THE FORESTS OF ALAUSI 247 
Tecoma, not parallel to them, as in Delostoma and 
Bignonia. 
So soon as the last soldier had passed, I put in 
execution my project of visiting the forests pro- 
ducing the Cascarilla serrana or Hill Bark, which 
is found at 8500 to 9000 feet on both sides of the 
river Chanchan. I went first to the forest of 
Llalla, at the foot of Azuay, and only a little more 
than two hours' journey from Guataxi. Here there 
is a cattle-farm and a few Indian chacras, in one of 
which I established myself I found a rather in- 
teresting vegetation, and this consoled me for my 
wretched quarters in a hut dark and smoky, and so 
low that I could not stand erect. We had happened 
on a windy time, and as the walls and roof were 
full of chinks, the violent wind which got up at 
midnight starved us beneath all our blankets and 
ponchos. After sunrise there was a brief lull, and 
then it came on again to blow from the same 
quarter (west, with a slight touch of northing), and 
so continued through the day. We had no rain 
during the five days of our stay, although the 
storms on the farther side of Azuay often overlap 
as far as Llalla, so that from Guataxi we could see 
it raining in this hill-forest, when not a drop fell in 
the lower grounds ; and even when it does not 
rain the forest is generally enveloped in mist. 
This constant supply of moisture renders the vege- 
tation more vigorous than in the dry grounds 
below, and is the cause why the trees are so 
thickly clad with mosses that it is difficult to push 
one's way through them. Two mosses, whose 
long slender stems hang down like a beard from 
the branches, bore here abundance of fruit, which 
