74 THE AQUARIUM, OCTOBER, 1896. 
over my head. Half the box of matches 
is spent before I find a candle in the 
saddle-pocket. It is five o’clock, and, 
therefore, time for rising. Jose, who 
had gone for the mule, comes back with 
a piece of the strap of leather in his 
where, in a square mile, there is not a 
handful of grass to be met with. My 
boy runs back, and returns two hours 
afterwards, but without.the mule, and 
there is nothing for it but to wait till 
somebody coming the same way may 
THE HoME OF ORCHIDS. 
hand, wherewith the mule was tied to 
a pole the evening before—hungry dogs 
had eaten the leather and liberated the 
mule, which, of course, looked for a 
more hospitable land than the Paramo, 
be able to give us some information. 
That happened, happily, some time 
after. The owner of a great train of 
mules, who was going from Bucara- 
mauga to with tobacco, and who 
