xx AMBATO 223 



chapter comprise such episodes as a war, an earth- 

 quake, and an insurrection ; but the most important 

 portion of it consists of a very detailed account of a 

 two and a half months' excursion to the Bark forests 

 of Alausi in the western slopes of the Andes, in a 

 letter to Sir William Hooker. This was printed 

 in the Journal of the Linnean Society, but as it is 

 full of interesting matter I include it here, only 

 omitting such passages as refer to his future pro- 

 ceedings in another district, the full account of 

 which will occupy the next chapter.] 



To Mr. George Bentham 



AMUATO, March 3, 1859. 



We are still at war with Peru, and the blockade 

 of Guayaquil continues, the Pacific steamers being 

 allowed to land only the mails and passengers. 

 The indiscriminate pressing of men and horses 

 for the Ecuadorean army, and the scarcity and 

 dearness of the necessaries of lite (potatoes, for 

 example, have been at ten times the price they 

 bore when Seemann visited this country), have much 

 impeded and restricted the field of my operations. 

 In the beginning of summer (end of July 1858) I 

 went to Quito, and my first intention was to visit 

 some unexplored localities in that neighbourhood, 

 and thus occupy myself until the next rainy season ; 

 but I suffered so much in that rarefied atmosphere 

 that I soon sought a more genial clime, and as 1 

 hoped an excellent field of operations, in the forest 

 of Pallatanga, which is near hall-way from I\io- 

 bamba towards the narrow plain bordering the 

 Pacific, and at a height of 5000 to 7000 feet. You 



