1 84 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 



and bread is brought to Banos from Ambato, 

 Pillaro, and other towns. It is rather dear, and 

 when I arrived from the forest half-famished, and 

 my thin face nearly hidden under a beard of three 

 months' growth I could easily demolish sixpenny- 

 worth a day. Beef and mutton can mostly be had 

 at 2^d. the pound. In fact, good solid eatables 

 are not scarce, and as my troubles had not taken 

 away my appetite, I assure you I have gone deep 

 into them. I have now got up my strength again, 

 and I don't think I was ever so stout in my life as 

 I am at this moment. At first I suffered much 

 from the cold. Think of the thermometer 485- at 

 sunmse, when even at 70 on the Amazon I (and 

 everybody else) used to shiver with cold ; but I 

 am gradually becoming inured to it. 



We are still (September 14) in the " tiempo de 

 las nevadas " -the snowy time on the summits of 

 the Eastern Cordillera and the snow has been 

 very low down, even into the forests on the flanks 

 of Tunguragua. 



Earthquakes begin to find a place in my Journal. 

 We had one here on the 7th of August, a little 

 before seven in the morning. I was sipping my 

 chocolate when it came on at first with a gentle 

 undulatory movement, then with a brisk shaking, and 

 then gradually subsiding, its whole duration being 

 about three-quarters of a minute. I was trying to 

 ascertain its direction and the number of vibrations 

 per second (about four), when a piece of plaster fell 

 from the wall at my back, whereat I snatched up 

 my chocolate and walked to the door, thinking it 

 quite as safe to continue my observations outside. 

 Whilst, the shock lasted, the ground, the trees, 



