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xx AMBATO 223
chapter comprise such episodes as a war, an earthquake,
and an insurrection ; but the most important
portion of it consists of a very detailed account of a
two and a half months' excursion to the Bark forests
of Alausi in the western slopes of the Andes,
in a
letter to Sir William Hooker. This was printed
in the Journal of the Linnean Society, but as it is
full of interesting matter I include it here, only
omitting such passages as refer to his future proceedings
in another district, the full account of
which will occupy the next chapter.]
To Mr. George Bentham
AMUATO, March 3, 1859.
We are still at war with Peru, and the blockade
of Guayaquil continues, the Pacific steamers being
allowed to land only the mails and passengers.
The indiscriminate pressing of men and horses
for the Ecuadorean army, and the scarcity and
dearness of the necessaries of lite (potatoes, for
example, have been at ten times the price they
bore when Seemann visited this country), have much
impeded and restricted the field of my operations.
In the beginning of summer (end of I
July 1858)
went to Quito, and my first intention was to visit
some unexplored localities in that neighbourhood,
and thus occupy myself until the next rainy season ;
but I suffered so much in that rarefied atmosphere
that I soon sought a more genial clime, and as 1
hoped an excellent field of operations, in the forest
of Pallatanga, which is near hall-way from I\iobamba
towards the narrow plain bordering the
Pacific, and at a height of 5000 to 7000 feet. You