of an Orchid Hunter, 41 



dry sand. When the last man had swallowed his 

 dram, we were told in sharp, squeaking Spanish to take 

 our seats, and soon the ponderous machine was put 

 in motion. The whole of the distance from here to 

 Barranquilla occupies about an hour, and the entire 

 railway is laid through thick jungle, novel enough 

 to the foreigner, but, compared with the magnificent 

 forests to be found in the interior, only mere scrub. 

 Finally, we arrived at Barranquilla ; and now comes 

 the question of passing our baggage through the 

 Customs. In every port in the world I suppose this is 

 a source of much trouble and annoyance to passengers, 

 but above all at Barranquilla ; and for anyone to arrive 

 in possession of two guns is almost sure to result in 

 the confiscation of one of them. I arrived here on a 

 Saturday, and found it impossible to pass my baggage 

 through the Customs until Monday ; so, leaving my 

 few traps under the lock and key of the officers, I 

 went off into the town to what is called the Hotel 

 Francais, by no means the Grand Hotel of the 

 place, but a respectable lodging-house, kept by a 

 kindly French matron. The food supplied in the 

 hotels of Barranquilla is somewhat extraordinary to 

 the taste of a foreigner — of which I shall have more 

 to say later — but the bedrooms I can scarcely pass 

 over here without a remark. These are as large 

 and commodious as it is possible to make them, 



