CARTAGO TO RUIZ AND SANTA ISABEL 55 



to make me want to duplicate it or expose any other mem- 

 bers of the party to a similar ordeal. 



September 12 found us wending our way along the Quin- 

 dio River toward its headwaters. The valley floor is cov- 

 ered with grass that is kept close-cropped by cattle and 

 horses. Low shrubbery grows along the river-bank; the 

 stream — not over one hundred feet wide — is clear and swift 

 and the icy water rushes over a boulder-strewn bed. A 

 scattered growth of tall palms dots the entire valley and 

 extends up the mountainsides to an elevation of about 

 nine thousand five hundred feet. 



The trail is so indistinct that Allen and I, who were rid- 

 ing in advance of the pack-mules, lost it and spent two 

 hours in a vain endeavor to recover the way; then we saw 

 the cargoes and peons far below, resembling moving black 

 dots, and hurriedly rejoined them just as they were leav- 

 ing the valley for the abrupt slope. The trail from here 

 onward was steep and rough. Before us stretched a seem- 

 ingly endless succession of ridges, farallones, tall rocks, and 

 high precipices that reach a climax in the brown paramo 

 of Santa Isabel, backed by walls of gleaming snow. In 

 looking back over the way we had just come we could see 

 the Quindio and the thousands of palms growing in its val- 

 ley spread before us like a map. 



The lower slopes were barren, having but recently been 

 burned over; fire was still raging in a number of places and 

 the hissing and popping of burning vegetation could be 

 heard frequently with distinctness. Tall, smouldering 

 stumps were clustered here and there like blackened chim- 

 neys from the tops of which wisps and columns of smoke 

 ascended into a hazy sky. The pungent odor of burning 

 green plants was at times almost suffocating. 



Forest begins at nine thousand five hundred feet. It is 

 at first somewhat open and reminded us of Laguneta. The 

 rich mould of the forest floor was very deep and caused us 

 much anxiety lest some of the pack-animals be lost, for 

 they sank into it to a great depth, and there was constant 



