The paths were very bad, but both the geology and scenery amply repaid the trouble.

We reached, by the evening, a spring called the Agua del Guanaco, which is situated at a great height.

This must be an old name, for it is very many years since a guanaco drank its waters.
During the ascent I noticed that nothing but bushes grew on the northern slope, whilst on the southern slope there was a bamboo about fifteen feet high.

In a few places there were palms, and I was surprised to see one at an elevation of at least 4500 feet.
These palms are, for their family, ugly trees.

Their stem is very large, and of a curious form, being thicker in the middle than at the base or top.