G 
Valle Dupar, August 20th. 1844. 
I have just returned from La Fundacion, having forwarded 
three boxes of plants, chiefly Orchidea, and one of dried speci¬ 
mens. The former will, I hope be sent on without the least 
delay, but the dried plants can remain at Santa Martha till I 
return, as it is probable they may imbibe damp on the way and 
will require fresh papers, previous to their being despatched to 
England. 
Among the contents of the boxes are some very good Orchidecs, 
a pretty Achimenes, which seems new, a handsome terrestrial 
Cymbidium, several tufts of a Sobralia, an Oncidium, with dis¬ 
tant pseudo-bulbs, and ti^uning flower-stems, eight feet in 
length; I have only one indifierent specimen of it. The plants 
are all packed in sheaths of maize, to absorb any superabundant 
moisture, and are now in excellent order. I expect to reach, 
shortly, a good country for Or chide which is not the character 
of any district I have yet visited. This immense cluster of 
mountains can only be gained by two routes, that of San Sebas¬ 
tian, and of the Rio de la Hacha ; in every other direction, they 
are absolutely inaccessible. The distance, in a direct line, from 
Santa Martha to La Nivada, is forty-six miles, and by the 
route I pursued two hundred and seventy miles, two hundred 
and twenty of which led through an uninteresting plain, a ramifi¬ 
cation of the great plain of the Magdalena, aftbrding few plants. 
I am now on my road for three Indian villages, situated at the 
slight elevation of 2,000 feet, whence I hope to make my way 
to a higher latitute; 4,000 feet is probably the height most 
favourable to the production of Orchidea. After reaching Rio 
Hacha, I shall ascend the Nivada from that side, and I do not 
expect to return to Santa Martha before the beginning of October. 
From thence I plan to undertake two excursions to the interior, 
which is all that can be effected, because of the uninhabited nature 
of the country. Owing to the entire want of facilities of access, 
the fine soil and desfrable climate of these mountains are lost 
to the human race; and the thinly scattered population, chiefly 
of Spanish descent, is located in hot savannahs, of which the 
people’s looks plainly testify the unhealthy influence. The few 
villages on the mountains belong exclusively to the aboriginal 
Indians; the remote situation having preserved them from the 
ravages of Spanish conquest. A route leads to Bogota by Ocafia, 
which no botanist has visited, and it passes over some lofty moun¬ 
tains. 
You utU find a charming and fragrant orchideous plant in the 
box; it is numbered ‘ 9 ’. I gathered it to day in flower. 
