special use to us, are curious also in the
confusion even of the two orders of annual and perennial plants, and show,
therefore, the extreme need of most careful initial work in this
distinction of the reign of Cora from that of Kronos.

"The disk of the setting sun appeared like a globe of fire suspended over
the savannah; and its last rays, as they swept the earth, illumined the
extremities of the grass, strongly agitated by the evening breeze. In the
low and humid places of the equinoxial zone, even when the gramineous
plants and reeds present the aspect of a meadow, of turf, a rich decoration
of the picture is usually wanting. I mean that variety of wild flowers
which, scarcely rising above the grass, seem to lie upon a smooth bed of
verdure. Between the tropics, the strength and luxury of vegetation give
such a development to plants, that the smallest of the dicotyledonous
family become shrubs.[62] It would seem as if the {214} liliaceous plants,
mingled with the gramina, assumed the place of the flowers of our meadows.
Their form is indeed striking; they dazzle by the variety and splendor of
their colours; but, too high above the soil, they disturb that harmonious
relation which exists among the plants that compose our meadows and our
turf. Nature, in her beneficence, has given the landscape under every zone
its peculiar type of beauty.

"After proceeding four hours across the savannahs, we entered into a little
wood composed of shrubs and small trees, which is called El Pejual; no
doubt because of the great abundance of the 'Pejoa' (Gaultheria odorata,) a
plant with very odoriferous leaves. The steepness of the mountain became
less considerable, and we felt an indescribable pleasure in examining the
plants of this region. Nowhere, perhaps, can be found collected together in
so small a space of ground, productions so beautiful, and so remarkable in
regard to the geography of plants. At the height of a thousand toises, the
lofty savannahs of the hills terminate in a zone of shrubs, which by their
appearance, their tortuous branches, their stiff leaves, and the dimensions
and beauty of their purple flowers, remind us of what is called in the
Cordilleras of the Andes the vegetation of the _paramos_[63] and the
_punas_. We find there the {215} family of the Alpine rhododendrons, the
thibaudias, the andromedas, the vacciniums, and those befarias[64] with
resinous leaves, which we have several times compared to the rhodo