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AMBATO 251 



expedition to the Pacific side I have found scarcely 

 any ferns, and still fewer shells and beetles. ' 



This statement was, however, somewhat modi- 

 fied in the following year, when he found that the 

 Cinchona forests of Limon, about 70 miles to 

 the north-west, had a rich and interesting flora, with 

 an abundance of ferns and orchids. The superior 

 richness of the eastern slopes as a whole seems, 

 however, to be an undoubted fact.] 



To Mr. John Teas dale 



AMBATO, Nov. 15, 1859. 



Before I left Ambato for Guataxi (July 22), the 

 first Act of the Revolution was played out on the 

 flanks of Chimborazo, at a site called Tumbuco, 

 where a battle was fought between the Government 

 troops (consisting chiefly of blacks and Zambos 

 from the low country around Guayaquil) and the 

 insurgents, who were " serranos," or people of the 

 hill-country, some whites, some Indians, but the 

 most part of mixed race. The latter were defeated, 

 and the victorious army marched on Ambato. It 

 was something to see the flight of the inhabitants 

 of Ambato, and the files of mules laden with all 

 their movable goods, even to glass windows, when 

 the news of the battle of Tumbuco arrived. I had 

 nowhere to flee to, so I laid in a stock of live pigs 

 and fowls, and of potatoes, stuck out the Union 

 Jack, and prepared for a siege. Well, the turbu- 

 lent blacks came on us by slow marches, but they 

 respected my house and cattle ; and indeed the 

 whole town was let off with a requisition of pro- 

 visions and horses. Yet the clanger was not 



