THE EQUATORIAL ZONE. 287 



In vain (as Humboldt reminds us) do we dwellers in the 

 northern parts of the globe desire to see the foreign forms 

 of warmer lands the Palms and Bananas, Tree-ferns and 

 Mimosas ; but the inhabitant of this equatorial region may, 

 if he will, pass through almost every variety of climate and 

 every form of vegetation, as he ascends the Andes ; and at 

 certain elevations he may find "mountain plains covered 

 with Cypresses, and Oaks, and Pines, with Barberry shrubs 

 and Alders, nearly allied to our own species." He may 

 look in vain, indeed, for our mountain Ehododendrons ; 

 but he will find representatives, nearly allied, and very much 

 like them, called Bejaria, above the height of 10,000 feet, 

 and most probably at other and lower elevations as well, in 

 company with an evergreen shrub called the Escallonia, 

 which, with Oaks, etc., forms a mountain region here (it 

 is something between a Currant and a Cranberry), and is 

 found at different heights, from 6000 to 14,760 feet. 

 Here too, at the height of some 9000 feet above the level 

 of the sea, grow several kinds of the pretty Calceolarias. 



Near the northern extremity of the coast chain of the 

 Andes, between Barbula and the Lake of Maracaybo, we 

 constantly meet with natives returning home with brimming 

 pails of milk, concerning which we are thrown into a state 



