TO THE CINCHONA FORESTS 263 



divided into two factions, whereof one held Quito and the whole 

 of the Sierra, and the other Guayaquil and the low country. Both 

 maintained as large an army as they could raise in support of 

 their cause, and pressed into their ranks all the suitable men they 

 could lay hold on. Only those of pure Indian extraction were 

 exempt from forced military service ; but, when the troops were 

 marching about, they continually seized on Indians to carry their 

 baggage and to drive laden beasts. . . . 



My preparations for entering the forest being completed, I was 

 awaiting the coming of the dry season, when a severe attack of 

 rheumatism so far disabled me, that I determined to delegate my 

 commission to Dr. James Taylor of Riobamba. Animated, how- 

 ever, by his assurance that in the warm forest I might expect to 

 recover the use of my limbs, I finally resolved to proceed thither 

 in his company. . . . 



We started from Ambato for the forest on the nth of June. 

 Our road was the same as I had travelled the preceding year, until 

 reaching the paramo of Sanancajas beyond the village of Mocha, 

 where it turns to the right towards the southern shoulder of Chim- 

 borazo. In consequence of my having needed two long rests on 

 the way, night came on and found us still on the paramo. Thin 

 clouds had enveloped Chimborazo most of the day, but towards 

 evening they gradually cleared away, and after sunset the majestic 

 dome was entirely uncovered, though a slender meniscus of cloud, 

 assuming exactly the form of the cope of the mountain, and still 

 illumined by the rays of the sun (which had set for us), hung for 

 some time like a "glory " over the monarch of the Andes. When 

 this at length melted away, the light reflected from the snow by a 

 clear star-lit sky enabled our beasts to pick their way. It was 

 8 o'clock when we reached the tambo of Chuquipogyo, a solitary 

 house at between 12,000 and 13,000 feet of altitude. The rude 

 accommodation and the inhospitable climate offered no induce- 

 ment to a prolonged stay at Chuquipogyo, but as I was so much 

 exhausted as neither to be able to sleep nor on the following 

 morning to mount my horse, there was no alternative but to remain 

 there all the day and night of the i2th. At 7 A.M. of the 131)1 we 

 resumed our march. The day was fortunately fine, and we had 

 only now and then a few drops of small rain and sleet, instead ol 

 the snowstorms with which the traveller has too frequently to 

 contend in the pass of Chimborazo. The vegetation consisted 

 chiefly of hassocks of a Stipa and a Festuca, so that the -cncral 

 aspect was that of a grey barren waste ; but at short intervals \\e 

 crossed deep gullies whose sides were lined with mosses, and 

 sprinkled with calceolarias, lupines, and other pretty plants. To- 

 wards noon we came out on the A renal (the moraine of the 

 glacier), near the limit of all vegetation. In a hollou a little 

 below it was a marsh with a rivulet one of the sources ol the 



