Colombia between the Years 1820 a7id 1830. 17 



fruits which in general are not cultivated at above 6,000 feet. In 

 proportion, however, to the elevation is the time required for 

 ripening the sugar-cane, varying from nine months at the eleva- 

 tion of 1,000 feet, to three years at the elevation above cited. 



Plantains and maize are the principal articles of food in the 

 lowlands or hot country, " tierra caliente,^' to use the expression 

 of the natives. The larger variety of plantain, " Plantano liar- 

 ton,''^ cannot be cultivated at elevations above 3,000 feet, while 

 the smaller variety " Camhuri^^'' will ascend to 6,000 feet, maize 

 is perhaps the plant which, of all others, embraces the greatest 

 variety of temperature and elevation. It is cultivated with equal 

 advantage from the level of the ocean to the flanks of the Andes, 

 to 11,000 feet ; temperature 80° — 59°. It is true, that in the 

 lowlands it ripens in three months, whereas on the table lands of 

 the Andes, it requires ten ; but the grain is larger, and the ear 

 fuller in the cold than in the hot country. 



The central or temperate zone of the Andes is distinguished by 

 the Cinchonas, the arborescent ferns which precede and accom- 

 pany the palms nearly, and in the moist forests of the Pacific, en- 

 tirely to the level of the sea.* At the back of the Pichincha they 

 first appear about 8,500 feet. The AlstrcBmerias and Calceola- 

 rias, peculiar to the New World, belong to this zone, though 

 the former ascend to 11,000 feet and the latter to 15,000. 



The Cerealia, with almost all the varieties of European vege- 

 tables, belong to this region. Humboldt observes a peculiarity 

 that wheat is grown near Vittoria at the elevation of 1,700 feet, 

 and in Cuba near the level of the sea ; ( Geo. PI., p. 161) but it 

 is probable that the reason why the cerealia are cultivated only at 

 elevations where the Muscb disappear, may be the natural inclin- 

 ation of the inhabitants of the warm country to prefer the cultiva- 

 tion of a plant which yields an equal abundance of food with 

 infinitely less labor, not only in the mere cultivation, but in the 

 subsequent preparation. The three great wheat districts in Co- 

 lombia are the mountain chain of Merida, the elevation of which 

 rarely reaches 5,000 feet ; with a general temperature of 72° ; the 

 plain of Pamplona, Tunja, and Bogota, elevation 8,000 to 10,000 

 feet ; temperature 58° ; and the Q,uitenian Andes of the same 

 height and temperature. Humboldt has accurately observed, 



* Humboldt, who had not visited these forests, confines them to betwixt 800 and 

 260 hexap. De Geo. PI., p. 185. 



Vol. xxxvii, No. 1.— July-Oct., 1839. 3 



