121 
Above Girardot the river valley widens again to a plain of 
some thirty miles wide by sixty long. Jus vi 
there is another river gorge, the hills shutting out the plain, 
hi beyond Nei 
y 
plain. All told we were on three isolated areas of xerophytic 
plain in the Upper Magdalena, those further south the more arid 
and cactus yielding. 
From Espinal on mule-back,* over the ieee trails which 
replace roads (ours was named “camino real,” royal highw: — 
we journeyed across these plains he ninety miles = Neiva. 
had excellent weather but also good collecting, July being - 
opening month of the summer dry season. O r return in 
sure taoanaton” It isa species of Robinia, so a near ally of our 
locust-tree; its flowers, as profusely borne, are of a beautiful 
ink, but without odor. The tree is much planted through 
Colombia 
ost of our ride was over unenclosed prairie. Over great 
stretches grasses predominate, mostly of thin or wiry sorts. 
ndropogon and Bouteloua were familiar genera. Flowering 
plants were rarely of showy sorts. A species of Bradburya, ap- 
parently our B. vi i i- 
show the affinity of this flora with that of our own southeastern 
ates. 
Occasional streams from the not-distant mountains cross the 
flat plain, their courses marked from far by a fringe of trees. 
Here grow magnificent clumps of guadea (bamboo), or there are 
groves of the stately Palma de Vino, known locally as ‘Palma 
Real.” 
he first day of this t erious loss, that of the saddle- 
bag containing our aneroid barometer. On the re Maglrs and from Girardot ta 
naueuaaies especially about Bogota, we had with cine giving altitudes. 
d that zonal boundaries occ approximately the 
same altitudes, or actually on ak Central or sees Fae ee because of: 
forest, at slightly greater elevatio! 
