150 



DISTRIBUTION OF PLANTS. 



arising out of the water, and full twelve feet high. Next outside, 

 were beds yet more extensive of Typha Truxillensis ; so dense, and 

 so matted with long, trailing, slender-stemmed Scirpi, as to be tra- 

 versed with difficulty : the remainder of the drowned land was chiefly 

 occupied by Mangilla Jussieui and Tessaria Jegitiina, two shrubs ten to 

 fifteen feet high, that were intermingled in the greatest profusion. 

 Some open spaces contained large rounded leaves, in the distance 

 resembling those of a Nymphgea ; but proving to belong to Hijdrocohjle 

 multiflora. Other and more extensive wet openings were filled with 

 grasses, densely matted, a foot or more high, and consisting chiefly of 

 Ceresia and Paspalums. 



Beyond these, the infiltrated ground, gradually rising and becoming 

 drier, is occupied by an impenetrable canebrake; extending for miles, 

 ten to twenty feet high, and composed mainly of two species of De- 

 yeuxia? : the second species being more humble, and of remarkable 

 aspect, from the flabellate disposition of the leaves and the long ter- 

 minal flower-stem; yet the intermingled beds of Phrmj^nites com- 

 vnmis? proved so much in unison, that the alternation is usually 

 passed unnoticed by travellers. 



On the exposed portions of the river-bed of the Rimac, and gene- 

 rally in the infiltrated ground within twelve miles of the Pacific, the 

 following were among the most frequent plants : of large shrubs, 

 Cestrum auriculatiim? ; a fine, showy Laiitaua ; Lycium? wjgregatam ; 

 Buddleia Occidental is ; and a yellow-flowered Acacia having a tree- 

 like outline, its branches spreading from a central stem : of vines, a 

 yellow-flowered Dolichos, and some other Phaseoleae ; Cissus compres- 

 sicaulis; a Mikania; and two small-flowered species of Passiflora : and 

 of other plants, some of them herbaceous ; the prostrate Zapania 

 canescens; two species of Jussicea, tall and conspicuous; a Gymno- 

 gramma-like Acrostichum, sometimes five feet high ; Flaveria cordra- 

 yerva ; two or three species of Commelinece ; a suffruticose Sida ; a 

 WaJtlieria ; Eacelia canescens; and a low white-flowered Helioiropium. 



On consulting with Captain Long, and finding there would be time 

 for an excursion to the Andes, a party was formed ; consisting of 

 Messrs. Rich, Agate, Brackenridge, and myself. Taking a guide and 

 mules, we set out from Lima on the 16th of May. At the end of 

 '• seven leagues," we arrived at Caballeros on the Rio de Caxavaillo, 

 the next river to the Northward; and during the night, experienced 

 the earthquake already mentioned. 



