THE FORESTS OF ALAUSI 247 



Tecoma, not parallel to them, as in Delostoma and 

 Bignonia, 



So soon as the last soldier had passed, I put in 

 execution my project of visiting the forests pro- 

 ducing the Cascarilla scrrana or Hill Bark, which 

 is found at 8500 to 9000 feet on both sides of the 

 river Chanchan. I went first to the forest of 

 Llalla, at the foot of Azuay, and only a little more 

 than two hours' journey from Guataxi. Here there 

 is a cattle-farm and a few Indian chacras, in one of 

 which I established myself. I found a rather in- 

 teresting vegetation, and this consoled me for my 

 wretched quarters in a hut dark and smoky, and so 

 low that I could not stand erect. We had happened 

 on a windy time, and as the walls and roof were 

 full of chinks, the violent wind which got up at 

 midnight starved us beneath all our blankets and 

 ponchos. After sunrise there was a brief lull, and 

 then it came on again to blow from the same 

 quarter (west, with a slight touch of northing), and 

 so continued through the day. We had no rain 

 during the five days of our stay, although the 

 storms on the farther side of Azuay often overlap 

 as far as Llalla, so that from Guataxi we could see 

 it raining in this hill-forest, when not a drop fell in 

 the lower grounds ; and even when it does not 

 rain the forest is generally enveloped in mist. 

 This constant supply of moisture renders the vege- 

 tation more vigorous than in the dry grounds 

 below, and is the cause why the trees are so 

 thickly clad with mosses that it is difficult to push 

 one's way through them. Two mosses, whose 

 long slender stems hang clown like a beard from 

 the branches, bore here abundance of fruit, which 



