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504 NOTES OF A BOTANIST CHAP.
of the river Patate, at only a few miles' distance,
though the journey thither is much lengthened by
having to pass the deep quebrada of the Patate,
which occupies a full hour. The farm of Moya still
exists ; and the Cerro de Guapa is clearly visible to
east -north -east from where I am writing. The
three Llanganatis seen from the top of Guapa are
supposed to be the peaks Margasitas, Zunchu, and
el Volcan del Topo. The " Sangurimas " in the
forest are described to me as trees with white
foliage ; but I cannot make out whether they be a
species of Cecropia or of some allied genus. The
" "
Flechas are probably the gigantic arrow-cane,
Gynerium saccharoides (Arvore
Brazilians),
de frecha of the
whose flower-stalk is the usual material
for the Indian's arrows.
The morass (Cienega de Cubillin), the Jucal, 1
and the lakes called "Anteojos," with the nose of
land between them, are all exactly where Valverde
places them, as is also the. great black lake (Yana-
which we must leave on the left hand.
cocha)
Beyond the lake we reach the waterfall (Cascada y
Golpe de Limpis Pongo), of which the noise is
described to me as beyond all proportion to the
smallness of the volume of water. Near the water-
fall a cross is set up with the remark underneath,
" Muerte del Padre Longo " -this being the point
1
Juco is the name of a tall, solid-stemmed grass, usually about 20 feet
high, of which I have never seen the flower, but I take it to be a species of
Gynerium, differing from G. saccharoides in the leaves being uniformly disposed
on all sides and throughout the length of the stem, whereas in G. saccharoides
the stem is leafless below and the leaves are distichous and crowded together
(almost equitant) near the apex of the stem. The KICO grows exclusively in
the temperate and cool region, from 6000 feet upwards, and is the universal
material for laths and rods in the construction of houses in the Quitonian
Andes.