XX 
AMBATO 
225 
country has prevented me leaving the higher 
grounds. The faciHties of getting about and of 
procuring provisions have also limited the explora- 
tions of all previous travellers almost entirely to 
the central plain — " callejon " (lane) they call it here 
— of the Quitonian Andes, and to the adjacent snowy 
summits ; but I am certain that the forests on the 
eastern and western slopes are still almost entirely 
unexplored, from a height of 3000 to 8000 feet. I see 
scarcely any real trees described among Hartweg's 
plants. These forests contain also the finest ferns. 
That they are still almost intact is not to be won- 
dered at, when their exploration involves the risk 
of life, health, and everything ; especially those on 
the eastern side. I hope by little and little to go 
over them and send you their gleanings. 
To Mr. John Teasdale 
Ambato, April 14, 1859. 
. . . The introduction of the Christian religion 
among the South American Indians I have visited 
has been, for the most part, a decided injury to 
them. Formerly they had either no religion at all 
or they were nearly pure theists ; now they are 
decided idolaters, as many Catholic priests have 
candidly admitted to me. Among the vices the)^ 
have contracted in their "civilised" state, not the 
least frightful is the readiness to sell or hire their 
wives and daughters to the lustful white man. At 
from 50 to 100 miles from where I am writing, on 
the eastern slope of the Andes, there are still 
powerful independent tribes who refuse to receive 
VOL. II Q 
