On the western side of the Central Cordillera the trail drops quickly down into the tropics again, here and there through lanes of immense fern-like bamboos. Hays, in the middle distance, has his turn at carrying the developing-tank
On the western side of the Central Cordillera the trail drops quickly down into the tropics again, here and there through lanes of immense fern-like bamboos. Hays, in the middle distance, has his turn at carrying the developing-tank
On the western side of the Central Cordillera the trail drops quickly down into the tropics again, here and there through lanes of immense fern-like bamboos. Hays, in the middle distance, has his turn at carrying the developing-tank
The first days on the road; showing how I would have traveled by choice, in contrast to later illustrations of how I did travel by necessity
The first days on the road; showing how I would have traveled by choice, in contrast to later illustrations of how I did travel by necessity
The first days on the road; showing how I would have traveled by choice, in contrast to later illustrations of how I did travel by necessity
For all these unexpected luxuries, I can hardly say we slept well. Before an hour had passed, a polar winter began to creep up through the earth floor, through the tar-cloth, through our flesh and bones, and what with the aching of hips and other salient points that fitted the uneven earth poorly, the night passed in an endless series of dream-fights against death in the polar seas. As my legs grew cold beyond endurance, I found a pair ofzamarras, the false trouser-legs of impervious cloth worn by horsemen of the region. But my glee quicklyevaporated, for they proved to be designed for a half-grown boy. Humboldt spent ten days in passing the Quindío, we sincerely hoped he had been better supplied with blankets, even though his journey was in the summer season.
For once we felt no anger when a hoarse rooster at last greeted the first graying of the darkness. The entire night had been a half-conscious battle for thecobijathat had covered us alternately. With creaking legs I stepped out into the icy dawn, and washed in a wind that cut through me as a rapier through a man of straw. It was still gray-black, and vast seas of half-seen mist lay in the bottomless chasms roundabout. Far away to the east, where the dawn and the warmth come from, was a triangular patch of sky, low down between two ranges and roofed with black clouds, in which the brilliant sunshine of thetierra calientewas already blazing red. One of the bravest acts of my life was the stripping and changing to road garb, after which we joined the family and our fellow-guests, huddled under shawls and blankets, with folds of woolen cloth about their throats and over their noses. The landlady, still abed, issued orders from within to her bare-legged girls and the servant. One of these threw into a pot of boiling water a mud-ball of native chocolate, swirled the mess with a stick, and served it to us with a dough-cake mixture of mashed corn and rice. It was no homeopathic food, but none lasts long in this thin, exhilarating air, while climbing swift mountain flanks. When we inquired for our bill, the woman called out that we owed twenty cents each, and bade us Godspeed to her beloved Cauca.
The road was heavy and slippery with the rain that had fallen during the night; the air still sharp and penetrating. We had all but spent the night on the summit of the Quindío, for the highest point was but three miles beyond, though three miles of climbing without respite. Most of the world was shut off by great cloud-banks, out of which came frequently the bawling of arrieros cursing their weary animals upward. Now and then we stopped on knolls above the trail to watch these Andean freight-trains pass. Many of the pack-animals were bulls and steers, of slight strength as such compared to the horse or mule, but the surest, if slowest, cargo-beast in muddy going. The arrieros, almost without exception, wore as ruanas what had once been United States mail-sacks, the stripes and lettering still clear upon them.
There were several ridges so nearly alike in altitude that the exact summit might easily have been in dispute; but at last we reached thedividing line between the departments of Tolima and the Cauca, marked with a weather-blackened post planted roundabout with scores of little twig crosses set up by pious arrieros and travelers. We were so completely surrounded by impenetrable swirling mist that we could see nothing whatever but the patch of cold, wet ground underfoot, a few dismal dripping bushes, and here and there a dishevelled shivering flower of some hardy species. Not a glimpse was to be had of snow-clad Tolima that must lie piled into the mist somewhere close at hand. It was the highest either of us had ever been in the world. While we appreciated the eminence, it was no place for men gifted with profane vocabularies to linger, and we were soon legging it down the western slope out of Cloudland.