gf an Orchid Hunter. 123 



and here was the division between the States of 

 Santander and Boyaca, near a small village called 

 Saboya. From the top of this we obtained a magni- 

 ficent view of the plain on which the city of Bogota 

 is built. This plain is more than one hundred miles 

 in length, and in many places three miles broad ; 

 for the most part beautifully level pasture-land, or 

 cultivated and bearing waving crops of wheat and 

 barley. Large quantities of potatoes are also grown. 

 We very quickly descended to the plain and arrived 

 at another town called Chiquinquira. This is the 

 yearly resort of thousands of pilgrims, who come to 

 the church to pay their devotions, in the belief that 

 a picture of the Virgin Mary which is here was 

 painted by a miracle. The story runs that a poor 

 woman had coarse cloth nailed in the window of 

 her house to keep out the wind, when one morning 

 she is said to have found the picture miraculously 

 painted on the cloth ! The church of the pilgrims, 

 which is called the Church of Our Lady of Chiquin- 

 quira, is adorned with great riches in marble, paint- 

 ings, gold, and precious stones, and it is calculated 

 that the money brought by pilgrims into this place 

 every year amounts to 30,000 dollars, or ^6,000 

 sterling. The climate of this place, which is about 

 eight thousand feet above the sea-level, as well as 

 the whole of the savanna of Bogota, is cool and 



