eee 
ee ts: 
.. pression of the natives. 
MADE IN COLOMBIA. 
60°, which would bring it to the elevation 
Loxa. 
The Sugar-cane is cultivated in Colom- 
bia, from the level of the sea to an eleva- 
tion (which may appear extraordinary, ) of 
seven thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
five feet, in the valley of Bafios, at the 
foot of Tunguragua — of eight thousand 
five hundred in the valley of Chillo, below 
Quito—and, of nearly nine thousand feet, 
near the town of Ambato. It must be 
Observed, however, with respect to the 
latter, that the “vegas” or nooks, formed 
by the windings of the river, where alone 
it is raised, are so sheltered as to produce 
an almost artificial temperature. A Palm 
tree, brought young from Guayaquil, flou- 
rishes there; and “ Aguacates," (the fruit 
of the Laurus Persea), ripen perfectly, 
with Oranges, Limes, and other fruits, which 
in general, are not cultivated at above six 
thousand feet. In proportion, however, to 
the elevation, is the time required, for ri- 
pening the Sugar-cane, varying from nine 
months, at the elevation of one thousand 
feet, to three years, at the elevation above 
cited 
Plantains and Maize are the principal 
arücles of food in the lowlands or hot 
country, “tierra caliente," to use the ex- 
The large variety 
of Plantain “ Platano harton” cannot be 
cultivated at elevations above three thou- 
sand feet; while the smaller variety ** Cam- 
buri,” will ascend to six thousand feet. 
Maize is, perhaps, the plant which, of all 
— embraces the greatest variety of 
Inperature and elevation. It is cultivated 
i With equal advantage, from the level of 
2D the ocean to the flanks of the Andes, up to 
. eleven thousand feet, temperature 80°— 
59°. It is true that, in the lowlands, it 
mpens in three months; whereas on the 
.. table-lands of the Andes, it requires ten; 
.. Putthe grain is larger, and the ear fuller, 
en 
T im the cold than in the hot country. 
; , ~e central, or temperate zone of the 
mpany Palms nearly, and in the 
t forests of the Pacific, entirely to the 
115 
level of the sea. At the back of Pichin- 
cha, they first appear at about eight thou- 
sand five hundred feet. The Alstrame- 
rias and Calceolarias, peculiar to the New 
World, are found in this zone, though the 
former ascend to eleven thousand feet, and 
the latter to fifteen thousand feet. 
The Cerealia, with almost all the vari- 
eties of European vegetables, belong to 
this region. Humboldt observes, as a pe- 
culiarity, that Wheat is grown near Vitto- 
ria, at the elevation of seventeen hundred 
feet, and, in Cuba, nearly at the level of 
the sea, (Geogr. Pl. p. 161); but it is pro- 
bable, that the reason why the Cerealia 
are cultivated only at elevations where the 
Muse disappear, may be the natural in- 
clination of the inhabitants of a warm 
country to prefer the cultivation of a plant 
which yields an equal abundance of food, 
with infinitely less labour, not only in its 
mere cultivation, but in the subsequent 
preparation, The three great Wheat dis- 
tricts in Colombia, are the mountain chain 
of Merida, the elevation of which rarely 
reaches five thousand feet, with a general 
temperature of 72°; the plain of Pam- 
plona, Tunga, and Bogota — elevation, 
eight to ten thousand feet — temperature, 
58°; and the Quitenian Andes of the same 
height and temperature. Humboldt has 
accurately observed, (Geogr. Pl. p. 152), 
that a comparison betwixt annual mean 
temperatures of Europe, and the elevated 
tropical regions, would by no means give 
a correct state of the climate. Thus, 
though the mean temperature of the South 
of France and of Quito be the same, 
(about 59°), such fruits as Peaches, Apri- 
cots, Figs, Pears, and Grapes, which ripen 
in perfection in the former, although abun- 
dantly produced in the latter, never attain 
their proper size or flavour. The reason 
is, that the temperature is equal through- 
out the year. There is, consequently, no 
period, as in Europe, of summer heat suf- 
ficient to ripen fruit requiring, at this sea- 
son, a mean temperature of 65° or 70°. 
1 Humboldt, who had not visited these forests, 
confines them to betwixt 800 and 200 hexap.—De. 
Geogr. Pl. p. 185. i 
