RESIDENCE AT TARAPOTO 75 
[The next letters to Mr. Bentham are nearly a 
year later, and from these I give a few more extracts 
of general or botanical interest.] 
To Mr. George Bentham 
Tarapoto, Peru, March lo, 1857. 
I am still a prisoner here, what with revolutions 
on the one hand which render the Sierra very unsafe 
to pass, and with the swollen rivers on the other ; 
as soon as the latter abate we hope to be off 
... I cannot collect more, because excursions 
to be profitable would be long and expensive, and 
I want to save my money for my Ecuadorean 
expedition ; so I am ruminating on dried herbs, 
and working off arrears in my Journal. 
• ••••• 
To Mr. George Bentham 
Tarapoto, Peru, March 14, 1857. 
I believe I told you some time ago of my inten- 
tion of proceeding to Guayaquil in company with 
two Spaniards (Don Ignacio Morey and Don Victori- 
ano Marrieta), who are going thither to purchase 
hats. . . . We had made our arrangements for 
going overland, but the revolution which has be- 
come almost general throughout Peru, and which 
nobody thinks can be closed in less than six months, 
renders the roads impassable. We have therefore 
reverted to our original project of proceeding up 
the Pastasa. . . . The advantage of this route is 
that one thus avoids the yellow fever of the coast 
of Peru and Ecuador, and its disadvantages are the 
