Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

IN THE CINCHONA FORESTS 305
The cases were all in readiness, and the raft
brought down the river and moored in front of the
farmhouse, but Mr. Cross did not arrive with the
plants until the i3th of December. Some difficulty
had been experienced in procuring the requisite
number of beasts of burden, and the making
of cylindrical baskets to contain the plants had
proved ;
a tedious task besides
that, the tying up
each plant in wet moss, and the packing them in
the baskets, were delicate operations which Mr.
Cross could trust to no hands but his own. There
had been not a few falls on the way, and some of
the baskets had got partially crushed by the wil-
fulness of the bulls in running through the bush ;
but the greater part of the plants turned out
wonderfully fresh. We had the cases taken down
to the raft, and Don Matias lent us a couple of men
to carry thither the earth, sand, and dead leaves
necessary for making the soil to put in the cases.
into the cases as he
Mr. Cross put as many plants
could possibly find room for, and only rejected a
few that were so much injured by their journey
from Limon that they were not likely to survive
the voyage to India, the whole number put in
being 637. As we might expect some rough treatment
on the descent to Guayaquil, we did not
venture to put on the glasses, but in their stead
canoe and the weight of its cargo. [ havi never known the lianas to i>n-ak :
and as I have sat in my canoe, an\ii>u-ly \\aii-liin- its .-lw upward pn^i. 5S,
my only raiv was thai the liana- urn- -rruivh fastened to iln prow, Ol 1
the sudden bursting of a whirlpool beneath tin- canoe -Imuld teai them
tin.- haiuls (if UK- Indians, as the) \\ iih diffii uli\ h.-ld their \\ay almi.^ th-- rock)
shore.
In the (luayaquil district, as mi the- Amazon, the aerial rts of \ariim-
Aroideae and Carludovicx- are the mnmum substitute- I'm- string.
Imi Ki^r
stems are always preferred win i i tn
n^ih i
i ssential.
VOL. II A