IN THE CINCHONA FORESTS 299 



straight line, but there is no road unless by way of 

 Guaranda, which would take four days. I therefore 

 followed a route already taken by Dr. Taylor, 

 namely, along the path to Guaranda as far as the 

 first ridge, and thence down to some cane-farms on 

 the Rio de Tablas. From this point Dr. Taylor 

 with an Indian had opened a track. I remained at 

 Tabacal from the i4th to the 28th of September, 

 collecting seeds as the capsules ripened and drying 

 them carefully before packing. 



I had now gathered about 2500 well -grown 

 capsules (without enumerating many smaller ones), 

 namely, 2000 from ten trees at Limon, and 500 

 from five trees at San Antonio. Good capsules 

 contain 40 seeds each in some I have counted 42 

 so that I calculated I had (in round numbers) at 

 least 100,000 well -ripened and well -dried seeds. 

 Some small turgid (almost globose) capsules con- 

 tained only from two to four seeds, as large and 

 ripe as any in the largest capsules, while other 

 capsules of the ordinary length, but slender, proved 

 to contain only abortive seeds and were accordingly 

 rejected in the drying. Had the month of July 

 been as sunny as it is said usually to be, many more 

 capsules would doubtless have ripened ; as it was, 

 only about one flower in ten produced ripe seeds. 



I had scarcely finished drying my seeds at 

 Tabacal, when I received the welcome intelligence 

 that the army of General Flores had obtained pos- 

 session of Guayaquil, and that the communication 

 between the coast and the interior was reopened. 

 I therefore resolved to proceed to Guayaquil and 

 dispatch from thence a portion of my seeds by the 

 first opportunity. 



