In employing several agents in districts widely removed from each other, my chief object was to effect the introduction of as many valuable species as possible; but I also reflected on the extreme difficulty of the undertaking, and the overwhelming chances against success which confronted a single-handed attempt. In such wild unfrequented regions all is uncertainty. Along the dizzy paths of the Andes a single false step may dash the fairest hopes, disappoint the most careful calculations. Add to these dangers the probability of obstacles raised by the natives, and it will at once be seen that three independent expeditions materially increased the chances of ultimate success. By the end of 1859 I had completed all the preliminary arrangements; and there was at length a prospect of securing the successful introduction into India of a plant the inestimable value of which had been felt, and the importance of its cultivation discussed, for twenty years. On December 17th, 1859, we sailed from England, and, crossing the isthmus of Panama, arrived in Lima, the capital of Peru, on January 26th, 1860. Thirty Wardian cases for the plants had been sent out round Cape Horn, and I forwarded fifteen to Guayaquil for Mr. Spruce's collection, and fifteen to the port of Islay in Southern Peru, to await my return from the chinchona forests. After a month's residence in Lima we embarked on board one of the mail-steamers for the southward, and on the 2nd of March, 1860, we landed at Islay, which is more conveniently situated than any other port for a journey to the chinchona forests of Southern Peru or Bolivia. CHAPTER V. ISLAY AND AREQUIPA. THE port of Islay is the commercial outlet of the departments of Arequipa, Cuzco, and Puno, in Southern Peru; and thus a small town, dating from about 1830,[118] has risen up on the rocky barren coast, surrounded by a sandy desert, and shut in from the interior by a range of sterile mountains. The coast consists of inaccessible cliffs, perforated with deep caves by the incessant surge of the ocean, with several rocky islets off the shore. The anchorage[119] is formed by a slight indentation of the coast, and the landing is effected at a small iron jetty clamped to the rocks, under which the swell breaks and chafes with a ceaseless roar. A very steep path leads up the cliff to a custom-house, forming one side of the little _plaza_, which is constantly filled with droves of mules from the interior. A single street leading up from the plaza, with a few lanes off it, forms the town of Islay; and a brief statement of the trade of this port will give an idea of the importance of the country to which it forms an outlet. The principal articles of export are alpaca and sheep's wool, vicuña wool, copper, bark, and specie; the total value in 1859 being 336,842_l._,[120] and the value of the imports, consisting chiefly of European goods, is about equal to that of the exports.