26 BAMBOOS AND FERNS. 



Indians taqua or quada, more than forty feet in 

 height. Nothing can equal the elegance of this ar- 

 horescent cane. The shape and disposition of the 

 leaves are strikingly contrasted with the smooth 

 and flexile trunk which bends towards the brink of 

 rivulets, as if delighting in their freshness. Giant 

 ferns also spring from out the fissures of the rocks, 

 their leaves resemble fans, and the rich brown that 

 enwraps the stem, forms another pleasing contrast to 

 the vivid tints of their dark green leaves, decorated 

 on the under surface with richly-coloured seeds in 

 dots or rows. " If," says Humboldt, when travers- 

 ing the magnificent solitude of the Andes, " I may 

 be allowed to speak of my own feelings, I should 

 say, that the bamboo and fern are, of all vegetable 

 forms between the tropics, those which most power- 

 fully affect the imagination of the traveller/' The 

 former grows especially on the eastern chain of the 

 Andes. While some abound in watery places, and 

 are cut down either for fuel, or to cover temporary 

 huts ; others spring profusely from out the fissures 

 of high rocks in such arid spots as are rarely watered 

 by streams. From the time of their first appearance 

 until they attain perfection, when they are either 

 gathered by the Indians, or naturally begin to dry, 

 they uniformly contain a quantity of liquid, but with 

 this remarkable difference, that when the moon is 

 full, they are filled with sweet clear water. When, 

 on the contrary, the moon begins to wane, the water 

 ebbs ; till, at the conjunction, little or none is to be 

 found. Ulloa, who crossed the deserts of Chim- 

 borazo in his way to Quito, mentions this ex- 

 traordinary fact. He states that the water during 



