NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
also made numerous expeditions to the mountains 
which surround Tarapoto, especially on the north, 
east, and west, as well as along the banks, up the 
valleys, and through the gorges of the numerous 
streams and rivers that issue from them into the 
pampa of Tarapoto. If the difficulties along the 
beaten tracks were often great, it may be imagined 
what they were when he had to penetrate these 
almost untrodden mountains and valleys, densely 
covered with virgin forest, and for the most part 
rarely or never visited by any of the inhabitants of 
the surrounding country. Owing to the almost 
complete absence of any account of these various 
journeys, I can only give a bare enumeration of 
them, with a few scattered notes on some of their 
features where such exist. 
During the first month of his residence (June to 
July 1855) we have only the note — "Collecting 
near Tarapoto." This no doubt means within the 
limits of a day's walk, which would take him over 
nearly the whole surface of the pampa. From 
various notes and scattered remarks we learn 
that although this pampa had been more or less 
completely cleared of its original virgin forest, and 
cultivated for more than a hundred years, yet strips 
and patches of the original vegetation remained 
along the steep banks of the numerous rivers and a 
few other precipitous or rocky portions, while con- 
siderable tracts had reverted to second - growth 
woods, mostly of shrubs and low trees, thus furnish- 
ing work for the plant-collector at the flowering 
seasons of the various kinds of plants. We accord- 
ingly find a similar note for the month of Sep- 
tember, then in January 1856, again in July and 
