XIX IN THE ECUADOREAN ANDES 209 
covering up my face with my hands, I resigned my- 
self to the sorrowful reflection that I must leave all 
these flne things " to waste their sweetness on the 
desert air." From that point upwards one may 
safely assume that nearly everything was new, 
and I have no doubt that the tract of country lying 
eastward from Pasto and Popayan, where are the 
head-waters of the Japura, Uaupes, and Guaviare — 
probably nearly conterminous — offers as rich a 
field for a botanist as any in South America. But 
I have made inquiries as to the possibility of reach- 
ing it, and I find that it will be necessary to cross 
paramos of the most rugged and inhospitable char- 
acter, and afterwards risk oneself among wild and 
fierce Indians, so that I fear its exploration must 
be left to some one younger and more vigorous 
than myself 
If I remain in this country and do not make 
Quito my head-quarters, I suppose I must go to 
Loja, where the climate is more temperate and the 
flora no doubt magnificent. People who travel 
that way all speak with admiration of the abundance 
and beauty of the flowers.^ 
To Sir William Hooker 
Quito, Aug. 15, 1858. 
The house in which I reside is on the very slope 
of Pichincha, and is actually the last house in Quito, 
^ The route along the Cordillera to Loja is now little traversed, and is very 
difficult and expensive. The so-called "road" has no mending (or marring) 
save what it gets from the rains and the hoofs of the mules. There is, in fact, 
not a single road in the Ecuador. 
VOL. II P 
