i66 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
On the morning of the tenth day after the death of 
her companions she arrived at the bank of the 
river, just at the moment when two Indians were 
embarking in a boat. These good people suc- 
coured her and conducted her to Andoas, whence 
she could continue her journey to La Laguna, and 
from there descend into the valley of the Amazon 
as far as Cayenne, where her husband was expect- 
ing her. During the time that she had wandered 
lost in the forest of Canelos, her hair had become 
perfectly white ; and to the end of her life she 
could never speak, nor even think, of those terrible 
days without a shudder. Every time that the 
author recalls the calamities with which this poor 
lady was overwhelmed, he feels that his own 
sufferings in the same region were but very 
inconsiderable. 
But to treat now of the vegetation. He does not 
think that he is mistaken when he claims for the 
forest of Canelos the honour of being the richest 
cryptogamic locality on the surface of the globe. 
The trees even, in certain parts, seem to serve no 
other purpose than to support ferns, mosses, and 
lichens. The epiphytic ferns, which are the most 
abundant, are principally Hymenophylleae and Poly- 
podium (in the widest acceptation of the term). 
Among the ferns growing upon the ground there 
are some that attain a height which is almost 
gigantic : they belong to the genera Marattia, 
Hypolepis, Litobrochia, etc. ; but the really arbor- 
escent species come behind those of Tarapoto in 
variety. Among the mosses, the genera Hookeria 
and Lepidopilum occupy the first place, and he was 
able to enrich them with several new species. 
