38 



the noise of the torrents, which rush down from 

 rock to rock. 



We left the forests, at the distance of some- 

 what more than a league from the village of 

 San Fernando. A narrow path led, after many 

 windings, into an open, but extremely humid 

 country. In the temperate zone, the cyperaoe- 

 ous and gramineous plants would have formed 

 vast meadows ; here the soil abounded in aqua- 

 tic plants, with sagittate leaves, and especially 

 in basil plants, among which we noticed the fine 

 flowers of the costus, the thalia, and the heli- 

 conia. These succulent plants are from eight 

 to ten feet high, and in Europe their assemblage 

 would be considered as a little wood. The de- 

 lightful view of meadows, and of turf sprinkled 

 with flowers, is almost entirely wanting in the 

 low regions of the torrid zone, and is to be found 

 only in the elevated plains of the Andes. 



Near St. Fernando, the evaporation caused by 

 the aetidn of the sun was so great, that, being 

 very lightly clothed, we felt ourselves as wet as 

 in a vapour bath. The road was bordered with 

 a kind of bamboo*, which the Indians call 

 iagua, or guadua, and which is more than 

 forty feet in height. Nothing equals the ele- 

 gance of this arborescent gramen. The form 

 and disposition of it's leaves give it a charac- 



* Bambusa guadua. (See Plate 20 of our Equinoctial 

 Plants, T. 1, p. 68.) 



