally Hymenophyllese and Poly- 

 podium (in the widest acceptation of the term). 

 Among the ferns growing upon the ground there 

 are some that attain a height which is almost 

 gigantic : they belong to the genera Marattia, 

 Hypolepis, Litobrochia, etc. ; but the really arbor- 

 escent species come behind those of Tarapoto in 

 variety. Among the mosses, the genera Hookeria 

 and Lepidopilum occupy the first place, and he was 

 able to enrich them with several new species. 



