262 RETURN TO CxIRONDA'S CLEARING. Chap. XV. 



was noticeable by the way, especially the polo santo {Guaia- 

 cuni sanctum), a very tall tree, the stem 60 to 70 feet high, 

 Avithout a branch, witli a few short horizontally spreading 

 branches at the summit, with pinnate leaves. When the 

 bark is cut, a host of stinging ants come forth. There 

 was also a plant, which he called aeUra silvestre {Canna 

 achira ?), with a rhizome, and bunches of ranlv red berries. 

 We passed througli groves of paccays {Mimosa Inga), a 

 creeping legume with bright flowers, wild coca, many Lasi- 

 onemas, with their large coarse leaves drooping over the 

 river, and a melastomaceous plant with a crimson fruit. 

 After having been nearly carried away by the force of the 

 Challuma river, in wading across it, I reached Gironda's 

 hospitable shed, after a journey of more than thirty miles, 

 in pouring rain. 



On May 8th I left Gironda's clearing, with Martinez, in 

 order to examine the forests above the hut of Tambopata, 

 for plants of O. Calisaya. Here, in almost exactly a similar 

 ridge of rock to those which proved so prolific of these 

 precious plants on the heights above the Yana-mayu, and 

 on the precipice of Ccasa-sani, I found a number of plants 

 of Calisaya morada (C. Boliviana, Wedd.), growing out of 

 moss, amongst the rocks, with scarcely any soil. They were 

 overshadowed by numerous trees, called by Martinez " Com- 

 padre^ de Calisaya" {Gompliosia clilorantha, Wedd.), one of 

 the most graceful and beautiful of the chinchonaceous plants, 

 witli deliciously sweet flowers. Dr. Weddell exactly describes 

 it as rising without a branch above all the trees of the forest, 

 and then spreading out in the fonn of a chandelier, and 

 attracting the attention of the traveller from afar. The 

 bark of this tree, with its transverse cracks, can with difficulty 



•^ In Peru the father of a child is I sidered a very close and sacred rela- 

 compadre to its godfather. It is con- | tionahip. 



