THE LAJAS 163 



striking. I seldom saw any orchids in the forest itself, 

 but wherever there happened to be open spots of granite 

 or sandstone formation, orchids and flowering shrubs 

 were plentiful. But it is not only in their flora thai; 

 the lajas differ from the surrounding country. Their 

 fauna is distinct. The birds we killed, the butterflies we 

 caught, the lizards we saw, are peculiar to these places 

 and are not met with in the forest. A species of jack- 

 rabbit is abundant on the lajas, but as they are nocturnal 

 wanderers only, we never saw any. They spend the day 

 in the clefts of the rock and under the layers which peel 

 off from the blocks of granite scattered over the surface 

 of the main mass. 



It is close to the Laja de los Perros,^ which being the 

 nearest to the settlement was the one most frequently 

 visited by us, that there exists a huge slab of rock resting 

 on two upright masses forming a natural shelter Imown 

 to the tonca-bean collectors as La casa del viejo Guachee 

 (the house of old Guachee). When collecting in 1898 I 

 used to stop before the old man's house and have a chat 

 with him and his wife. The pair had departed and the 

 house was tenantless, a heap of ashes where the woman 

 had been in the habit of cooking being all they had left 

 behind them. 



The track which runs before old Guachee's house 

 connects all the larger masses of open rock. After leav- 

 ing the Laja de los Perros the first of these masses to be 

 reached is the Laja Grande} Many rancJios are built in 

 the vicinity of the laja during the tonca-bean crop, for 

 its size and the flatness of its surface offer great conve- 

 nience for the preparation of the beans. About a mile 

 beyond in a north-easterly direction is the steep Laja 



' The Rock of the Dogs. - The Great Eock. 



M 2 



