at a profit in competition with other copper producing countries?
We left Orumite late in the afternoon for Sierra Montaña and ascending passed at first rocky lands with scant vegetation. Later we passed open hills and sabanas with short sweet grass which afford excellent grazing lands, though not particularly well watered. After an arduous journey which continued till nearly 8 p. m., we reached a small raucho where we were glad to pass the night in a hammock,
Coffee.
We arose very early in the morning to continue our journey, but found that two of our mules had strayed back towards Villa Nueva, so our departure was con- siderably delayed. We, however, reached the lowermost coffee plantations within one and a half hours from our camp. I found the plantations badly cultivated, and the crop is handied in equally unscientific and anti- quated methods. The industry is in the hands of small growers who own from 10,000 to 80,000 trees, and whose production varies from 40 to 600 quintales per annum. The casual methods of cultivation, and the costly methods of hand preparation, none employing cleaning or drying machinery, renders the cultivation very costly. I understand that many of the growers are in a bad way, having at times to sell their crops in advance in order to obtain the wherewithal to clean their planta- tions and gather their crops. In this way the planta- tions soon become mortgaged and the owners, if a bad season comes along, lose their property and livelihood. There are about thirty cafetales on this mountain, and the planters struck me as being a particularly hard- working and industrious people, and I felt sorry not to A little cooperation find them more prosperous.
po- amongst themselves should place them in a sition to obtain the necessary machinery for the cheaper and better preparation of their coffee. There are no reliable statistics of the actual annual production, but I believe, from what I am informed by various authorities on the subject, that the total production does not exceed 3,000 to 4,000 quintales per annum. After having seen the lowermost cafetales of this region, we descended the mountain and again reached the valley in the early afternoon at La Jagua.
Cañaguati
At La Jagua Señor Aponte left me to return to Villa Nueva, and I proceeded on my way to Valle Dupar. The lands traversed from La Jagua onwards were of richer soil, and carry a more luxuriant vegetation with abundant and large serviceable trees. One of the most striking trees of these forests is a Bignoniad (Tecoma spectabilis), known locally as Cañaguati; its golden blossoms form a flame of color in the forests and re- mind me very forcibly of a similar tree of Central Africa known as Nsambya (Markhamia platycalyx). Like its African relative the timber of the Cañaguati is said to be very useful and durable.
Ticks.
At dusk we reached the Rio Caesar which we crossed in a canoe. We travelled on till 8 p. m., when the dark- to pass the night on the road, in preference to running the risk of losing the way in the dark. This was the second night in succession that I passed without a change of clothes and without sleep, for I had unwittingly made a large collection of little ticks or gurapaticos, which cause painful irritation and render sleep impossible. The only remedy for these parasites is an alcohol bath, These little ticks, which can hardly be seen in their young state with the naked eye, are common in the hill grass lands of many parts of Colombia, and are known to science by the name of Amblyomina cayennense, Fabr.
Valle Dupar.
In the early hours of the morning we proceeded by moonlight and reached Valle Dupar at about 7 o'clock, after crossing the Rio Guatapuri, which lies at the base of the town, Valle Dupar is the capital of the province of that name, and is an oki Spanish town, though the buildings are in a somewhat neglected condition. The number of inhabitants of the district of Valle Dupar is 6,300 according to the last census. The chief occupa- tion is cattle farming, but sugar-cane is grown to a con- siderable extent for the production of panela. and in Puebloviejo coffee occupies chief attention.
RIO HACHA TO VALLE DUPAR. General Observations.
The route of this part of the journey, it will be noted, was through the Caesar Valley which lies between the two great mountain ranges. the Eastern Cordillera of the Andes and the Sierra Nevada. These lands up to the foothills of the mountain ranges are for the most part flat in character, and almost throughout tend to a sandy nature, due partly to the fact that the larger rivers which water this area have their source in the granitic mountains of the Sierra Nevada. There are extensions of excellent lands in certain parts, particu- larly in the southern regions of the valley, though in the main these lands are only of medium quality and cannot be ranked as first-class agricultural lands. Apart from the plains of the valley, the foothills on both sides are usually rocky and dry in character with scant vegetation. These foothills often furnish excellent grazing lands for cattle, though there is frequently a scarcity of water. In the medium elevations are to be found sabanas of excellent pastures suitable for breeding-cattle, and in the upper parts suitable lands for coffee.
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Cattle.
Throughout the Provinces of Padilla and Valle Du par cattle is preeminently the principal industry, though it is only now recovering from the depletion of stock I noticed that in suffered during the last civil war.
some parts ticks were very abundant, and that little or nothing was being done to deal with the pest, while cattle were dying from the loss of condition brought
about by its prevalence. Owners should establish dip- ping tanks or spraying machines, and cooperate in a gen- eral way to endeavor to reduce and eradicate this pest. There is no doubt, however, that there is very consid erable room for the expansion of the cattle industry in this region; the breeding of cattle can be carried on in the natural pasture lands of the bills, though for the fattening of stock artificial portreros are necessary.
