90 ' FOREST BIRDS—SAN FERNANDO. 
found the flowers, fruits, and foliage, which belong 
to different species.” 
The philosophers walked for some hours under the 
shade of these arches, which scarcely admitted an 
occasional glimpse of the clear blue sky, and for the 
first time admired the pendulous nests of the orioles, 
which mingled their warblings with the cries of the 
parrots and macaws. The latter fly only in pairs, 
while the former are seen in flocks of several hun- 
dreds. At the distance of about a league from the 
village of San Fernando, they issued from the woods, 
and entered an open country, covered with aquatic 
plants from eight to ten feet high; there being no 
meadows or pastures in the lower parts of the torrid 
zone as in Europe. The road was bordered with a 
kind of bamboo rising more than forty feet. These 
plants, according to Humboldt, are less common in 
America than is usually supposed, although they 
form dense woods in New Grenada and Quito, and 
occur abundantly on the western slope of the Andes. 
They now entered San Fernando, which is situated 
in a narrow plain, and bounded by limestone rocks. 
This was the first missionary station they saw in 
America. The houses of the Chayma Indians were 
built of clay, strengthened by lianas, and the streets 
were straight, and intersected each other at right 
angles. The great square in the centre of the village 
contains the church, the house of the missionary, © 
and another, destined for the accommodation of tra- — 
vellers, which bears the pompous name of the king’s 
house (Casa del Rey). These royal residences occur 
in all the Spanish settlements, and are of the great- 
est benefit in countries where there are no inns. i 
They had been recommended to the friars, who | 
