16 
diminish the expence of land-carriage by sending before me to 
the port of Ocana, all such things as I can dispense \rith till I 
arrive there. The mule I mentioned before, is in good condition, 
and quite fit for the journey. 
Enclosed are some flowers of a splendid Orchidea : several 
growing plants of it are forwarded; but I have been unable to 
dry good specimens. 
I shall wTite from Ocana, which is probably the first good 
botanizing ground I shall reach, six hundred miles distant, the 
country between is said to be aU savanna. The weather con¬ 
tinues very warm, 90° in the shade, and 87° during night: 
happily there is no rain, w^hich is a most favourable circumstance 
for my journey; several rivers, difficult to be forded, occurring 
within a few days’ travelling from hence. My health continues 
good. 
Ocana, July 20th, 1845. 
Since writing from Santa Martha, I have reached this place, 
traversing a burning plain from five to six hundred miles wude, 
and destitute of all vegetable interest, except as regards its 
numerous Palms. So very trying a journey I never made ; but 
my health was good, though I had one or two slight touches of 
fever. At the village of Semana, seventeen leagues from hence, 
and near the great river Magdalena, I entered the mountains by 
the Paroquia del Carmen, and saw, for the first time, the Tagua, 
or Ivory-Nut Palm {Phytelephas). Rising gradually between two 
ranges of mountains of great elevation, I reached Ocana, which 
is situated on an undulated amphitheatre of bare grassy hiUs, 
those in the distance only being clad with primitive forest. The 
elevation of the city is 2500 feet, the surrounding hiUs about 
1500 feet more : there are 6,000 inhabitants. Nothing can be 
more delicious than the chmate, the temperature varying from 
65° to 75° Pahr. At Ocana, for the first time in South America, 
I have seen httle gardens attached to the houses. Apples are 
grown with some success, and wheat is raised on the hiUs suffi¬ 
cient for the consumption of the town. I cannot praise the 
quality of the bread. 
Bad weather prevented my doing much for some days after 
my arrival. I have been obliged to purchase mules for the 
journey to Bogota; the hire of each animal to go thither being 
charged forty-five dollars, while the price to buy them is only 
five dollars more;—viz., fifty dollars for cargo mules, and from 
one hundred to one hundred and fifty dollars for those which are 
