204 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
that to be there without either money or lucrative 
employment is a contingency not to be reflected on 
without dread. On the other hand, I already feel 
myself unequal to the painful mountain ascents, 
exposed at the same time to a burning sun and a 
piercingly cold wind. The eastern slopes of the 
Andes no doubt contain much fine ground, but for 
want of roads they can scarcely be explored, except 
by one to whom the pecuniary value of his collec- 
tions would be no object, and who could go to any 
amount of expense. I have often wished I could 
get some consular appointment here, were it only 
of ;^i50 a year; but I have no powerful friends, 
without which a familiarity with the country, the 
inhabitants, and the languages go for little. A 
person is much wanted to watch over the interests 
of Europeans on the Upper Amazon, but I can 
hardly suggest a station for him which would not 
be liable to some objection, and an itinerating consul 
is something I have never heard of, though it would 
really be very useful here. The Brazilians have a 
vice-consul in Moyobamba. The French have a 
vice-consul in Santarem and another in the Barra 
do Rio Negro. 
To Sir William Hooker 
Ambato, March 24, 1858. 
. . . Several friendly letters have passed between 
Dr. Jameson and myself, but I have not yet had the 
pleasure of meeting him. The upper part of the 
Rio Napo (where is the Indian village of Archi- 
dona), which Jameson has lately explored, is nearly 
parallel to the upper part of the Pastasa (and at no 
