' popayAn and the CERRO MUNCHIQUE 31 



; We discovered a deserted Indian hut in the centre of a 

 large, overgrown, abandoned plantation, and made it our 

 headquarters for a week or more. The site was ideal. 

 Tall forest hemmed in the clearing on all sides, and a rivu- 

 let of clear, icy water flowed near the shack. The eleva- 

 tion was eight thousand two hundred and twenty-five feet. 

 Obviously, the place had been tmoccupied for a number of 

 years, doubtless owing to the fact that maize and rice 

 •would not thrive at this high altitude. However, these 

 ^:Same conditions were most congenial to a host of other 

 'Vegetation. Blackberries and rhododendrons, with hlac, 

 red, white, pink, and yellow flowers formed a soHd tangle, 

 acres in extent, and creepers entirely covered the tall, dead 

 ■stubs, and crowned them with a thick canopy of green 

 leaves from which clusters of orange and scarlet trumpet- 

 flowers drooped. 



At night the temperature went down to about 45°, but 

 this did not deter giant hawk, owl, and sphinx-moths from 

 appearing at dusk to feast on the nectar of the myriads of 

 flowers. The httle stream was the rendezvous for number- 

 less frogs. One hardly suspected their presence during 

 the daytime xmless a careful search was made of the rotting 

 wood that Httered the ground, and of the tangled, snake- 

 like stems, of second-growth sprouts and leaves; but at 

 night the concert was always sure to begin . in startling 

 volume. Some of the notes. reminded me of our own spring 

 peeper; others were sharp and metallic; like, the twanging 

 of a banjo-string; and others were low and mellow like the 

 murmuring, of a 'cello. They all blended into a deafening 

 chorus of unflagging animation and imvaried monotony. 

 .At first the din was rather disconcerting, . but gradually 

 .there came to us the realization that this was but the bub- 

 bliug over of care-free httle hearts rendering a song of hap.- 

 piness and thanksgiving to nature for the pure, unsuUied 

 joy of an imfettered existence. 



Birds were not particularly plentiful in the forest. There 

 were, however, a number of interesting fonns, particularly 



