XXVIII HIDDEN TREASURE 491 
track indicated by Valverde, but no one had 
succeeded in reaching its terminus ; and I spoke 
with two men at Banos who had accompanied 
such expeditions, and had nearly perished with cold 
and hunger on the paramos of Llanganati, where 
they had wandered for thirty days. The whole 
story seemed so improbable that I paid little 
attention to it, and I set to work to examine the 
vegetation of the adjacent volcano Tunguragua, at 
whose north-eastern foot the village of Bafios is 
situated. In the month of September I visited 
Cotalo, a small village on a plateau at about two- 
thirds of the ascent of Guayrapata, the hill in front 
of Tunguragua and above the confluence of the 
rivers Patate and Chambo. From Cotalo, on a 
clear night of full moon, I saw not only Tungu- 
ragua, El Altar, Condorasto, and the Cordillera of 
Cubilliil, stretching southwards towards the volcano- 
Sangay, but also to the eastward the snowy peak 
of Llanganati. This is one of the few points from^ 
which Llanganati can be seen ; it appears again, in 
a favourable state of the atmosphere, a good way 
up the slopes of Tunguragua and Chimborazo. 
At Banos I was told also of a Spanish botanist 
who a great many years ago lost his life by an 
accident near the neighbouring town of Patate, and 
that several boxes belonging to him, and containing 
dried plants and manuscripts, had been left at Banos,, 
where their contents were finally destroyed by 
insects. 
In the summers of the years 1858 and 1859 I 
visited Quito and various points in the Western 
Cordillera, and for many months the country was 
so insecure, on account of internal dissensions, that 
