in Colombia beiwecn the Years 1820 and 1830. 103 



enter the region o^ Paramos (13,000 to 15,000 feet) properly 

 so called, which present to the eye unvaried deserts clothed 

 with long grass, constituting the pasture grounds of the Andes. 

 Humboldt is inclined to fix below this region the limit of 

 forest trees ; [Geo. PL, p. 148) and in fact very few are gene- 

 rally met with near this elevation on those flanks of the Coi*- 

 dillera which join the inhabited table lands. But I have 

 observed on crossing the side of Pichincha, towards the un- 

 inhabited forests of Esmeraldas, that the forests occur nearly 

 through the whole space which, on the eastern slope, is a naked 

 paramo. Is this owing to a difference of climate ? Or has the 

 practice of burning the paramos, universal in the Andes, to- 

 gether with the demand for fire-wood in the vicinity of large 

 towns, contributed to give this region the bare aspect it has 

 at present ?, Further observations on the mountain slopes 

 towards Maynas and Macas are necessary to throw light on 

 this point. It is certain from the present aspect of the inha- 

 bited plain of Quito, where we meet with a few scattered trees 

 ot'A7-ai/a7i [Mi/rtus) and artificial plantations o^ Capuli,{Pnmiis 

 salicifolia) we should conclude that the region of forests had 

 scarcely ascended to the height of 8000 feet, yet some of the 

 houses of Quito are still standing, built with timber cut on 

 the spot. 



A circumstance which cannot have escaped the notice of 

 those who have ascended towards the limit of perpetual snow, 

 is the variety and luxuriance of the Flora at the very point 

 where the powers of vegetation are on the brink of total sus- 

 pension. At above 15,000 feet the ground is covered with 

 Ge?iiia7ias, purple, azure and scarlet ; the Drabas, the Alclie- 

 ?nillas; the Culatitim rufescens with its woolly hood; the rich 

 Ranunaihis Gusmatmi ; the Lupinus nanus with its cones of 

 blue flowers enveloped in white down ; the Sida Pichinc/ie?isis 

 spotting the ground with purple ; the C/mqueraga insignis ; all 

 limited within a zone of about 500 feet, from whence they 

 seem scarcely to be separated by any effort at artificial culti- 

 vation. Several attempts 1 have made to raise the Gentians, 

 Sida, and other plants of the summits of the Andes, at the 

 height of Quito, have been invariably unsuccessful. The 

 attempts indeed to domesticate plants in a situation less ele- 

 vated is attended with greater difficulties than the transport 

 of plants from one climate to another. Besides the difference 

 of atmospheric pressure, as Humboldt has observed, plants 

 transferred iVom one elevation to another never meet, Ibr a 

 single day, with the mean temperature to which they have 

 been accustomed ; whereas transferred from one latitude to 

 another, the difference is rather in its duration than in its in- 



