NOTES OF A BOTANIST 
of the river Patate, at only a few miles' distance, 
though the journey thither is much lengthened by 
having to pass the deep quebrada of the Patate, 
which occupies a full hour. The farm of Moya still 
exists ; and the Cerro de Guapa is clearly visible to 
east-north -east from where I am writing. The 
three Llanganatis seen from the top of Guapa are 
supposed to be the peaks Margasitas, Zunchu, and 
el Volcan del Topo. The " Sangurimas " in the 
forest are described to me as trees with white 
foliage ; but I cannot make out whether they be a 
species of Cecropia or of some allied genus. The 
Flechas " are probably the gigantic arrow-cane, 
Gynerinr/i saccharoides (Arvore de frecha of the 
Brazilians), whose flower-stalk is the usual material 
for the Indian's arrows. 
The morass (Cienega de Cubillin), the Jucal,^ 
and the lakes called "Anteojos," with the nose of 
land between them, are all exactly where Valverde 
places them, as is also the great black lake (Yana- 
cocha) which we must leave on the left hand. 
Beyond the lake we reach the waterfall (Cascada y 
Golpe de Limpis Pongo), of which the noise is 
described to me as beyond all proportion to the 
smallness of the volume of water. Near the water- 
fall a cross is set up with the remark underneath, 
" Muerte del Padre Longo " — this being the point 
Juco is the name of a tall, solid-stemmed grass, usually about 20 feet 
high, of which I have never seen the flower, but I take it to be a species of 
Gynerium, differing from G. saccharoides in the leaves being uniformly disposed 
on all sides and throughout the length of the stem, whereas in (7. saccharoides 
the stem is leafless below and the leaves are distichous and crowded together 
(almost equitant) near the apex of the stem. The Juco grows exclusively in 
the temperate and cool region, from 6000 feet upwards, and is the universal 
material for laths and rods in the construction of houses in the Quitonian 
Andes. 
