MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 101 
two or three months to get to his region along the Venezuelan 
border, I decided to leave the details of forwarding the balance 
of the shipment in the hands of Mr. Black. ‘Twelve cases 
of this shipment have recently arrived at the Garden in good 
condition. 
‘‘After successfully getting the plants which I had been 
sent for, my thoughts now turned towards home. Unfortu- 
nately, most of the Magdalena ports were under quarantine 
for yellow fever which was prevalent in the Bucaramanga 
region, so I was advised to go by mule back over the moun- 
tains to the Pacific port of Buenaventura. I was particu- 
larly interested in making this hazardous trip inasmuch as 
it took me through the ‘Tulipan’ region. I was not the only 
person anxious to leave for home, as during the last week in 
Bogota my friends, including a Virginian, a Spaniard, and 
an Ecuadorean, the latter gentleman having been with me 
during my entire stay in Colombia, were all glad to get away. 
‘‘Before leaving Girardot we bought medical supplies, ete. 
We went from here to Flanders and here caught a train to 
Ibague, the capital of the Departmento de Tolima. It was 
here we decided to elect the Ecuadorean treasurer and gen- 
eral manager of the expedition. After locating the agent 
who furnishes mules for such trips we were informed that it 
would take nine mules and four horses to carry ourselves 
and freight, which included our trunks, two cases of orchids, 
an herbarium press, ete. We could hardly see how it would 
take nine mules to carry our freight, but we were informed 
that it was best to have extra mules in case of accident. That 
afternoon the men were busy equalizing the loads of the 
mules which necessitated unpacking one extra-large trunk 
and placing the contents in separate boxes. To make the 
packs waterproof, everything had to be wrapped in American 
tar-paper and roped on the outside. We left Ibague at day- 
break. My Spanish friend and myself were not expert horse- 
men. However, the Ecuadorean, who was brought up in the 
mountains of Ecuador, was qualified for the trip, and the 
Virginian had previously belonged to the United States cav- 
alry, so he was likewise an experienced horseman. We had 
three expert guides, each carrying his famous machete about 
two feet long. Their traveling equipment consisted of an old 
pair of pants, a shirt, and a ‘roana,’ the native cape; also 
