i62 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
From Rio Verde to Banos, a distance of some 
15 English miles, the road runs near the Pastasa, 
but only in two places, in each for near a mile, 
along the actual beach ; in other parts it passes 
over elevated pampas, or makes detours over hills 
to avoid steep cliffs, especially at the cataract of 
Agoyan. For the first hour from Rio Verde we 
were on elevated, nearly level ground, called 
Quillu-tiiru or yellow mud. As to the mud, well 
does it deserve to be signalised by such a name, 
though the actual tint is as often black as yellow. 
In no part of the Montana had we harder toil in 
tramping through the mud than here ; in other 
respects the road was a tolerably good mule-track, 
not very wide, but kept clear of rubbish ; and after 
passing Quillu-tiiru it was mostly sound and often 
gravelly. At nearly two hours from Rio Verde we 
came to a hacienda on a beach by the Pastasa, 
called the Playa de Antombos, where the mistress, 
a very hospitable lady, must needs have us enter 
and take some refreshment. Here we learnt that 
the late rains had been equally heavy in the Sierra, 
and that on the preceding day the Pastasa had 
swollen so much as to break the bridge of Agoyan, 
though this is 40 feet above the river at low water. 
She had yesterday sent a lad to the town with 
aguardiente and counselled us to await his return, 
as if he did not come it was a sign that the bridge 
was impassable. Here was another delay, and it 
seemed as if my progress must be arrested by 
swollen rivers up to the very last day, as it had 
been almost from the first. The lad did not 
arrive until near evening, all too late for us to start 
again for Banos, although he reported that the 
