270 



VILLAGE OF TURBACO. 



Number of 

 snakes. 



Gi(;antic 

 trec& 



CHAP.XXir. intended to make to Bogota, Popayan, and Quito. The 

 village is about 1151 feet above the level of the sea. 

 Snakes were so numerous that they chased the rats even 

 in the houses, and pursued the bats on the roofs. From 

 the terrace surrounding their habitation tlicy had a 

 view of the colossal mountains of the Sierra Nevada de 

 Siuita Marta, part of which was covered with perennial 

 snow. The intervening space, consisting of hills and 

 plains, was adorned with a luxuriant vegetation, resem- 

 bling that of the Orinoco. There they found gigantic 

 trees, not previously known, such as the lihinocarpits 

 excelsa, with spirally-curved fruit, the Ocotea turbacen- 

 m, and the Cavanillesia platanifoUa ; the large five- 

 svinged fruit of which is suspended from the tips of the 

 oranches like paper-lanterns. They botanized every 

 day in the woods from five in the morning till night, 

 though they were excessively annoyed by mosquitoes, 

 zancudocs, xegens, and other tipulary insects. In the 

 midst of these magnificent forests they frequently savsr 

 plantations of bananas and maize, to which the Indians 

 are fond of retiring at the end of the rainy season. 



The persons who accompanied the travellers on these 

 expeditions often spoke of a marshy ground situated in 

 the midst of a thicket of palms, and which they desig- 

 nated by the name of Los Volcancitos. They said that, 

 according to a tradition preserved in the village, the 

 ground had formerly been ignited, but that a monk had 

 extinguished it by frequent aspersions of holy water, and 

 converted the fire-volcano into a water- volcano. With- 

 out attaching much credit to this tradition, the philoso- 

 phers desired their guides to lead them to the spot. 

 After traversing a space of about 5300 yai-ds, covered 

 with trunks of Cavanillesia, Piragra superba, and Gyro- 

 carjius, and in wliich there appeared here and there 

 projections of a limestone rock containing petrified corals, 

 tliey reached an open place of about 060 feet square, 

 entirely destitute of vegetation, but margined with tufts 

 of Bromelia karatas. The surface was composed of 

 layers of day of a dark -gray colour cracked by desiccation 



Los Volcaxi' 

 citos. 



Petrified 

 corah. 



