of Antisana, 13,306 ft., and the herdsmen's hut of Cunayaco on Chimborazo, 13,396 ft., are occupied only for a part of the year. The highest elevations are generally covered with ice and snow, and glaciers, according to Whymper, are to be found upon no less than nine of the culminating peaks, and possibly upon two or three more. These serve to modify the temperatures of the plateau, which is swept by cold winds at all seasons of the year. The prevailing wind is that of the north-east and south-east trade winds, broken and modified on the plateau and western lowlands by mountain barriers. Westerly and north-west winds are sometimes experienced, but are not permanent. _Flora._--The flora of the Quito basin has been well studied by various European botanists, more especially by Dr William Jameson (1796-1873) of the university of Quito, who began the preparation of a synopsis of the Ecuadorean flora in 1864-1865 (_Synopsis plantarum Quitensium_, 2 vols., Quito, 1865). The flora of the forested lowlands on both sides of the Andes has not been studied and described so fully. From the Pacific coast upward to a height of about 3000 to 4000 ft. the vegetation is distinctively tropical, including among its economic products cacao, cotton, sugar, tobacco, rice, maize, yucca (also known as cassava and mandioca), peanuts, bananas, sweet potatoes, yams, arracacha (_Conium moschatum_, H.B.K., or _Arracacha esculenta_), indigo, rubber (_Castilloa_), ivory-nuts, cinchona and bread-fruit. Most of these become rare at 3000 ft., but a few, like sugar-cane, are cultivated as high as 8000 ft. The alluvial valley of the Guayas, above Guayaquil, is celebrated for the richness of its vegetation, which, in fruit alone, includes cacao, coffee, coco-nuts, pine-apples, oranges, lemons, guayavas (_Psidium pomiferum_), guavas (_Inga spectabilis_), shaddocks (or grape-fruit), pomegranates, apricots, chirimoyas (_Anona Chirimolia_), granadillas (_Passiflora quadrangularis_), paltas (_Persea gratissima_, otherwise known as "alligator pears"), tunas (_Cactus_), mangoes (_Mangifera Indica_), pacays (_Prosopis dulcis_), aji (Chile pepper), and many others of less importance. Besides rubber, the forests produce a great variety of cabinet and construction woods, ivory-nuts (from the "tagua" palm, _Phytelephas macrocarpa_), "toquilla" fibre (_Carludovica palmata_) for the manufacture of so-called Panama hats, cabbage palms, several species of cinchona, vanilla and dyewoods. Among the large trees which are valued for their timber are redwood (_Humiria balsamifera_), Brazil-wood, algarrobo, palo de cruz (_Jacquinea ruscifolia_), guaiacum or holy wood, rosewood, cedar and walnut. From 6000 to 10,000 ft. above the sea, the indigenous species include the potato, maize, oca (_Oxalis tuberosa_), and quinua (_Chenopodium quinoa_), and the exotic species, wheat, barley, oats, alfalfa (_Medicago sativa_), and