96 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



distance from the village on the 23rd. But I had 

 formed an inadequate idea of the richness of the 

 Andean flora. Commencing with a ridge of rocks on 

 the opposite side of the valley, only a few hundred 

 yards from the ground before traversed, I found so 

 many new and interesting forms of vegetation that at 

 the end of three or four hours of steady work I had 

 ascended only four or five hundred feet above the 

 village, and I believe that ample occupation for a 

 week's work to a collector might be found within one 

 mile of the Chicla station. 



As already arranged, we decided to return to Lima 

 on the morning of the 24th of April. If other engage- 

 ments had not made this necessary, the condition of 

 my collections would have forced me to retreat. It 

 was certain that without a speedy supply of drying- 

 paper a large portion must be lost. As we were 

 despatching an early breakfast, w^e were struck by the 

 appearance of a tall, vigorous, resolute-looking man, 

 booted up to the thighs, who had arrived during the 

 previous night. He turned out to be a fellow-country- 

 man, one of that adventurous class that have supplied 

 the pioneers of civilization to so many regions of the 

 earth. This gentleman had settled in the montana 

 of Eastern Peru, at a height of only about four thousand 

 feet above the sea. His account of the country was 

 altogether attractive, and it was only after entering 

 into some details that one began to think that a man 

 of a less cheerful and enterprising disposition might 

 have given a less favourable report. The place which 

 he has selected is only some twenty leagues distant 

 from the river Ucayali, one of the great tributaries of 



