i, i HIDDEN TREASURE 491 



track indicated by Valverde, but no one had 

 succeeded in reaching its terminus ; and I spoke 

 with two men at Bafios who had accompanied 

 such expeditions, and had nearly perished with cold 

 and hunger on the paramos of Llanganati, where 

 they had wandered for thirty days. The whole 

 story seemed so improbable that I paid little 

 attention to it, and I set to work to examine the 

 vegetation of the adjacent volcano Tunguragua, at 

 whose north-eastern foot the village of Banos is 

 situated. In the month of September I visited 

 Cotalo, a small village on a plateau at about two- 

 thirds of the ascent of Guayrapata, the hill in front 

 of Tunguragua and above the confluence of the 

 rivers Patate and Chambo. From Cotalo, on a 

 clear night of full moon, I saw not only Tungu- 

 ragua, El Altar, Condorasto, and the Cordillera of 

 Cubilliii, stretching southwards towards the volcano 

 Sangay, but also to the eastward the snowy peak 

 of Llanganati. This is one of the few points from 

 which Llanganati can be seen ; it appears again, in 

 a favourable state of the atmosphere, a good way 

 up the slopes of Tunguragua and Chimborazo. 



At Banos I was told also of a Spanish botanist 

 who a great many years ago lost his life by an 

 accident near the neighbouring town of Patate, and 

 that several boxes belonging to him, and containing 

 dried plants and manuscripts, had been left at Banos, 

 where their contents were finally destroyed by 

 insects. 



In the summers of the years 1858 and 1859 I 

 visited Quito and various points in the Western 

 Cordillera, and for many months the country was 

 so insecure, on account of internal dissensions, that 



