248 COTTAGE AT SANTA ANNA. CHAP. XIII. 



the country. The walls were of split and flattened 

 bamboo, tied together with the long fibres of a dried 

 climbing plant ; the roof was of palm-leaves, and the 

 ceiling of reeds. When an earthquake shook the 

 district for earthquakes were frequent the inmates of 

 such a fabric merely felt as if shaken in a basket, with- 

 out sustaining any harm. In front of the cottage lay 

 a woody ravine, extending almost to the base of the 

 Andes, gorgeously clothed in primeval vegetation 



^ -> L5- 



KG BERT STEPHENSON'rf COTTAGE AT SANTA ANNA. 



magnolias, palms, bamboos, tree-ferns, acacias, cedars ; 

 and, towering over all, the great almendrons, with their 

 smooth, silvery stems, bearing aloft noble clusters of 

 pure white blossom. The forest was haunted by my- 

 riads of gay insects, butterflies with wings of dazzling 

 lustre, birds of brilliant plumage, humming-birds, 

 golden orioles, toucans, and a host of solitary warblers. 

 But the glorious sunsets seen from his cottage-porch 

 more than all astonished and delighted the young en- 



