By Mr. Theodore Hartweg. 



151 



and from 12 to 18 inches in diameter, is in the larger specimens 

 covered with a thin coating of a whitish, waxy substance. This 

 when purified in hot water, becomes compact, and acquires a 

 cream colour. It is generally mixed with a little tallow if made 

 into candles, being of too brittle a nature to be worked by itself ; 

 it then burns with a bright flame without any smell or smoke. 

 The quantity of wax from a full grown palm varies from 12 to 25 

 pounds. 



In the ravine leading to the village of Saraguru, I found Brugman- 

 sia sanguinea called Guando, forming a shrub 12 feet in height ; the 

 seed-pod of this, as well as the seeds, is considered to be highly nar- 

 cotic, and to cause death. In this ravine I likewise found a Walnut 

 allied to Juglans nigra, called Tocte, several Melastomaceous and 

 Myrtaceous shrubs, Eccremocarpus longiflorus, and a pale yellow 

 flowering Tropceolum, the latter ascending to the tops of the 

 highest trees. On the bluff rocks near the village, I observed 

 Phycella chloracra, having scarlet flowers tipped with green, 

 but from its inaccessible habitat, I could procure only a few 

 bulbs. 



After a stay of four months in Loxa, during which time I formed 

 large collections of plants and seeds, I resumed my journey, and 

 arrived at the town of Cuenca, which is forty leagues north of 

 Loxa, and became my head quarters. The greater part of the road, 

 after emerging from the ravine of Saraguru, leads over the Pa- 

 ramo (grass lands) at an elevation of from 10,000 to 11,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea. Near the Tambo de Marivina, I found 

 Odontoglossumpardinum, growing on trees, associated with Berberis 

 confcrta and glauca, two species of Osteomeles, a tall shrubby 

 Lobelia with large yellow flowers, Alstrbmerias, a Riles with 

 greenish flowers and several shrubby Hypericums. Having made 

 repeated excursions to the neighbouring mountains with no great 

 success, I visited the warm valley called Yunguilla, where I was 

 rewarded with the bulbs of a yellow flowering Cybister, a scarlet 



