128 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
visible, and audible only when swollen by rains. 
Beyond the Bombonasa stretched the same sort 
of boldly undulating plain I had remarked from 
Andoas upwards, till reaching one long low ridge, 
perhaps a little higher than Puca-yacu, of remark- 
ably equable height and direction (north to south) ; 
this is the water-shed between the Bombonasa and 
Pastasa, and the latter river flows along its western 
foot ; a little north of west from Puca-yacu, the 
course of the Pastasa is indicated by a deep gorge 
stretching west from behind the ridge. This gorge 
has on each side lofty rugged mountains (5000 to 
6000 feet), spurs of the Cordillera ; one of those on 
the right is called Abitagua, and the track from 
Canelos to Bafios passes over its summit. All this 
was frequently visible, but it was only when the 
mist rolled away from the plain a little after sun- 
rise that the lofty Cordillera beyond lay in cloud- 
less majesty. To the extreme left (south), at no 
very great distance, rose Sangahy (or the Volcan 
of Macas, as it is often called), remarkable for its 
exactly conical outline, for the snow lying on it in 
longish stripes, and for the cloud of smoke almost 
constantly hovering over it. A good way to the 
right is the much loftier mountain called Los 
Altares, its truncated summit jagged with eight 
peaks of nearly equal elevation and clad with an 
unbroken covering of snow, which glittered like 
crystal in the sun's rays, and made me think how 
pure must be the offering on " altars " to whose 
height no mortal must hope to attain. Not far to 
the right of Los Altares, and of equal altitude, is 
Tunguragua, a bluff irregular peak with rounded 
apex capped with snow, which also descends in 
