Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

84
NOTES OF A BOTANIST
break off in the middle, and appear never to have
been finished.
I have also a rude sketch-map of the plain of
Tarapoto, and of the chief villages, streams, and
mountains around it, drawn from his own compassbearings
taken from various elevated spots and
mountains, and by a few latitudes and longitudes
from his own astronomical observations. This I
have endeavoured to fill up from the notes and
descriptions so as to include all the chief places
he visited during his explorations. This will, I
hope, enable the reader to follow more easily the
references to places in his letters, and the short
sketch I may be able to give of his botanical
work in this very rich and then almost unknown
district.
Among the notes for his account of Tarapoto
there is a rather full description of the roads, where
there were any, along which he had to pass to and
fro in various directions. This is not only instruc-
tive and interesting in itself, but is essential to a
proper comprehension of the difficulties under which
his collections were made, even in this outlying
portion of the Andes, where the mountains were
very little higher than those in our own country. I
will therefore give it in full.]
THE ROADS COMMUNICATING WITH TARAPOTO
The roads between the towns mostly occupy
ancient Indian tracks, and it is easy to see how
they were originally made out. Some bare grassy
summit which will admit of a view being taken
ahead, and which is nearly in the direction of the