36       INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  CINCHONA  TREES  INTO  INDIA. 
Cordillera,  within  the  Peruvian  frontier,  which  seems  to  have 
been  his  temporary  head-quarters.  Of  the  agremens  of  his  jour- 
ney we  have  such  accounts  as  the  following  : 
On  the  road  from  Puno  to  Caravaya  there  were  four  broad  and 
very  rapid  rivers  to  cross  on  balsas,  or  long  bundles  of  reed 
stitched  together,  while  the  mules  swam.  The  plains  and  moun- 
tain ranges  over  which  the  way  passed  averaged  a  height  of 
12,000  to  13,000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  one  snowy 
pass  attained  a  height  of  nearly  17,000  feet.  The  season  was 
one  of  violent  storms,  with  hail  and  snow  and  constant  rains. 
"  Beyond  the  river  Challuma,  a  tributary  of  the  Tambopata, 
and  the  extreme  point  reached  by  Dr.  Weddell,  there  is  no  path 
of  any  kind,  the  trees  are  of  great  height,  and  the  ground  is 
entirely  choked  up  with  creepers,  fallen  masses  of  trees  and 
bushes,  and  tangled  bamboos.  In  many  places,  the  way  led 
along  the  verge  of  a  precipice  overhanging  the  river,  which  boiled 
and  surged  many  hundreds  of  feet  below.  Our  encampments 
were  made  each  night  on  any  stony  beach  we  could  find  where 
there  was  space  to  light  a  fire  and  pitch  the  tent,  and  all  day  we 
toiled  and  struggled  through  the  closely- woven  jungle. 
"On  the  4th,  I  made  a  toilsome  and  dangerous  forest  jour- 
ney, along  the  most  giddy  precipices,  overhanging  the  river, 
with  no  foothold  but  decaying  leaves,  nothing  to  grasp  but 
rotten  branches,  every  motion  a  drenching  bath  from  the  wet 
branches,  every  other  step  a  painful  and  dangerous  slip  or  fall. 
Since  leaving  Sandia  on  April  24th  up  to  May  15th  we  had 
walked  over  174  miles,  which  may  not,  at  first  sight,  appear  very 
much ;  but  when  it  is  considered  that  it  was  chiefly  not  walking, 
but  scrambling  on  hands  and  knees  up  precipices  or  through 
dense  forests,  and  that  there  was  not  one  day  given  up  to  rest, 
while  the  supply  of  food  was  exceedingly  small  and  precarious, 
I  think  it  will  be  considered  tolerably  good  work. 
On  the  17th  of  May,  I  left  Sandia,  with  one  Indian  and 
two  mules  carrying  the  plants^,  and  halted  under  a  splendid 
range  of  frowning  black  clifi's,  near  the  summit  of  the  sn  owy 
Caravaya  range.  On  the  18th  I  reached  the  summit  of  the 
range,  and  commenced  the  journey  over  vast  grass-covered  plains 
covered  with  stifi"  white  frost.  After  being  11  hours  in  the 
saddle,  I  stopped  at  an  abandoned  shepherd's  hut  built  of  loose 
