uilding of no architectural pretensions, and
greatly resembling a barn. Buenaventura is the port of a considerable
district, embracing the valley of the Cauca. The climate, however,
owing to the constant damp and heat, which produce intermittent fevers,
prevents foreigners from residing here; indeed, it rains nearly every
day in the year.

Most of my father's time on shore was occupied in visiting persons
suffering from ague, and in prescribing for them. What a blessing,
indeed, can a clever medical man prove in such regions! He is like a
heaven-sent messenger carrying relief to the sick and suffering.

The weather moderating, the schooner continued her voyage, and at length
reached Guayaquil, the port of Quito, to the south of which it is
situated, at the head of the Gulf of Guayaquil. Here Don Tomaso proved
as good as his word, and obtained leave from the governor for my father
to travel with his attendants through the country.

While on shore at Guayaquil, he heard that in the region of the little
town of Loja, three days' journey off, grew in the greatest profusion
the cinchona, or Peruvian bark tree, at that time but comparatively
little known in Europe. Although my father was well acquainted with the
beneficial effect produced by the bark in cases of intermittent fever,
he was anxious to ascertain, by personal examination, the other
peculiarities of the tree. He obtained leave, therefore, from the
governor, to proceed in the first instance to Loja. That place he
reached without difficulty. On his arrival in the town, he found that a
Spanish doctor was residing there for the same object, but that he was
now laid up by a severe attack of illness, unable to continue his
researches. My father immediately called on him, and found that he was
no other than Doctor Cazalla, a physician widely celebrated for his
scientific knowledge and talents. Introducing himself as a medical man,
my father offered to prescribe for his brother physician, and in a short
time had the satisfaction of restoring him to health. The two doctors
then set out together on an expedition of botanical research, in which
both Dicky and Paul accompanied them.

The time thus spent together having resulted in the establishment of a
warm friendship between my father and the Spanish doctor, the latter
prevailed upon him to visit Popayan, his native place, on the way to
Cartagena. Their journey over that mountain region amid which
Chimboraz