THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



Ill 



zon." I later found their hill. It was about a foot in height, but 

 certainly twenty feet in circumference. There were numerous en- 

 trances, and their highways radiated in every direction. I followed 

 one for about half a mile. The leaves came mainly from the coffee 

 plants. 



An interesting plant here is the guadua (Guadua latifol%a\ from 

 which the place derives its name. This is what I have spoken of as 

 the bamboo. It grows in graceful feathery clumps and reaches a 

 large size. I saw some nearly fifty feet in height and as thick as a 

 man's thigh. It sprouts up like an asparagus plant, that is, shoots up 

 a large, club-like growth which does not put out leaves or branches 

 until it reaches a good height. It has a hundred uses ; many uten- 

 sils and vessels are made of the joints, and it is one of the most 

 universal building and fencing materials. The smaller ones make 

 good fishing-poles. 



At the supper-table we met the first ill-mannered person whom 

 we had thus far encountered in Colombia, and I am ashamed to have 

 to admit that he was an American drummer. 



We spent another wakeful night tormented by the fleas. It was 

 clear and warm in the morning, but close cloudy in the afternoon. 



Sunday, July 10, 1892. Ahce, 

 Cabell, and myself went out again 

 early this morning to the same 

 place to which we had gone the 

 day before, but we came back 

 soon. We got twelve humming- 

 birds, but there were no new ones 

 among them. They were divided 

 among the following species : five 

 emerald green ones [Chlorostil- 

 hon angustipennis), two of the 

 small emerald green and blue ones 

 (Damophila julia), one of the smallest kind {Acestrura heliodoi^l)^ 

 one with an amethyst gorget {Acestrura midsantl), two young rubv 



