By Mr. Theodore Hartweg. 



135 



hundred and thirty leagues. The rainy season having set in, and 

 having already experienced difficulties in passing some rivers, T was 

 obliged to abandon my plan of following the coast road to Gua- 

 temala. From the farm of Espiritu Santo, I struck in for the moun- 

 tain road of Chiapas, and after a journey of three days I arrived at 

 Comitan, which is the last Mexican town on the frontiers of 

 Central America, it is distant from the city of Guatemala one hun- 

 dred leagues. After entering the confines of Central America, 

 the road becomes more uneven until it reaches the highest point 

 at Rosario, which, judging from the stunted appearance of Jtroi- 

 perus mexkana growing a few hundred feet above the range of 

 Abies religiosa, is at an elevation of nearly 11,000 feet. 



Near Gueguetenango and Cm ante a I first found Lectin super- 

 biens, then opening fine rose-coloured flowers, which were sup- 

 ported on a stem from 3 to 5 feet in length ; in the more; shaded 

 places, overhanging mountain torrents, 1 have observed the flower- 

 stem sometimes 9 feet in length, but never more. 



On the 26th of October I arrived in the town of Qi/ezu.ti:- 

 nango, and finding the surrounding mountains likely to furnish 

 plants suited to fulfil the object of my mission, I resolved to stay 

 there. Quezaltenango is about 8,500 feet above the level of the 

 sea, and is situated at the foot of the active volcano Xetuh, the 

 summit of which is about 1,500 feet above the town; the lower 

 portion of this mountain is partly cultivated ; a few hundred feet 

 higher up some stunted oaks, on which I found Odontoglossum 

 pygmecum, are growing in company with Comnrosfnphytis arbu- 

 Undes, the latter forming a tree 18 feet in height ; near the crater 

 of Xetuh I found Fuchsia cordifolia and the little Polygonum vol- 

 camcum. This volcano, when it first broke out, which is about 

 forty-eight years ago, had been densely wooded, and a few large, 

 dry, and blackened stems of Pinus Ayacahuite, some of which are 

 still erect and overhanging the crater, bear witness to the fact. At 

 the foot of Xetuh, as well as that of the neighbouring mountain 



