66 Bvlletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XXXVI, 



bromelias hoping to obtain water, but all the leaves contained were a few 

 drops of liquid mud, utterly unfit for use. Although we travelled steadily 

 for ten hours, I doubt if we covered more than three miles. 



" A few hours after starting on the morning of January 23, we emerged 

 suddenly from the dark forest; instead of the tall, overburdened trees, 

 there were extensive areas of bushes, evergreens, stunted pines, and plants 

 with thick, round, rubbery leaves, interspersed with clumps of tall, rank 

 ferns. Beyond stretched the bleak, wind-swept surface of the Paramo. 



" The Paramillo region is composed of a series of sharply inclined peaks, 

 the highest of which attains an elevation of 13,000 feet, interspersed with 

 ravines and deep fissures. The surface consists mainly of dark sandstone 

 which in many places has been shattered so that a thin litter of the particles 

 cover the basal rock; occasionally a thin vein of white quartz crops out, 

 especially where, as often occurs, the strata stand in a perpendicular posi- 

 tion. Water there is none; we discovered but one small trickling brooklet; 

 but at the bottom of one of the crevices several pot-holes were found, each 

 containing several hundred gallons, and apparently remaining perpetually 

 full. 



" Each night the temperature fell to 28°, and ice formed in our pails half- 

 an-inch thick; in the morning the ground was white with frost. On the 

 evenings of January 28, 29 and 30,' there fell very slight, short showers of 

 rain. The prevailing wind came from the west. 



"The vegetation is of a typical paramo character, consisting of low 

 clumps of 'fraUejones,' blueberry bushes and tough grass. In the ravines 

 there are thick bushes and stunted trees, all heavily moss-covered. 



" The vast expanse of level grazing country, and the broad marshes and 

 sphagnous areas so common to Sta. Isabel and El Valle de las Pappas were 

 conspicuously absent. 



" Naturally, coimtry of this character is not very well adapted to the 

 support of an extensive fauna. Birds were extremely scarce; and strange 

 to say, exceedingly wary. 



"On all sides, excepting a break toward the west, the Paramillo is sur- 

 rounded by ridges, some reaching an elevation of 12,000 feet, the tops of 

 which are covered with dense forest, so that it stands Uke a mountainous, 

 brown island amid the sea of green. The Paramo of Frontino could be 

 seen about twenty or twenty-five miles to the southwest, in a separate ridge, 

 not directly connected with the ParamiUo." 



Buritica to the Rio Sudo. — " After completing the work on the Paramillo, 

 we returned to Buritica, which place was reached February 7, and on the 

 9th we began the trip to the Atrato drainage. 



" Grossing the Western Range was comparatively easy, as the trail is 

 excellent; we reached the top four hours after leaving Buritica, the altitude 



