122 Travels and Adventures 



weary with the endless expanse of moss and short, 

 stunted shrubs. When we came to some wayside 

 farm or plantation, the clumps of orange-trees, laden 

 with their wealth of golden fruit, somewhat broke 

 the monotony. A few flocks of sheep and stray 

 cattle wandered about over the immense waste lands, 

 but an almost entire absence of birds and other animal 

 Jife gave the tops of the Andes an appearance of 

 desert loneliness. As a rule, in the early morning and 

 in the evening the tops of the mountains are enve- 

 loped in thick mist, and the track was scarcely visible. 

 The rising sun gradually dispelled this from the peaks, 

 only leaving straggling patches in the valleys. 



At the town called Puente Nacional I was de- 

 lighted to find a somewhat better class of vegetation 

 commence, and this seems to be the limit of the 

 growth of the C at t ley a Mendelii, and the commence- 

 ment of the gorgeous-flowered Cattleya Warscez^iczii. 

 In the mountains near to this town, in the flowering 

 season of the plants, the display in the woods is 

 most superb. High trees, in some places, are so 

 hung with these glorious epiphytes that very little 

 is to be seen but a blaze of purple and rose. A 

 small Epidendrum with scarlet flowers makes up the 

 finishing" touch of colour. 



On leaving Puente Nacional, we had not crone 

 far before the track led us to still higher mountains, 



