50 4 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. 



of the river Patate, at only a few miles' distance, 

 though the journey thither is much lengthened by 

 having to pass the deep quebrada of the Patate, 

 which occupies a full hour. The farm of Moya still 

 exists ; and the Cerro de Guapa is clearly visible to 

 east -north -east from where I am writing. The 

 three Llanganatis seen from the top of Guapa are 

 supposed to be the peaks Margasitas, Zunchu, and 

 el Volcan del Topo. The " Sangurimas " in the 

 forest are described to me as trees with white 

 foliage ; but I cannot make out whether they be a 

 species of Cecropia or of some allied genus. The 

 " Flechas " are probably the gigantic arrow-cane, 

 Gynerium saccharoides (Arvore de frecha of the 

 Brazilians), whose flower-stalk is the usual material 

 for the Indian's arrows. 



The morass (Cienega de Cubillin), the Jucal, 1 

 and the lakes called "Anteojos," with the nose of 

 land between them, are all exactly where Valverde 

 places them, as is also the. great black lake (Yana- 

 cocha) which we must leave on the left hand. 

 Beyond the lake we reach the waterfall (Cascada y 

 Golpe de Limpis Pongo), of which the noise is 

 described to me as beyond all proportion to the 

 smallness of the volume of water. Near the water- 

 fall a cross is set up with the remark underneath, 

 " Muerte del Padre Longo " -this being the point 



1 Juco is the name of a tall, solid-stemmed grass, usually about 20 feet 

 high, of which I have never seen the flower, but I take it to be a species of 

 Gynerium, differing from G. saccharoides in the leaves being uniformly disposed 

 on all sides and throughout the length of the stem, whereas in G. saccharoides 

 the stem is leafless below and the leaves are distichous and crowded together 

 (almost equitant) near the apex of the stem. The KICO grows exclusively in 

 the temperate and cool region, from 6000 feet upwards, and is the universal 

 material for laths and rods in the construction of houses in the Quitonian 

 Andes. 



