i;8 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 



evening I made them into bundles putting alter- 

 nate layers of Musci and Hepaticae, and hung them 

 up to "smoke" through the night, along with my 

 soaked garments. Even gathered in this hasty 

 way, I have a great many fine things ; of Hookeria 

 alone there seem to be not fewer than fitteen 

 species. I saw also great numbers of new ferns, 

 but could not take them, save two or three of the 

 minute ones that I had not seen elsewhere. 



Having perforce to remain at Barios till my 

 goods were got out from the Topo, and finding it 

 favourably situated for exploring Mount Tungu- 

 ragua, which, like much ground in the neighbour- 

 hood, scarcely any botanist has visited, I determined 

 to make it my station for some months. It is a 

 poor little place, much subject to earthquakes and 

 violent winds, and not abundant in provisions. 

 Bread is brought from Ambato and other places 

 where the climate is more suitable for the growth 

 of wheat. Banos is some 5500 feet above the sea 

 according to my barometer. Its position much 

 reminds me of that of Argelez in the Basses- 

 Pyrenees, though the valley is narrower and the 

 schistose grassy hills that bound it seem much 

 higher than those of Argelez. In the gorge of the 

 Pastasa we have still oranges and the sugar-cane, 

 and on the hills that rise from it barley, beans, and 

 potatoes. The volcanic cone of Tunguragua is 

 perhaps the highest in the world ; it is quite 

 isolated from the rest of the Cordillera, and on its 

 eastern side is joined by a narrow col to the 

 wooded hills which subside into the great Amazonian 

 plain ; taken from the valley of Banos, its height 

 cannot be much less than 15,000 feet. It has 



