■i 
I expected to have arrived at Rio Hacha ere this time, but 
have been detained some days by the illness of one of my mules, 
which is now better. Among the seeds from the Nivada, you 
will find some of a curious Colmnnea ; it grows upright and pro¬ 
duces its flowers in large whorls, six inches across; the calyx, 
is scarlet, very large and showy, and the whole habit of the 
plant is striking. The flowers protrude but slightly beyond the 
calyx. 
The weather is exceedingly unsettled: the plains are warm: 
the thermometer varying from 90°. to 96°. in the shade; a heat 
which is the more oppressive, from the absence, thus far inland, 
of the sea breeze. 
I find it is impracticable to reach Maracaybo by land. The 
Indians and some other tribes being now hostile to the Colum¬ 
bian Spaniards, it is said they will allow no one to traverse their 
territory. I am soriy to hear that the man bringing the post, 
was murdered the other day between Rio de la Hacha and Santa 
Martha, after being robbed of three hundred dollars. 
Rio de la Hacha, Oct. 19th, 1844. 
I arrived here yesterday from the interior, bringing my collec¬ 
tions with me. During this last excm’sion I have explored the 
south side of the Nivada de Sta. Martha in all its accessible parts. 
I sent hither before me, three mules’ loads of plants, chiefly 
Orchidece, from the Sierras de Maracaybo; my visit to which 
occupied a month beyond the time on which I had calculated; 
but finding myself, when I reached the village of Mohna, in the 
Valle Dupar, close to the above named Sierras, I judged it right 
to investigate the first great range. Though the wet weather 
was unfriendly to travelling, I gathered more Orchideotis plants 
on these beautiful mountains, than have fallen to my lot during 
all my journeys in the Nivada. This Nivada is one solitary 
stupendous cluster, severed from the Sierras de Maracaybo, by 
the Valle Dupar, which is from ten to twenty-five miles in width 
and stretches its broad savannahs to the great plain of the Mag¬ 
dalena river on the west, and the extensive savannah of the 
Guajira to the east; w^hile a few hills, scattered on the flat land, 
seem to form an imperfect connexion between these two vast 
ridges. 
Among other Orchidea, I have found a splendid Limodorum 
(no. 22) resembling Z. Tankervillia, but of much finer growth: 
its scapes are simple, three feet high, sepals pure white, and 
labellum dark piuple: the blossoms are rather smaller than those 
of Z. TankervUlia. It is rare and confined to one mountain 
D 
