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owe much to Mr. Vose, an American civil engineer at Colima, 
for valuable information and assistance. 
During our stay in Colima, we visited Monsieur A. Le Harivel, 
formerly one of Maximilian’s soldiers, who is much interested in 
fiber plants and has a number of species growing in his garden. 
He also showed me growing specimens and gave me cuttings of 
the candelilla, or wax-plant, which grows in the barrancas above 
Colima and supplies a vegetable wax that is coming into use for 
phonographic records. The cylindrical, green stems, reaching a 
yard in length and filled with milky juice, are ground and boiled, 
when the wax rises to the top and is taken off and pressed into 
blocks, which sell in New York at thirty-five cents per pound. 
The plant appears to be a species of Pedi/anthus, or possibly an 
Euphorbia ; this can be better determined when the cuttings have 
developed leaves and flowers. 
The only es journey made from Colima as a base, 
was to Tecoman and the west side of the valley of the Armeria 
River, which rises in the state of Jalisco and flows south through 
the center of the state of Colima, receiving the Colima river below 
Coquimatlan. Leaving Colima at 6 A. M., I reached Tecoman 
at 8:40 and walked six miles farther, following the west bank of 
the river until the first tributary was reached and working both 
sides of this stream for a distance of nearly two miles, returning 
to Colima at 7 P. M. 
This journey was of special botanical interest, being on the 
Pacific Slope in a region not well known, with elevations from 
1,500 down to 150 feet. At the first station below Colima, the 
large and attractive fruits of some cactus were sold by the Indians 
under the name of “ pitalla” or “ pitaya.”’ They were spherical 
in shape and nearly as large as oranges, with greenish-purple 
skin and red meat. After crossing the river and entering the 
rough limestone bs a species of Cerews, more slender than the 
wooded slopes. Between Madrid and Caleras there was a fringe 
of low, wet woods and broad meadows filled with rice, which is 
the principal crop of this region. The natives here are very dark 
and wear wide, white trousers with red sashes. Their huts are 
