214 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP, xix 



glossums, etc. --growing in the Andes at 10,000 

 feet, where they must frequently endure frost ; yet 

 these are precisely the kinds that have been found 

 (hitherto) most difficult to cultivate in England. 



The greatest height to which I have yet climbed 

 was 13,000 feet, on the volcano Pichincha, near 

 Quito. It is practicable to ride up to the very 

 edge of the crater (15,000 feet), and it was my 

 intention to do so, but my guide mistook the way, 

 and we got entangled in thickets at about 1 1 ,000 

 feet, where we had to dismount and cut a way for the 

 horses to pass, and finally to leave them tied to bushes 

 and continue the ascent on foot. I had only lately 

 emerged from the sick-room, and got very much 

 fatigued with two hours of steep, rugged climbing. 

 At the highest point we reached, we lay down to rest 

 on the grass, and I had lain a few minutes with my 

 eyes closed when I suddenly felt as it were a flag 

 waved over my face, and looking up saw an immense 

 condor sailing over us at only a few feet distance. 

 My companion sprang to his feet with a shriek, 

 and prepared to defend himself with his staff. 

 " He thinks we are dead," said he, "and if we had 

 lain a moment longer we should have felt his beak 

 and claws in our faces ! ' The condor was immedi- 

 ately joined by two others of his species, but being 

 baulked of their prey, they rose in slowly widening 

 circles, and at length appeared only specks on the 

 bright heaven. This incident was additional con- 

 firmation to me that the vulture tribe hunt by sight 

 and not by scent. The condor is a magnificent 

 bird, but yet looks very much like a turkey-buzzard 

 on a large scale, and has not the noble aspect of the 

 golden eagle and the royal eagle of the Amazon. 



