of an Orchid Hunter. 105 



splendid herds of cattle and troops of half-wild horses, 

 while the tops of the mountains tower into the clouds, 

 which shroud them day and night with a veil of im- 

 penetrable mist. The plain on which the town is built, 

 as well as most of the adjoining land, has long been 

 celebrated for the gold found there, and especially in 

 the old-fashioned village of J iron, where the Spanish 

 conquerors found sufficient to load their ships with 

 hoards of treasure. The gold is very good ; but many 

 of the mines discovered by the Spaniards have been 

 lost or abandoned, and those which remain, although 

 they still yield largely, are not so profitable as in 

 former years. Once inside the town of Bucaramanga 

 the whole arrangement is most novel. The streets are 

 very narrow and paved, being highest at the sides, 

 and having a stream of water runninor down the middle 

 of each of the principal thoroughfares, serving at once 

 for the supply of the town and for sanitary purposes. 

 The water is generally taken from some stream 

 in the nearest mountain-side, and brought by conduits 

 to the town, where, in various branches, it is made 

 to pass through all the principal streets, and again, 

 in hundreds of branches, is carried to form the many 

 beautiful baths and fountains which are found in the 

 houses of the, rich Colombians. As a rule, the houses 

 which form the suburbs of the town are miserable 

 tumble-down constructions, and the streets are so 1111- 



