being built, public gardens, and excellent motor roads. 
It is also well supplied with water, and has an important 
electric plant. 
Cali to the Pacific Coast. 
From Cali we proceeded on December 27th to La 
Cumbre and Buenaventura by the Pacific Railway. After 
crossing the valley, the line soon commences its ascent ot 
the Cordillera Occidental, winding its course up the 
mountain range, from which one gets a magnificent view 
of the valley and the Cauca river and of the towns that 
nestle at its base. The vegetation is scanty, but as the 
ascent continues the vegetation becomes more abundant 
and luxuriant until La Cumbre is reached, when the 
evidence of nature is sufficient to convince one of the 
fertility of the soil and of the salubrity of the climate. 
La Cumbre was at one time the railway headquarters, 
but it is now rapidly developing into a little town where 
the residents of Cali and Buenaventura come to vcranear.' 
Recreation trains are run from Cali on Sundays. It is 
tierra leinplada, or coffee country, and already one can see 
the work of the axe going on all around in its conversion 
from forest to agricultural lands. The forest edge, marked 
to-day by fields of maize or pastures, will next year recede 
still further ; and so, each year, until the virgin forest has 
been entirely wiped out and converted into rolling 
agricultural lands. 
In these forests one of the principal outstanding trees 
is the otobo {Myristica Oloba), to which I have referred in 
an earlier part of this report. It is here so abundant, that 
the forests are referred to in many localities as Olobalcs.- 
Should the nuts or butter (manleca) prove to have a com- 
mercial value in foreign markets, an export product of 
very considerable value and importance might be worked 
Lipin this region, since it could be landed at the Pacific 
Coast at very little cost. 
Established at La Cumbre is an up-to-date American 
hospital and sanatorium, owned by tlie eminent surgeon. 
Dr. E. H. Smith, and assisted by a large staff of expert 
trained nurses. The establishment occupies a command- 
ing situation at La Cumbre, is comfortably furnislied, and 
fitted throughout with the latest appliances and material 
in accordance with the demands of modern surgery and 
medicine. The building is situated in its own grounds, 
with a beautiful garden and an abundant water supply. 
On December 30th we proceeded on our journey to 
Buenaventura, and at 5 p.m. our train pulled up at its 
terminal coast station. From La Cumbre the line 
traverses interesting forest scenery over the central parts 
of the Cordillera ; here and there are broken areas of 
pasture lands, plantations of maize, yuca and plantains, 
&c. Then it commences its descent and passes through 
numerous tunnels, the forest giving place to open land 
until the base is reached, where is situated the town of 
Caldas on the river Dagua, and here the railway has its 
workshops. 
From here onwards the line follows the Dagua river, 
changing from one side to another at intervals ; at first 
through somewhat arid and barren lands, and later 
through dense forest and jungle. The beautiful scenery 
of the Pacific Railway is not surpassed by any other 
Colombian railway, not even the Girardot line. The 
track follows along a narrow ledge hewn out of solid 
rock, then an artificial embankment, then under an arch- 
way ; then crossing and recrossing the Dagua river in 
order to negotiate the difficult valley, until finally it 
makes a straight dash for Buenaventura through virgin 
forest, crossing the final bridge that connects the main- 
land with the island on which the port stands. 
It was in the year 1872 that the basis of the first 
contract was approved, and ten years later the first 
section of the line between Buenaventura and Cordoba, a 
distance of 20 kilometres, was completed. Since that 
date numerous contracts for the continuance of the line 
have been made and broken, and so progress has been 
gradual and slow, though the expenditure has been heavy. 
On the 1st January, 1915, the line was opened up to Cali, 
w'hich is 173 kilometres from Buenaventura, and it 
now extends to Palmira, a distance of 199 kilometres, 
and to the south to Guachinti. The line has had an 
unfortunate history, but it stands to-day as a feat of 
railway engineering and a credit to the present Company 
and its management. When its outspreading arms reach 
tlieir respective objectives at Cartago and Popayan, a new 
era of prosperity should be established for this important 
region. 
The Coast Forests. 
The Coast forests abound in useful timbers, and is also 
rich in natural products such as rubber, balata, chicle, 
brea, mangrove bark, &c. I had hoped to make a 
systematic examination of the Coast and the forest, and 
requested authority from Bogota for the use of one of the 
small steamers at the port to do so, but receiving at the 
same time instructions to return to Bogota the project 
had to be abandoned. 
On the banks of the Dagua I noticed that a rubber 
plantation had been made of the local rubber tree, 
CasUUoa elaslica^ it was however, overgrown and 
abandoned. 
The extraction of tannin from the Mangrove bark has 
been initiated and should prove a profitable industry, 
since the mangrove tree is abundant in the bays along the 
coast. 
Brea is an interesting product ; it is the Spanisli name 
for pitch, and is probably so called because one of its 
principal uses at Buenaventura is for caulking boats. It 
has, how'ever, no relation to pitch, and is the product of a 
forest bee, evidently Melipoiia Iteideri, being produced by 
the bee in hollow trunks of trees, sometimes in large 
blocks weighing nearly a hundred-weight. It is generall}' 
of a sulphur yellow colour, but I am told that the colour 
varies according to the kind of food on which the bee 
feeds. A sample has been sent to London for examina- 
tion, and a report as to whether it may have any commer- 
cial value in Europe is expected soon. 
Buenaventura. 
The port, as such, leaves much to be desired. It has 
no wharf, and so shipping and unshipping is carried on 
with much difficulty. A concession has, however, 
recently been granted for the building of a wharf, and 
when this work has been accomplished the importance of 
the port should be enhanced considerably. This, however, 
should be immediately followed by the sanitation and 
improvement of the port. Buenaventura is important as 
being the cable station for the Republic. It has 8,827 
inhabitants, mostly black, according to the last census. 
Cali to Cartago. 
On January 4th, we returned to La Cumbre and thence 
to Cali. After visiting several haciendas, and the part of 
the valley south along the railway to Guachinti, we left 
Cali for Palmira en route for Cartago. We left by train, 
as the first objective was to visit the hacienda of Dr. 
M. M. Rodrigues, La Herradura, wliich lies close to 
Pahnira, and our train left us at the entrance to the 
hacienda. We spent several hours inspecting the porlreros ' 
of this extensive property and the cattle. A trial is being 
given to a large variety of imported pastures, though the 
most largely grown and appreciated is the paslo cowi'ui, or 
' Grass fields. 
Take a summer holiday. 
“ Olobo plantations. 
17 
