172 Travels and Adventures 



thing like eight thousand feet above sea-level. I 

 was determined to follow in their track, knowing that 

 if I reached this altitude I should have passed through 

 every zone of vegetation in the northern part of this 

 range. I accordingly started in a canoe from a port 

 on the banks of the Magdalena called Badillo. It 

 was necessary to cross over to the western bank 

 and follow an arm of the river, our object being 

 to reach a small village called Simiti, situated at the 

 foot of the mountains, but on the edge of a large 

 lake called Lake Simiti. We followed the course 

 of the river Magdalena for half a day, and then took 

 a more westerly course, entering the mouth of a canal 

 which drains the lake. This canal is very narrow, and 

 in some parts only admits of two canoes passing each 

 other; the vegetation on each side is like that of the rest 

 of the valley of the Magdalena, being most luxuriant, 

 and this part of the forest is full of game, especially 

 the tapir and the capibara, while the branches of 

 the trees are hung? with egrets, lar^e blue-and-white 

 cranes, and kingfishers. Another half-day brought 

 us to Lake Simiti. It is a novel sight to emerge out 

 of a narrow channel walled in on each side by thick 

 forest into a magnificent sheet of water twelve miles 

 long and seven miles broad, ornamented with several 

 islands, each one covered with a wealth of tropical 

 palms, while on one side of the lake the slopes of 



