68 Botanical Reminiscences, 
the latter experiment was unsuccessful for some time, the 
rain having saturated all the wood we could find. At last, 
however, we succeeded, and in spite of the smoke which arose 
from the damp wood, we crowded round the miserable flame 
to warm our benumbed limbs. The rain and mist continued 
till night; the thermometer showed 58° Fahr. The poor 
naked Indians, who found no room in the tents, went to a 
thickly- timbered gully, where they looked out for a little 
shelter. Even we, who were a little protected, were dis- 
turbed from our sleep by the cold ; a sensation which before 
had been unknown to us, being used to the 80° or 90"^ of the 
lowlands. The morning was anxiously looked for, and at last 
brought with it the warming sunrays, which soon made our 
teeth cease from chattering, and we continued our ascent, the 
magnificent shrubs glittering with dew and rain ; the steep 
rock glowing in magic illuminations in the young morning. 
Though the ascent was a great deal more difiicult in conse- 
quence of the rain which fell the day before, none of us 
observed the increased exertion, because with every step the 
vegetation became more interesting, and brought to view some 
unknown plant. Even in intervals of a hundred yards the 
zones of the plants changed — Ladenhergia, Cesmihuena, as 
shrubs only 4ft. to 5ft. high, and the most charming Orchids^ 
were growing out of clefts and cracks of the mighty sand- 
stone blocks of which I will only mention the Genera, Cattleya, 
Oncidium, Odontoglosmm^ Maxillaria, About one hundred feet 
higher the charming Sobralia Elisahethae, in all its varieties, 
with flower stalks from six to eight feet high, appeared 
in masses, through which we had to clear a way with our 
cutlasses. Every sand stone block was covered with the pretty 
moss Octoplepharum alhiduniy and Algae, viz., JJsnea australis, 
Cladonia rangiferina, cocomia, and carnea. In eager ex- 
pectation of what the next moment would bring us, we 
climbed over the pointed and sharp-edged rocks. Forward we 
went, until another exclamation of amazement at some new 
discovery, brought us to a standstill ; and I must confess that 
during the first hour I moved in this botanical El Dorado, I 
became bewildered and saw nothing. Several times our road 
brought us along deeply ravined precipices, through which 
foaming rivulets rush towards the plains, amidst forests of 
ferns, which had supplanted all other vegetation. The trees 
did not show the luxuriant growth of their brethren on the 
plains, but the splendor of their flowers was unknown to the 
