58 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



but a few feet above the ground, but all surmounted by a 

 glorious halo of golden blossoms. 



We left the forest with its giant moss-covered trees, en- 

 snaring creepers, and breathless silence that suggests a 

 thousand mysteries, at about noon. It ends abruptly and 

 is replaced by a narrow strip of low, dwarfed trees and 

 bushes with small leaves that are either very stiff or are 

 covered with thick down. There were also clumps of blue- 

 berry-bushes, but the fruit was woody, bitter and inedible 

 for human beings. Lupines and gentians grew in the hol- 

 lows and numerous composites thrived on the slopes; among 

 the latter was one with showy purple flowers that the peons 

 called "arnica." 



After a stiff climb of an hour we gained the summit of a 

 rise; the whole panorama of the paramo was spread out 

 before us — a marvellous series of brown plateaus, sunken 

 valleys with tiny rivulets meandering through them, and 

 stern ridges dotted with blackened, rocky peaks. The 

 snow-fields of the higher altitudes were entirely obliterated 

 by banks of cold, gray clouds. 



The word paramo means an elevated plain, barren of 

 trees, uncultivated, uninhabited, and exposed to the icy 

 blasts of wind from the higher elevations. This description 

 exactly fitted the country before us. We descended into 

 one of the valleys, at the head of which lay a placid lake of 

 small size, and made camp at the base of one of the pro- 

 tecting walls of rock that flanked it. The elevation of the 

 valley is about twelve thousand seven hundred feet, and 

 the main peaks of the range hemming in the paramo rise 

 to a height of sixteen thousand feet or more. 



Long, wiry grass covered the valley floor; the top was 

 bent over, forming a billowy expanse of brown, variegated 

 here and there with a diminutive patch of green. Lifting 

 any one of the tufts disclosed a labyrinth of tunnels and 

 runways apparently made by small mammals; but, strange 

 to say, we saw a small number only of rabbits, and few rats 

 came to our traps. If the network of tunnels harbored 



