ASCENT OF THE PARAMILLO 127 



was arranged that they should stay with us for the night, 

 start back to Peque the next morning, and return for us 

 after ten days. Our cook was of course to remain with us. 



The Paramillo region is composed of a series of sharply 

 inclined peaks, the highest of which has an elevation of 

 thirteen thousand feet, and is interspersed with ravines 

 and deep fissures. The surface consists mainly of dark 

 sandstone, so shattered over vast areas that a thin litter of 

 particles covers the fundamental rock. Occasionally a 

 thin vein of white quartz crops out to the surface, especially 

 where, as often occurs, the strata stand in a perpendicular 

 position. 



At night the temperature dropped to 28° F. ; and ice half 

 an inch thick formed on the reservoir; in the morning the 

 ground was white with frost. The sparse vegetation on 

 the slope consists of frailejones, blueberry-bushes and tall, 

 tough grass; stunted trees and bushes, all covered with 

 moss, grow in the deeper ravines. Hunting in these latter 

 places was a never-ending source of delight; there was no 

 water so it was possible to walk unrestrictedly underneath 

 the green vault of brush which fringed the sides and met 

 overhead. Many little mammals' trails zigzagged over the 

 moss-covered rocks, and burrows opened into the steep 

 banks; if we stole noiselessly along, or better still, sat quietly 

 for a few minutes, the inquiring eyes of a paca, a large, 

 spotted, tailless rodent, were sure to peer timidly out of 

 some dark opening, to be followed later by the animal's 

 entire body as it moved out stealthily to nibble on the tender 

 sprouts. Numbers of woolly, yellow rats (Melanomys) 

 also appeared to stare with beady, black eyes, and to 

 nervously twitch their noses; sometimes they came out 

 boldly to chase one another over well-defined runways and 

 through mossy tunnels; but more often, they were con- 

 tent merely to gaze from the entrance of some safe retreat 

 into which they vanished at the first suspicious move on 

 our part. Deer, too, were seen occasionally, but they were 

 not numerous; they grazed on the slopes in broad daylight, 



