Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

1 68 NOTES OF A BOTANIST
the banks ;
the
day was stormy, but the second
night it did not rain, and he saw with joy on the
morning of the third day that the water had decreased.
He made then no delay in having the
four bridges thrown across, and took care to make
them very solid, lashed together so as to make one
to find it there on
single continuous bridge, hoping
his return. But although he remained only three
nights on the other side of the Topo, on returning
to the banks on the fourth day, towards sunset, the
bridge was there no longer, having been carried
away the previous night by terrible storms which
had lasted for twelve hours, inundating the tra-
vellers' rancho and putting out their fire, so that
at daybreak they found themselves soaked with
wet, sitting upon their baggage, and with their
feet in water. Fortunately, during the day, the
Topo had sufficiently
the tops of the rocks ;
abated for them to discover
so the bamboos were felled
and arranged upon the rocks, and they were able
to cross in the last rays of twilight. He learnt
when too late that it was only during the months
of December, January, and February that one
might hope to find the rivers of the forest of
Canelos low enough to be crossed easily and without
danger. But he was content to have been able
to devote an entire day to Mount Abitagua, besides
collecting interesting plants all along the road ; and
he returned to Barios, having enriched his collection
with a considerable number of very beautiful
specimens.
[Returning to the Journal, the following short
note on the few plants observed during his
may appropriately
journey
be given here :-