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CANELOS TO BANGS 147
them. Perhaps never a day passes without rain
on this mountain, and its summit is nearly always
enveloped in mist, which looks as if it were per-
in the trees. The trunks and
manently hung up
branches of the latter, and often even the uppermost
leaves, are densely enveloped in mosses.
Various species of Plagiochila, Mastigobryum, Phyl-
from the branches
logonium, Bryopteris, etc., hang
to the length of i to 3 feet, and in such thick
bunches that when saturated with rain they often
break off even green branches by their weight. I
have been told by the cargueros of Bafios that
when they pass with cargoes through the most
mossy parts
of the Montana after much rain has
fallen they step with constant dread of being
crushed by some ruptured branch. I examined
hastily such mossy
branches as had fallen across
our path, and often found on them a Holomitrium
and a Bryum, which I never got in any other
situation.
We had fortunately fine weather until reaching
the cross of ; Abitagua after passing this we had
smart rain all the way down. The descent was
long and rugged and took us two hours and a half.
At the base was a stream of beautiful water quite
like that on the eastern side. On a hill of small
elevation, called Casha-urcu (" Prickly Hill," because
of the ground being strewed with thorny twigs of
bamboos), rising from the opposite
stream, we drew up for the night.
bank of the
June 25. We had heavy rain from midnight ;
when day broke we prepared for the journey,
hoping that the rain would pass, but in vain, tor
it abated not till two in the afternoon, when it was