Untitled - The Alfred Russel Wallace Website

i, i HIDDEN
TREASURE 491
track indicated by Valverde, but no one had
succeeded in reaching its terminus ;
and
I spoke
with two men at Bafios who had accompanied
such expeditions, and had nearly perished with cold
and hunger on the paramos of Llanganati, where
they had wandered for thirty days.
The whole
story seemed so improbable that I paid little
attention to it, and I set to work to examine the
vegetation of the adjacent volcano Tunguragua, at
whose north-eastern foot the village of Banos is
situated. In the month of September I visited
Cotalo, a small village on a plateau at about two-
thirds of the ascent of Guayrapata, the hill in front
of Tunguragua and above the confluence of the
rivers Patate and Chambo. From Cotalo, on a
clear night of full moon, I saw not only Tungu-
ragua, El Altar, Condorasto, and the Cordillera of
Cubilliii, stretching southwards towards the volcano
Sangay, but also to the eastward the snowy peak
of Llanganati. This is one of the few points from
which Llanganati can be seen ;
it appears again, in
a favourable state of the atmosphere, a good way
up the slopes of Tunguragua and Chimborazo.
At Banos I was told also of a Spanish botanist
who a great many years ago lost his life by an
accident near the neighbouring town of Patate, and
that several boxes belonging to him, and containing
dried plants and manuscripts, had been left at Banos,
where their contents were finally destroyed by
insects.
In the summers of the years 1858 and 1859 I
visited Quito and various points in the Western
Cordillera, and for many months the country was
so insecure, on account of internal dissensions, that