The temperature of this region ranges according to Humboldt and Caldas from 41° to 72° Fahr., and according to Mr. Cross from 34° to 70° Fahr.; but he adds that it seldom falls below 40°, and rarely rises above 65°; the mean range being from 45° to 60° Fahr. The climate of Loxa is very moist. The wet season commences in January and lasts until the end of April or middle of May; in June, July, and August there are heavy rains, accompanied by strong gales of wind; from September to January there is generally fine weather, but occasional showers of rain fall even at that time of year.[381]
The vegetation on the Sierra de Cajanuma is of a semi-arborescent character, but some of the higher summits are bare. In the bottoms of the ravines grow a species of Alnus, Melastomæ, Peperomias, palms, and two species of tree ferns; and on the slopes throughout the low-lying country, barley, maize, peas, and potatoes are cultivated. Mr. Cross sent home a large collection of dried specimens of plants gathered on the Sierra de Cajanuma. Among them I observed a Befaria with pretty crimson flowers, of which he says that one ounce of the roots in two pints of water is taken twice a day by the Indians for dysentery; a very handsome purple lupin, growing six to eight feet high; an Embothrium, a wide-spreading shrub, growing in dry situations; another smaller Befaria, a beautiful shrub, growing in very lofty dry localities; a Veronica, a shrub six to eight feet high, with a blue flower; a Gaultheria; a wide-spreading melastomaceous plant, with inconspicuous flowers; and a number of Lycopodia and ferns.
CHINCHONA CHAHUARGUERA.
(From Howard's 'Nueva Quinologia de Pavon.')
Page 329.
Besides the seeds of the C. Condaminea, which is identical with the C. Chahuarguera (Pavon), Mr. Cross succeeded in collecting a few seeds of C. crispa (Tafalla) after several long journeys up the mountains. He found this kind growing at a great elevation, in a deposit of peat, where the temperature sometimes falls to 27° Fahr. This species of chinchona yields the cascarilla crespilla negra, one of the most esteemed forms of Loxa bark. Mr. Howard[382] mentions that the Josephiana bears the same relation to the normal C. Calisaya as the Crespilla bark at Loxa does to the normal and full-grown C. Chahuarguera.
Mr. Cross did his work right well, and in December, 1861, he returned to Guayaquil with nearly 100,000 seeds of C. Chahuarguera, and a smaller parcel of C. crispa, which were forwarded to India by way of Southampton.[383]
Thus were the various operations which I organized for procuring the valuable species of chinchona-trees in South America satisfactorily completed; and the labours of Mr. Spruce, Dr. Taylor, Mr. Pritchett, Mr. Cross, and Mr. Weir, though differing in value and importance, all deserve the warmest recognition, for all those intrepid and courageous explorers worked zealously and successfully, and did good service in furthering this most important public enterprise.