Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

124 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
Wingo, another of Anatto, and some roots of the
twining Bignonia (Carajaru) planted by
the door.
The Governor resides in the convent, which is
remarkable for having an upper story, the flooring
of which is of bamboo planks resting on rafters of
Tarapoto palm. The ground floor is scarcely made
any use of, for the kitchen is a low shed standing a
few yards apart ; but the upper story is divided
along the middle by a bamboo partition, the
northern half being open at the sides, so as to form
a wide veranda, where the family pass the day ;
and the southern half is divided into two dormitories,
where they keep their household gods and
pass the night. The whole is very light and
cleanly, with superabundance ;
of ventilation
but we
have not yet experienced any high winds, the force
of the squalls being broken by higher ground across
a valley to north and north-east. We live with
the Governor, who has given up one of the dormi-
tories to us.
From the village there is a track in a northerly
direction which continues all the way to the river
Napo. At half an hour from the village it crosses
a stream called Baha-yacu, whose mouth is a very
little below the port ; there are a few chacras on it,
and the gold-washings are said to be the best of
and fall
any of Bombonasa. The banks are steep
in with every flood. The water runs over beds
of indurated clay, such as most of the rock on the
Bombonasa ;
though easily broken by the foot, it
resists remarkably the action of water. Pebbles
of quartz and blocks of compact blue stone are
evidently alluvial deposits.
In something under half a day the track brings