NATURAL AREAS AND REGIONS 



629 



Bignoniaceae, Apocynaceae, etc. Epi- 

 phj^tes, excepting ferns and mosses, 

 are probably not abundant. 



Along the many streams is frequently 

 a lower growth, dense and intricate, 

 made up of such plants as readily 

 survive inundation. This "rebalsa" 

 passes gradually into the neighboring 

 forest. 



No summary of the rich bird-life has 

 been included in Dr. Chapman's study. 

 This forest possesses "practically a 

 pure Amazonian mammal fauna, many 

 forms being even subspecifically iden- 

 tical with those from eastern Brazil. 

 A rare rodent {Dinomys) peculiar to 

 the east base of the central Andes has 

 been taken in the region." 



In the Caquetd Forest showers occur 

 throughout the year, the rains being 

 nearly continuous from April to Sep- 

 tember and most heavy in June; the 

 lightest rainfall is in January and 

 February. 



Only near a few settlements has this 

 forest been cleared. 



The Caqueta Forest is traversed 

 chiefly by the gatherers of rubber. It 

 is everywhere difficult of access. A 

 few trails cross the Eastern Cordillera 

 from the upper Magdalena Valley. 

 One south from Neiva in Huila leads to 

 the small town of Florencia. Another 

 from Bogota crosses to Villavicencio 

 and south to San Martin; thence one 

 may go southward into the forests 

 along and beyond the Rio Guaviare. 

 The lower portion of the Caqueta Forest 

 is best accessible by vessels up the 

 Amazon and tributaries, the Yapura 

 (or Rio Caqueta) and the lea (or Rio 

 Putomayo). 



B. Grassland and savanna 



The lowlands of Colombia lack ever- 

 green forests wherever the rainfall is 

 deficient in quantity or is distributed so 

 unevenly throughout the year as to 

 permit of a long dry season. Mostly 

 such lowland is covered with a turf of 

 grasses, although extensive areas of 

 xerophytic bushes and brushy deciduous 



forest occur. Such unforested lowland 

 areas are termed "llanos" 



1. Llanos of Bolivar and U par. Along 

 the Caribbean coast from the Magdalena 

 delta to beyond the Gulf of Morrosquillo, 

 thence inland across the lower Rio 

 Sinii to the mouth of the Rio Cauca and 

 east of the single stream of the lower 

 Rio Magdalena so as to include the 

 Valley of Upar drained by the Rio 

 Cesar, is an extensive flatland covered 

 originally chiefly by prairie. Except 

 where permanent streams favor the 

 development of ranker types, the prai- 

 ries were covered by coarse wiry grasses, 

 conspicuous being the species of Andro- 

 pogon and Arislida. With these oc- 

 curred doubtless a sparse herbaceous 

 flora of other plants, similar to that of 

 other areas of llanos. 



On slopes or low hills, where ridges 

 cross the plain as west of Sincelejo or 

 in the hills between Cartagena and the 

 Rio Magdalena, occur large sections of 

 bushy scrub or of low deciduous forest. 

 This forest is quite like that of the 

 monsoon belt of India, and, in Colombia 

 also, the months of its leafless state are 

 those of most conspicuous bloom. In 

 the alluvial bottom-lands of the Mag- 

 dalena and Sinu grow huge buttressed 

 trees of Bomhax (ceiba) and Anacardium 

 (caracoli), while the meadows may 

 be dotted plentifully with the low 

 spreading corozo palm. In northern 

 Bolivar are extensive low hills covered 

 with dense bushy scrub. Along the 

 coast near Cartagena and southward 

 are open salt marshes covered with 

 coarse low grasses, sedges and rushes, 

 marshes wholly similar to those of the 

 Atlantic seashore of the United States 

 and West Indies. 



These Llanos possess the "general 

 mammal fauna of arid lowland tropics, 

 mostly of eastern derivation. This 

 fauna includes the antbear, tamandua 

 anteater, nine-banded armadillo, col- 

 lared peccary, savanna white-tailed 

 deer, savanna brocket deer, tapir, tayra, 

 hog-nosed skunk, savanna fox, ocelot, 

 and puma." 



The region is characterized by one 



