THE MONTANA. 



79 



rocky and stern sterility that characterizes the country above. This is 

 the " Montana " of which I had thought so much. I was wofully 

 disappointed in its appearance. I had taken the impression that I 

 should behold a boundless plain, alternating with forest and prairie, 

 covered with waving grass, and with a broad and gentle river winding 

 its serpentine course through it, between banks rich with the palm and 

 plantain. In place of this, the view from the mountain top showed a 

 country broken still into mountain and valley, (though ou a much 

 smaller scale than above,) shaggy with trees and undergrowth of every 

 description, and watered by a small stream, still foaming and roaring 

 over its rocky bed. 



We descended the hill by a very circuitous and precipitous path, 

 most of us on foot, though it may be ridden over, for Mr. Gibbon did 

 ride over the worst parts of it, and only dismounted where a fallen tree 

 made an obstruction that he could not pass. The descent brought us 

 to the rocky bed of the Rio Seco, crossing which we were clear of the 

 eastern chain of the Andes and in the Montana of Chanchamayo. 



As far as the traveller is concerned there are not, on the route we 

 have travelled, two ranges of the Andes — that is, he has not to ascend 

 and descend one range, and then ascend and descend another. From 

 the time he crosses the Cordillera at Antarangra, his progress is down- 

 ward till he reaches the plain. Really there are two. The streams 

 from the first, or western range, have broken their way through the 

 second, making deep gorges, at the bottom of which the road generally 

 runs, and leaves the peaks of the second range thousands of feet above 

 the head of the traveller. 



A league from the crossing of the Rio Seco, we passed a bad and 

 broken bridge, that spans a small stream called " Punta Yacu" coming 

 down a valley from the southward, and halted at the hacienda of Don 

 Jose Manuel Cardenas, the first of the Montana, where we camped for 

 the night. 



June 19. — Six miles of travel brought us to the fort of San Ramon. 

 The road is a black mud bridle-path through the woods, much ob- 

 structed with the roots and branches of trees, but level. Comparatively 

 few rocks are seen after leaving Cardenas. We were kindly received 

 by the commandant, Don Juan Noel, a fine-looking young man, Cap- 

 tain of Frigate and Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, and his officers 

 Major Umeres and Lieutenant . 



Fort San Ramon is, by Mer. alt. of "y Crusis," in latitude 11°.07 S. 

 Its height above the level of the sea, as given by barometer, is two 

 thousand six hundred and ten feet. 



