convert them into agricultural laud is very considerable. 
Some efficient means of removing the tree stumps is 
badly needed ; no doubt the stump-pulling appliances 
and devices used in Australia, South Africa, and other 
countries might be advantageously used in this region ; 
especially for the removal of the stumps and roots of 
smaller trees. Both my companions, Sehores Londoho 
and Izquierdo, are owners of very large properties in this 
region, and both have done very important work in the 
conversion of forest to agricultural land and the develop- 
ment of agriculture in the region. 
Continuing our ascent, we jiassed through beautiful 
forest-clad valleys, well watered with clear streams from 
the mountains. Here and 
there on the roadside we 
noticed giant blackberries ; 
wild citnibas (Tacsouia S/>.) 
with handsome flowers and 
a beautiful climbing plant 
peculiar to this country, a 
species of Mnlisi^. A hand- 
some scarlet Howering Bc- 
goiiia, Bomarens of many 
varieties with their attractive 
globose heads of llowers. 
Fuchsias, and Thibaudias, 
were also among the attrac- 
tive plants in this region. 
We soon passed through 
the timbered lands, which 
are gradually replaced by 
bush peculiar to the higher 
reaches of these Cordilleras. 
One of the plants worth 
mentioning is a handsome 
Berberis, a shrub laden pro- 
fusely with golden llowers, 
known locally as Espiila dc 
Oro. Here the scenery is 
very beautiful, pretty cas- 
cades giving variety to it. 
About midday we leached 
the last habitation on the 
Magdalena side on the 
mountain range at a point 
known as Boqueroncito. 
This forms the limit of 
the bush land and the 
dividing point between it 
and the open paramos. 
Here also the cultivation 
of the potato comes to an 
end, and the potato lields 
are fenced off from the 
uncultivated paramos by a 
wire fence, as if the rude 
and sudden transition from 
the cultivated to the unculti- 
vated required an artificial 
boundary. At Boqueroncito 
we decided to have lunch before proceeding to the snows, 
and the occupants of the hut, Pedro and his wife, very 
kindly assisted us in its prejiaration. After having lunched 
we passed out through Pedro’s gate into the land of the 
frailcjoii' (Espciclia sp.) and continued on our way through 
the pdramos to the glaciers. 
One of the first impressions of the paramos of Ruiz 
was its general similarity to the pdramos of the Cordillera 
Oriental and of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. There 
are the same wiry grasses, the same groves of fraiUjoncs, 
are represented on 
different species or 
each of 
allied 
Fig. II.— a Pretty C.^sc.vde on Mount Ruiz 
A composiiEe shrub common on high fdranios. 
the same carpet of AlcheudUa ; but a closer investigation 
reveals differences. The frailcjoii is a distinct species to 
that found on the Cordillera Oriental or the Sierra 
Nevada of Santa Marta, and there are many plants 
which I had not found on those mountain ranges. There 
is, however, notwithstanding, a similar general effect ; for 
many of the principal genera 
the Cordilleras, though by- 
forms. 
About an hour’s journey from Boqueroncito, we came 
across one of the -most beautiful and interesting plants of 
the mountain. It is a species ot Liipiuus with an erect 
solitary spike of llowers, which reminds one of the stately 
tree lobelias of the moun- 
tains of Central Africa. 
This lupine is covered with 
a dense coat of white woolly 
hairs, not only the leaves 
but the liower spike, and 
could it be cultivated, would 
prove a most interesting 
novelty among plant lovers. 
Seeds of it have been sent 
to the Royal Botanic Gar- 
dens at Kew, and to the 
New York Botanical Gar- 
dens, to ascertain if it can 
be grown under artificial 
conditions. 
At about 5 o’clock in the 
evening we sought a suit- 
able place to pitch our tent, 
and prepare ourselves for 
the cold night we were to 
pass. After some little 
search we found a rock 
shelter, under which we 
pitched our tent, and settled 
down to prepare our dinner 
before retiring to rest. 
On passing through 
Libano, I had the good 
fortune to meet Don Antonio 
Izquierdo, a distinguished 
and jirogressive agricul- 
turist of Bogota, who owns 
the important estate of San 
Ignacio at Murillo. He 
drew my attention to the 
possible utilisation of the 
woolly iloss which covers 
the frailcjoii, in substitution 
of blankets. This night we 
collected a large number of 
frailcjoiics and made a prac- 
tical test of it. We retain 
no doubt about its warmth- 
giving properties, but it 
also emits a strong turpen- 
tine smell, which I calculate 
would repel any invasion of the Ilea tribe so frequent 
in the colder, parts of Colombia. 
Our friend, Don Roberto, was the first to arouse us in 
the morning and insist on our early departure for the 
glaciers, for the morning, though clear, might soon be 
shrouded in mist and our view of the glaciers obscured 
indefinitely. Having collected our shivering horses we 
proceeded on foot, as the first part was too steep to ride, 
being a land-slide from one of tlie ridges. On gaining the 
top, we rode around one of the peaks of the mountain, 
passing over land-slides or drifts composed of shale or 
sand, iiaving all this time a splendid view of the Nevada 
