3i6 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 



from a good way up the various rivers, and there are many wild 

 fruits. The latter include two "cherries"; one of them is so like 

 the fruit of Averrhoa Bilimbi (Oxalideae) in appearance that I did 

 not think it could be anything else. The tree abounds at Daule 

 and is now in flower ; it is a Combretacea, allied to Terminalia ! 

 The other cherry is a Malpighiacea very different from the 

 Bunchosias or "Friar's plums," and probably a Byrsonima. Two 

 "plums" are surely species of Spondias. A drupe, called Pechiche, 

 the size of a large cherry, but black, and with a mawkish sweet 

 taste, though excellent for preserve, is the fruit of a Vitex. There 

 are also many Sapotaceous fruits not seen elsewhere. I hope to 

 make them all out and to send specimens of the fruits in spirit. 

 I have unfortunately very little strength left for work of any kind, 

 and the squalls that come on suddenly when the sun is hot and 

 penetrate the chinks of these bamboo walls make me feel some- 

 times as "roomackity " as I did in the Sierra. Piura would have 

 been the place for me they say the most obstinate rheumatisms 

 can't withstand the climate of Piura. But I do not like the idea 

 of living in the midst of a desert. 



I was beginning to work a mon ordinaire when I had the 

 misfortune to scald my right foot severely, and had to endure a 

 tedious vesication and afterwards a painful ulceration. Eighteen 

 days of it stretched in a hammock, and unable to tread the 

 ground. I did not mind the pain so much as the lost time. 



To Mr. John Teasdale 



GUAYAQUIL, June 22, 1 86 1 . 



... It is singular that the greatest range of 

 temperature occurs here in the summer or dry 

 season, while in the wet season it is more equable 

 but more oppressive. We are now entering on the 

 summer, and it is surprising how rapidly the water 

 and mud dry up off the savannas ; for no more 

 rain falls, and we begin to have strong westerly 

 breezes, continuing sometimes through the night. 

 Guayaquil is not unhealthy from June to January, 

 and if they had built the city lower down the Gulf 

 it might have been healthy all the year round. 

 The island of Puna, where Pizarro first landed, is 



