232 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



while the hassocks shelter in their bosom purple 

 Lycopodia and other plants. 



Having passed Sanancajas, we descend to the 

 sandy plain of Riobamba, whose general character 

 is the same as that of Ambato, save that cactus- 

 hedges often replace those of aloes. 



In Riobamba I remained three days with my 

 hospitable countryman Dr. James Taylor, and then 

 proceeded on my way, going the first day only as 

 far as Miraflores, a farm six leagues away from Rio- 

 bamba, and near the village of Guamote. On the 

 way we had to climb over a small space of paramo, 

 where we got the benefit of a storm of hail and 

 sleet. The vegetation was scanty, and I gathered 

 only a minute Umbellifer which was new to me. 

 Miraflores is what is called a cold farm, consisting 

 chiefly of pasture and barley fields. A short ascent 

 from it brought us upon the Paramo de Tiocajas, 

 which is full six leagues across. Anything more 

 desolate than this paramo I have nowhere seen. It 

 is one great desert of movable sand, in which the 

 distant patches of Cacti, Hedyotis, and a succulent 

 Composita only render its nakedness more apparent. 

 Where there is a little moisture, solitary plants of a 

 silky-leaved Plantago struggle for existence. The 

 altitude is about the same as that of Sanancajas, and 

 it may be imagined how cheerless was a slow ride 

 of nearly 20 miles over such a waste, rendered 

 all the more gloomy by a leaden sky overhead, and 

 a piercing wind which came laden with mist and 

 fine sand. I was obliged to go nearly at the pace 

 of my loaded beasts, the unsettled state of the 

 country, and the number of deserters from the 

 " constitutional " army roaming about, rendering it 



