44 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



serious drawback to the best field-work. We had expected to spend 

 but two weeks here, but to our great disappointment no boat could be 

 secured, that belonging to the farm having been recently wrecked. 

 Therefore it became necessary to go by land to Dibulla in order to 

 secure a big canoe for the trip. The trail from Don Diego to Dibulla 

 follows the open sea-beach, but between Don Diego and the mouth of 

 the Rio Palomina are a series of cliffs, against which the sea dashes 

 in furious breakers when it is the least bit rough, so that it is oniy 

 possible to pass them when the sea is absolutely calm and at low tide, 

 and even then it cannot be done with loaded animals, since a dash 

 must always be made to get through between rollers. We had sent 

 our pack-animals back to Santa Marta, keeping only two saddle-mules, 

 which we intended taking on the whole trip. Therefore the writer and 

 his Colombian assistant set out with these two animals for Dibulla. 

 We passed the cliffs in safety, but not without several thorough duck- 

 ings, and one hard bump, when the writer was caught by a larger 

 wave than usual, picked up bodily, mule and all, and slammed against 

 the cliff. After two days of strenuous work in Dibulla a large sea- 

 going canoe was finally secured, with a crew of five men, who agreed 

 to make the trip for about double the ordinary price. 



We left in the evening and arrived at Don Diego before dawn, 

 having had a brisk wind astern all night. Then followed a half day 

 of frenzied packing, and at 4 P. M. we were loaded and attempted to 

 put to sea. There is here no harbor of any sort, merely an open beach, 

 and in passing the second line of breakers we were nearly swamped, 

 and forced to return to the shore, with much of our outfit wet and 

 damaged by the salt water. The next afternoon we made the attempt 

 again and succeeded in getting through with a good drenching while 

 passing the third line of rollers. Luck now seemed to have deserted us 

 completely. A head wind sprang up, while at the same time we were 

 fighting against a strong current, so that morning found us only in 

 front of the Rio Palomina. The whole of that day and the following 

 night was spent in reaching Dibulla, where we arrived at dawn, worn 

 out with thirty-eight hours of travel at sea in an open boat, and with 

 nothing hot to eat or drink. 



We went at once to a nearby cocoanut- and cattle-plantation, to the 

 manager of which we had a letter of introduction, and under whose 

 hospitable ministrations we speedily recovered from our recent un~ 



