Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

TO THE CINCHONA FORESTS 26;
intervals by level steppes, rarely exceeding a hundred yards across.
The soil, from the summit down to the very plain, is a yellowish
or reddish loam, wherein the sandy element prevails in some parts
and in others the clayey, and it is of immense thickness, as we
could see in the deep gullies worn in the mountain side by UK
rains and in the landslips. Angular masses of rock are sparingly
embedded in it and scattered on the surface, but rounded pel
are rare.
The vegetation in the pass consisted of Vaccinia (especially
V. Martina, Benth.), Gaultheripe, Melastomaceas, Compositre, etc.,
disposed in compact shrubberies, with intervening grassy glades.
But we had scarcely turned the ridge before the forest became
dense and continuous, at first low and bushy, but increasing in
height at every step. At about 9500 feet we came on the first
Cascarilla Serrana or Hill Bark, and it accompanied us downwards
to, perhaps, 8000 feet. It is called indifferently Cuchicara
and Pata de Gallinazo, which I believe to be terms merely in-
dicative of the relative facility with which the bark may be stripped
off in different individuals, either of the same or of various
species.
At 3 P.M. we reached the Rio de Tablas, a considerable stream
its roar had been audible
of clear water, foaming over large stones ;
tor the last hour of our steep descent. We crossed it, and on a
deserted clearing of some two acres drew up for the night, uniting
all our rubber ponchos to make a fall-to roof, to shield us from
the night dews. The animals were turned loose to graze on the
scanty grass in the clearing and on the leaves of a Chus