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Notes of a Visit to Guayaquil, 



Orchidacece which I expected to find in abundance in the 

 shaded woods along the river, were comparatively scarce, and my 

 exertions were only rewarded with four species, which although 

 they arrived safely have not yet flowered. 



Towards the middle of May the periodical rains, which make 

 travelling in the Andes next to impossible, having ceased, I re- 

 sumed my journey to Loxa. A three days sail in a canoe down 

 the river Guayaquil, brought me to the village of Santa Rosa, 

 from whence I started on the following day for the village of 

 Paccha, which is distant about fourteen leagues, for the purpose of 

 procuring mules to bring up my luggage. This journey gave me 

 some insight with regard to the roads that I should have to take 

 in pursuing my occupation in the Andes. The road as far the Tambo 

 de la Chonta, a distance of seven leagues, leads through a narrow 

 ravine, and crosses the rivulet which flows in it sixty-five times ; 

 these repeated crossings although the water is scarcely 3 feet in 

 depth, became at every step worse, for the large stones, which had 

 been carried down during the rains, rendered the footing of mules 

 unsafe. The Tambo de la Chonta, where I arrived towards the 

 evening, is only a thatched roof supported on a few beams, afford- 

 ing the weary traveller no other accommodation than that of 

 shelter ; the ascent which had hitherto been comparatively trifling 

 becomes steeper ; and the large trees, Palms, and thick underwood 

 bespeak a damp climate. 



The village of Paccha, (if twenty mud-built houses deserve the 

 name), is about 5,000 feet above the level of the sea and enjoys a 

 delightful temperature; sugarcane, coffee, yuca, (Jatropha Ma- 

 nihot), oranges, pine-apples, come to perfection at this elevation. 

 The shaded woods and dells furnished me a great variety of Orchi- 

 dacece, among which an Oncidium from its singular habit particularly 

 attracted my attention; this plant throws up a slender branched 

 flower stem from 10 to 12 feet in height and produces pseudo- 

 bulbs from the stem itself; these in the course of time form plants 



