Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

1 64
NOTES OF A BOTANIST
the first habitation of civilised men on June 29,
the journey up to that point had lasted just 100
days.
[As a conclusion to this chapter
to give here the short account of the Forest ot
it will be well
Canelos geographical, historical, and botanical-
contained in the Precis d'un Voyage, which is of
much general interest, as it is now, probably, in
exactly the same condition as when Spruce traversed
it, if not, from the point of view of the
traveller, even worse. The translation follows the
original in being written in the third person.]
The Montana de Canelos has not any fixed
limits. It extends between the parallels of i and
2 S. latitude, and the meridians of 77 to 78^
west of London, exceeding these limits in a few
places. Within this space are included the sources
of several tributaries of the Pastasa and the Napo,
and a part of the upper course of these rivers them-
selves. It is bounded on the west by the volcanoes
Cotopaxi, Llanganati, and Tunguragua ;
and
on
the east it slopes imperceptibly down to the plain
of the Amazon, towards the middle of the course
of the Bombonasa. 1
It will be understood that,
with the exception of the little plantations made
by the Indians, the whole of this district is primeval
forest. It was in this forest of Canelos and on the
banks of the Curaray and the Napo, that Gonzalo
Pizarro wandered for more than two years, search-
ing for cities as rich as those of Peru, which he
imagined must exist there ; hoping besides to discover
that great river, which, uniting all the rivers
of the Cordillera, ran from west to east, to empty
1
Spruce spells this word either with or without the " m.' !