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which is to shelter the travellers who cross the 

 forests of Quindiu. When they search Ibague, 

 and prepare for the journey, they pluck in the 

 neighbouring mountains several hundred leaves 

 of the vijao, a plant of the family of the bananas, 

 which forms a genus approaching the thalia, 

 and which must not be confounded with the 

 heliconia bihai. These leaves, which are 

 membranous and silky, like those of the musa^ 

 are of an oval form, fifty-four centimetres 

 (twenty inches) long, and thirty-seven centi- 

 metres (fourteen inches) in breadth. Their iower 

 surface is a silvery white, and covered with a 

 farinaceous substance, which falls off in scales, 

 This peculiar varnish enables them to resist the 

 rain during a long time. In gathering these 

 leaves, an incision is made in the middle rib, 

 which is the continuation of the foot-stalk ; and 

 this serves as a hook to suspend them, when the 

 movable roof is formed. On taking it down, 

 they are spread out and carefully rolled up in a 

 cylindrical bundle. It requires about a hundred 

 weight of leaves (50 kilogrammes) to cover a 

 hut large enough to hold six or eight persons. 

 When the travellers reach a spot in the midst of 

 the forests, where the ground is dry, and where 

 they propose to pass the night, the cargueroes lop 

 a few branches from the trees, with which they 

 make a tent. In a few minutes this slight tim- 

 ber work is divided into squares by the stalks of 