Planting Industries.
Apart from the cattle industry, planting enterprises are sadly limited owing to the absence of roads and the high cost of animal transport. There are considerable possibilities in coffee, cacao, cotton, tobacco, sugar, maize, groundnuts, etc.. but until the pack mule be re- placed by more modern and more suitable means of transport the possibilities of the expansion of planting industries are exceedingly limited. This question will. however, be dealt with in a later part of this repart.
EXCURSION TO SIERRA NEVADA AND ROUTE.
Valle Dupar to Puebloviejo.
to
Having received urgent instructions to return Bogotá, immediately having concluded my journey to the Sierra Nevada, I made hurried arrangements on the 15th for the mountain journey. With the kindly as- sistance of the Alcalde and Señor J. M. Castro Bauti, who was good enough to provide transport animals for me as far as Puebloviejo, I was able to leave on the 16th. The object of this excursion, was to obtain an opinion of the higher regions of the Sierra Nevada range regarding its agricultural resources and possi- bilities, and the prospects of establishing agricultural colonists in these parts. The route taken was via Facbloviejo and San Sebastian dei Rabago.
Valle Dupar to Santo Tomás,
I set out from Valle Dupar at about midday on the 16th, accompanied by my attendant and a guide from the town with three transport animals, and we reached farm in the evening known as San Tomás, situated near the Rio Clavo, where we passed the night. San Tomás is about six leagues from Valle Dupar, and the road is chiefly through forest which carries useful lim- ber trees of medium dimensions. The Cañaguati tree (Tecoma spectabilis), referred to in a previous part of this report, is here also at this time of the year (De- cember) the most conspicuous tree, owing to its mass of golden bloom. As Santo Tomás is approached the land assumes a more open character, bush land alternat- ing with sabanas of short grass. Here I noticed the cattle were in very poor condition, owing to the preva- lence of Tabanid flies and ticks.
Ginger.
On leaving Santo Tomás the road soon commences to ascend, the track was along forest clad streams and open grassy hill slopes, where I observed the cattle were
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in better condition than on the plains. I was very agree- ably surprised this morning on making the important discovery that ginger is wild in these parts, The plant has never before, I believe, been found in a truly wild state, having been supposed for many years to be a native of tropical southeast Asia. In this neighbourhood it is found wild and in great abundance. On subse- quent inquiry I found that ginger grows wild over extensive areas on the lower hills of the Sierra Nevada range, and also I am informed in various parts of the Eastern Cordillera. This is therefore another laurel for South America, and for Colombia in particular in that the theory that ginger was originally a native of tropical southeast Asia must now be abandoned and the credit given to Colombia, To Cinchona (also abun- dant in a wild state on the Sierra Nevada), cacao (also indigenous to the Department of Magdalena), the po- tato, various rubber plants and tobacco, etc.. economic products which South America has furnished for world- wide use, must now he added ginger. The commercial importance of this discovery, however, lies in the fact that there are extensive wild sources of a valuable product which can be immediately exploited, and a new local industry established in the collection and preparation of the roots. I consider this discovery of great importance, and have already recommended an immediate shipment of a consignment of half a ton of these roots to foreign markets, in order to afford a prac- tical test of its value in comparison with the cultivated root. Now is the dry season (December) in this re- gion, and now is the season for the collection of the roots, the plants being in a dormant state.
Ginger as a Plantation Industry.
Apart from the question of the exploitation of the wild product arises the possibility of its cultivation, and the initiation of a new plantation industry for this part of Colombia. Ginger is well known to be somewhat fastidious as to soils, the most valued root being pro- duced in Jamaica, where it was probably introduced originally from South America and not the East. The fact that ginger is indigenous is proof that not only the soil, but also the climate, is appropriate; and it therefore only remains for planters to take up its cultivation as a plantation industry. I have noted that the roots of cultivated ginger are generally double the size of the wild product. A word of warning should, however, be given regarding its curing and drying; whatever method be employed the roots must be thoroughly dried and bleached before shipment, or it may reach the market in a mouldy or decayed condition and bring disappoint- ment at the outset.
Puebloviejo.
The track from Santo Tomáz to Puebloviejo ascends until an altitude of some 1120 metres above sea level is reached. The hills are open in character and covered with short grass, only the valleys and ravines being covered with forest growth. After passing the higher part of the hills, the road descends to the sabana of Puebloviejo, which settlement we reached in the early afternoon. Puebloviejo is not a town or village as the
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t