180 Travels and Adventures 



our feet firmly against the horizontal tree, and so pass 

 the night in a reclining position, the tree keeping us 

 from sliding down the mountain-side. 



The journey from the mine to the top of San 

 Lucas occupied six days of the hardest toil I have 

 ever experienced, and when we reached the height our 

 provisions were well-nigh exhausted ; we had seen but 

 few wild turkeys, the only living thing to be found in 

 plenty being colonies of large black monkeys, which 

 sat in the high trees grinning at us as we went past. 

 The palms on some of the highest hills were torn up 

 by the roots and split into shreds by the powerful 

 black bears, which, however, did not trouble us. Of 

 orchids there was a considerable variety, ranging from 

 the Epidendrums of the arid plains to the Sobralias and 

 Masdevallias of the cold regions ; but the principal 

 wealth of vegetation is in the variety of Anthuriums, 

 tropical ferns, and other fine foliage-plants. In one of 

 the streams we almost lost ourselves in a perfect 

 forest of Alocasias, some of these having a stem a foot 

 in circumference and reaching a height of twenty feet. 

 There were here also some very lovely plants I had 

 not seen before of the family of the Gesneras, besides 

 climbers, flowering shrubs, and Selaginellas. 



The return journey to Simiti cost us seven days. 

 Everyone arrived in good health, no one having suffered 

 much apparently from our seventeen days' camping 



