80 IN THE WILDS OF SOUTH AMERICA 



forty cents to a few dollars, according to the texture of the 

 hat. 



At night the temperature falls rapidly as the cold winds 

 sweep down from the mountains and howl through the 

 streets. We have every reason to remember our night's 

 experience in Almaguer. The pack-animals had failed to 

 catch up and we carried nothing with us, so we spent the 

 long, cheerless hours until sunrise shivering in our bare, 

 dusty room in the posada. 



The first night from Almaguer was passed at an old mill 

 on the banks of the Caquiona, built by monks many years 

 ago. They had thoughtfully provided a large room to 

 house the Indians who formerly came to have their wheat 

 and corn ground, even to the extent of providing rough 

 bunks; and just outside stood a massive stocks, doubtless 

 also provided for the use of the Indians, but it must have 

 detracted somewhat from the effect of the hospitality ex- 

 tended by the good monks. There was plenty of tender, 

 luscious grass for the mules. Near the river large numbers 

 of butterflies settled on the moist sand to drink; the boul- 

 ders on the bottom of the clear, cold stream had many 

 houses of the caddis-fly cemented to them — little pebbly 

 mummy-cases in which the owner lay snugly ensconced in 

 the silky lining and quickly repaired the break if we opened 

 them. The next day we passed San Sebastian, the last 

 settlement, and climbed steadily higher toward the cold, 

 bleak paramo that marks the dividing-line between the 

 Cauca and the Magdalena. 



After four days we reached the marvellous Valle de las 

 Papas, just below the mist-enshrouded paramo, and took 

 refuge in the pretentious house of old Pedro, a full-blooded 

 Andaquia, while preparing for our final dash across the 

 great barrier. 



The Valle de las Papas is a great level stretch of marshy 

 land covered with a growth of tall grass and small clumps 

 of forest, between ten thousand and eleven thousand feet 

 up. The tops of the ridges hem it in on all sides and some- 



