XX 
AMBATO 
chapter comprise such episodes as a war, an earth- 
quake, and an insurrection ; but the most important 
portion of it consists of a very detailed account of a 
two and a half months' excursion to the Bark forests 
of Alausi in the western slopes of the Andes, in a 
letter to Sir William Hooker. This was printed 
in the Journal of the Linnean Society, but as it is 
full of interesting matter I include it here, only 
omitting such passages as refer to his future pro- 
ceedings in another district, the full account of 
which will occupy the next chapter.] 
To Mr. George Bentham 
Ambato, March 3, 1859. 
• • • • ■ • 
We are still at war with Peru, and the blockade 
of Guayaquil continues, the Pacific steamers being 
allowed to land only the mails and passengers. 
The indiscriminate pressing of men and horses 
for the Ecuadorean army, and the scarcity and 
dearness of the necessaries of life (potatoes, for 
example, have been at ten times the price they 
bore when Seemann visited this country), have much 
impeded and restricted the field of my operations. 
In the beginning of summer (end of July 1858) I 
went to Quito, and my first intention was to visit 
some unexplored localities in that neighbourhood, 
and thus occupy myself until the next rainy season ; 
but I suffered so much in that rarefied atmosphere 
that I soon sought a more genial clime, and as I 
hoped an excellent field of operations, in the forest 
of Pallatanga, which is near half-way from Rio- 
bamba towards the narrow plain bordering the 
Pacific, and at a height of 5000 to 7000 feet. You 
