of an Orchid Hunter. 6i 



construction. The climate here is bad, being charged 



with miasma, especially after the rain)- season. The 

 heat is also very oppressive. 



On account of the river being full of water, and 

 favoured with a beautiful moonlight, the boat kept 

 on up the stream. The mosquitoes arriving in hordes, 

 we were obliged to take refuge under our mosquito- 

 nets until morning, when we woke up to find ourselves 

 fifty miles further up the river, but, unpleasantly, to 

 find as well that we were wet to the skin with the 

 heavy dew which had fallen during the night. The 

 ordinary route from the river Magdalena to the 

 interior town of Bucaramanga is by means of canoe 

 on the river Lebrija, but, in my desire to get a sight 

 of the South American forests, I left for the time being 

 these more frequented ways and determined to take 

 the path directly through the forest ; and with that 

 intention, after three days' journey, I left the steam- 

 boat at a small village called Puerto Wilches, 

 situated in one of the most luxuriant and beautiful 

 parts of the valley of the Magdalena. The entire 

 settlement consisted of about two dozen miserable 

 huts. The people by their swarthy colour appeared 

 to be half Spaniard and half Indian. They live 

 in a situation where the land is so rich that with 

 the least exertion it would produce two or three 

 crops yearly. In their mud-huts the very barest 



