234 NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
bearing numerous spikes of lilac or violet flowers ; 
and farther down the latter grew so abundantly that 
it covered the whole hill-side with a mass of aromatic 
flowers, which was an agreeable change from the 
sterile paramo. The road ran parallel to the 
Pumachaca, but at a vast height above it. It was 
well on in the afternoon when we reached the 
village of Ticsan, still in the cool region, and, as we 
calculated on finding more comfortable quarters in 
Alausi, which was two leagues ahead, we resolved 
to try to reach it, which we accomplished just after 
nightfall, having in the day made ten leagues. 
With some trouble we succeeded in getting a little 
food for ourselves ; but food for our beasts was of 
more importance, and we could get none. At 
4 o'clock the following morning I roused my people 
and sent them out to the neighbouring farms in 
quest of alfalfa (lucerne). They returned bringing 
a mule-load, which, though an insufficient quantity, 
was better than none, and we delayed our journey 
until 8 o'clock in order that the poor animals might 
eat, for we had this day only five leagues before us. 
Our road now turned to the right, while that 
to Cuenca continues southward and crosses the 
elevated ridge of Azuay. We still followed the 
course of the Pumachaca, which gradually turns 
westward, and bursts through the Cordillera in a 
gorge so deep and narrow that with difficulty has a 
narrow path been cut along the declivity on the 
southern side. The whole five leagues from Alausi 
to Chilnchi consists of steep ascents and descents, 
and of perilous crossings of precipitous slopes, not 
to be passed without a shudder ; for the track is in 
many places so narrow that two persons mounted 
