Colombia between the Years 1820 and 1S30. 19 



elude that the region of forests had scarcely ascended to the 

 height of SjOOO feet, yet sonje 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 suspension. At 

 above 15,000 feet the ground is covered with GcntianaSy purple, 

 azure and scarlet J the Drahas^ the Alchemillas ; the Culatiii7n 

 rufescens with its woolly hood; the rich Ranunculas Gusmanni ; 

 the Liipinus nanus with its cones of blue flowers enveloped in 

 white down ; the Sida Pichinchensis spotting the ground with 

 pm'ple ; the Chuqneraga i?isig7iis ; all limited within a zone of 

 about 500 feet, from whence they seem scarcely to be separated 

 by any effort at artificial cultivation. Several atternpts I have 

 made to raise the Gentians, Sida^,3.nd other plants of the summits 

 of the AndeS; at the height of Quito^ have been invariably unsuc- 

 cessful. The attempts indeed to domesticate plants in a situation 

 less elevated, is attended with greater diiRculties than the trans- 

 port of plants from one climate to another. Besides the differ- 

 ence of atmospheric pressure, as Humboldt has observed, plants 

 transferred from one elevation to another never meet, for a single 

 day, with the mean temperature to which they have been accus- 

 tomed ; whereas, transferred from one latitude to another, the 

 difference is rather in its duration than in its intensity. It is 

 easier to accustom a plant of the lowlands to this elevation, than 

 to bring down those of the pa7^amos. Thus the orange and lem- 

 on trees, Agnacates (Lauru^ persea) Ricinus cominunis^ Datura 

 arhorea^ all natives of the hot lowlands, grow and flourish^ more 

 or less at an elevation of S,000 feet above the level of the sea, 



r 



On the Method of Measiaing Heights by Boiling Water. 



It will be observed in the following Journal, that the indication 

 of heights is, in most cases, joined with that of boiling water. 

 The former is in fact a deduction from the latter ; I had but a 

 confused idea of this method, till, upon my arrival at Quito, I 

 met with a pamphlet of the late D. Francisco Jose Caldas, (one 

 of the most eminent victims sacrificed by the barbarity of Mu- 

 rillo on taking possession of Bogota in 1816,) published in 1819 



at Bourdeaux, in which he details the steps by which he arrive^ 



