266 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 



on ground which slopes down to the right bank of the Chimbo, 

 at an elevation of about 9000 feet. As it is on the main road 

 leading from Guayaquil to the interior, it presents in time of peace 

 a very lively aspect in the dry season, when it is constantly full 

 of travellers and beasts of burden ; but when we reached it there 

 were not the least signs of traffic, and only soldiers were to be 

 seen in the streets. The temperature is slightly warmer than that 

 of Quito, and the adjacent hills are grassy, where not under culti- 

 vation. From the little I could see of the indigenous vegetation, 

 it appeared interesting. A large Thalictrum was abundant, as 

 was also a sarmentose Labiate, with spikes of secund scarlet 

 flowers, and a Tagetes, called, aptly enough, Allpa-anis (earth 

 aniseed), from its scent and its lowly habit. 



I was detained several days at Guaranda, partly in purchasing 

 provisions for the forest, including an ox to be taken alive to our 

 rendezvous, and partly in the vain attempt to procure licence for 

 our cascarilleros (who had lately all been enrolled either in the 

 line or the militia) to proceed to the forest ; but I had to con- 

 tent myself with the assurance that, until the country was de- 

 livered from its present straits, not a single citizen could be 

 spared for any other service. Only one of the cascarilleros, whose 

 rancho we were to occupy, actually accompanied us to Limon, 

 whether with leave or without I never knew, and he was there too 

 much occupied in distilling cane-brandy, and in drinking no small 

 portion of it himself, to be of the slightest use to us in seeking 

 plants and seeds. Through Dr. Neyra's intervention, I secured 

 the services of four Indians of Guanujo, and they proved of the 

 greatest use to us, especially after we began to rear the Bark 

 plants. 



As far as Guaranda, two of our boxes had been carried by each 

 beast of burden, but thenceforward, on account of the straitness 

 of the path, they had to be carried singly. On the steep, narrow, 

 and slippery tracks which traverse the western slope of the 

 Quitonian Andes, the beasts of burden are chiefly bulls, called 

 cabrestillos, whose cloven hoofs enable them to descend with 

 greater security than even mules. Our provision of potatoes, 

 peas, and barley-meal, etc., had to be carried in sacks so small 

 that two of them placed on the back of each cabrestillo did not 

 project beyond the animal's sides. 



We set forth from Guaranda on the xyth of June, the direction 

 of our route being first northerly, as far as the adjacent village of 

 Guanujo, and then north-west to the pass of Llullundengo, on a 

 ridge of Chimborazo, nearly in front of the Ensillada (from which 

 the deep, wide valley of Guaranda separates it), and at a height 

 of about 12,000 feet. Having surmounted this, we entered on 

 the most precipitous and dangerous descent I have ever passed. 

 The track leads straight down a narrow ridge, varied at wide 



