308 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1936 



palm. He named it Ceroxylon andicola^ the wax palm of the Andes. 

 It was already known locally as the jyalina de cera. The genus name, 

 Ceroxylon^ comes from two Greek words, keros (beeswax) and xylon 

 (wood) ; the specific name, andicola, means of or belonging to the 

 Andes. Humboldt at once remarked the unusual character of this 

 palm — the high altitude at which it grows; its towering height, con- 

 stituting, as Humboldt said, "a forest above the forest" ; and the fact 

 that the trunk is coated with a shining white wax, making it look 

 like an alabaster column. Nothing like it had ever been known. 



Perhaps no high mountain pass in South America is more re- 

 nowned than the famous Quindio Pass, for hundreds of years one of 

 the principal routes of travel across the Andes north of the Equator 

 (the pass is located at4°36' north latitude). The Central Cordilleras 

 separate the waters of the Cauca River on the west and the Magda- 

 lena River on the east. The Quindio Trail connects the towns of 

 Cartago on the west and Ibague on the east, the crest of the trail 

 being at about 11,435 feet above sea level (see Andre's map, fig. 2). 

 Somewhat to the northeast of the pass, the snow-capped peak of 

 Tolima rises to an altitude of 18,432 feet. Tolima is probably the 

 most elevated of a cluster of peaks in this part of the Central Cor- 

 dilleras, if not the highest peak in Colombia. The descriptions of 

 this trail written by various travelers make fascinating reading; it 

 is particularly interesting to compare the impressions and experiences 

 of these explorers and to note that individual accounts, covering a 

 period of more than a century, agree concerning the great beauty of 

 the region traversed and the difficulty of the passage. 



The following is a rather recent description of the trail : "^ 



We are now [leaving La Balsa on August 8, 1913] well started on the 

 Quindio trail which, beginning at Cartago on the edge of the Plain of Call, 

 2,950 feet above sea-level, climbs 8,400 feet in a distance of 42 miles, and, cross- 

 ing the Central Andes, or Cordillera del Quindio, at a local depression called 

 the Boqueron or opening, descends to Ibagu4 (4,200 feet) on the edge of the 

 great sloping plains of the Upper Magdalena. The distance along the trail 

 between the two cities is only about 75 miles, but such is the character of even 

 the "improved" trail of today that it is a good 3 to 4 days' journey even 

 under the best conditions. In dry weather it is not particularly difficult, but 

 its character during times of rain is such that it has an unenviable reputation 

 throughout the length and breadth of Colombia, and even into Ecuador. In 

 the northern part of the Cordillera del Quindio it rains during April, May, and 

 June ; there is then, in July, a slight break, or "short summer", then rain for 

 August, September, and October, and then a "long summer" of dry weather 

 running through November, December, January, February, and March. 



Humboldt's journey over the pass in 1801 is graphically described 

 in Vues des Cordilleres, published in 1810, although first mention of 

 the wax palm is found in Essai sur la Geographie (1805). At the 



Veatch, A. C, Quito to Bogota, p. 201, 1917. 



