40 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP. XVI 
leagues from Tarapoto begin to rise the abrupt 
ridges of Guayrapurima where the wind blows "), 
which are crossed to reach Chasuta. 
More to the north is a rather lower ridge whose 
top, bare of trees, gives to it the name of Cerro- 
pelado (the bald hill). Over this passes the track 
leading to a noted fishing stream called Tiracu, 
whose sources are near those of the Aguashiyacu 
in the high mountains N.E. of Tarapoto. From 
this mountain come more storms than from any 
other quarter. A long day of painful ascents 
and descents brings fishermen to Tiracu, where 
they sometimes remain a week, exposed to almost 
daily rain and barely sheltered at night in a rude 
rancho of palm-leaves. Some way lower down the 
Tiracu are cliffs of white salt. The inhabitants of 
Lamas make frequent visits there, and when I 
visit the Guayrapurima mountain I never fail to 
encounter one or more troops of them. 
[The accompanying view of Tarapoto from the 
southern entrance shows the straggling suburbs 
backed on the north-east by the grand mountain of 
Guayrapurima, to which Spruce made many excur- 
sions. The conical peak on the left is probably the 
same as that shown in another drawing (at p. 94) 
as the singular Cerro Pelado when seen from a 
different point of view, perhaps from the village of 
Morales.] 
The sound of the waters of the Shillicaio generally 
reaches my ears in a soft murmur, often mingled 
with the less musical sounds of a cane-mill on 
its opposite margin ; the squeaking of the cane- 
crushers ; the shouts of the men who goad along 
the poor oxen or mules in their painful round ; 
