until about the middle of February. During this time, the climate is simply perfect. Not a speck of cloud is to be seen, and the atmosphere is singularly clear, pure, and transparent. A morning walk, or a ride on horseback at this season is delightful. The mere act of breathing is a luxury, and one seems to drink in new life with each breath. At night the stars shine out against the deep-blue sky with uncommon brilliancy, and seem at least a third larger than when seen in clear weather from the lower valleys or from the coast. moonlight night here at this season is indescribably beautiful. The light is bright enough to read by, and is of that peculiar whiteness and softness seen nowhere else. It seems a veritable fairyland, and people linger in the streets and parks as if they regretted the necessity of sleep. A The lakes and watercourses of the plain abound with fish, but of a single species, here known as el capitan, a sort of slimy eel, serpent-like and repulsive in appearance, but very palatable when properly prepared. There is something like it in some parts of southern China, and hence the popular delusion, sometimes repeated in books of travel, that the Chinese eat snakes! Water-fowl are abundant, especially the small snipe and the teal duck so highly prized by European sportsmen; and edible frogs, such as Parisian epicures prize so highly, are very numerous possibly for the reason that no one ever thinks of disturbing them. There are a few fresh-water turtle, and an abundance of freshwater crabs and shrimps. But I do not now recall ever having seen a water moccasin or other species of snake on the plain. Mosquitoes and house-flies are unknown; but the fleas are everywhere. - The soil is a black loam of apparently inexhaustible fertility. The staple crop is the so-called "Irish" potato. It is said to be a native of the Andes, and I was inclined to credit the truth of this now generally accepted belief until I saw the wild potato growing in the mountains of western China, where it has grown from time immemorial. The probability is that the potato was known to the Chinese ages before the discovery of America by Columbus. Maize, or a degenerate species of Indian corn, grows well at this altitude, but matures slowly and imperfectly. Wheat and rye do very much better, and both are extensively cultivated. Rice will not mature here at all, but soon degenerates into a worthless species of swamp grass. All the fruits of the north temperate zone can be forced to grow here, but few of them mature well. The peaches and apples are almost worthless, and a bearing grapevine is never seen. Melons and cantaloupes are hopeless failures; no amount of labor or coaxing will bring them to maturity. The sweet potato is an exotic; but the strawberries are delicious. The cabbage never heads, and is eaten green as in Texas and southern China. The cotton plant is out of its element here, and so is the sugar-cane. But the farmer of the plain may, if he chooses, and at a trifling cost, have fresh green peas and string beans on his table every day in the year, as well as the best of celery, parsnips, turnips, carrots, lettuce, spinach, radishes, asparagus, and every variety of kitchen vegetable common to the north temperate zone. On the larger farms, or haciendas, the chief industry is stock and cattle breeding. The cattle are usually very large, but of an inferior variety, valued chiefly for their hides and tallow. Quite recently, however, there has been great improvement in the breed by crossing with imported varieties; and dairy farms are becoming quite common and very profitable. The cows keep fat all the year round on the native grass, and never require other food. The grass is a species of musquit, like that on the frontiers of Texas and New Mexico, very coarse and hardy, but succulent and nutritious. Red clover — a recent innovation- does well, and is now beginning to be considerably cultivated. Sheep seem to be in their proper element at this altitude; and yet somehow the wool industry in this region has hitherto received little or no attention. The hog is an exotic, but thrives well in the lower valleys, as, for instance, about Anapoime and Tocaime. And yet an American or English canvassed ham is often in demand at from three to five dollars per pound, and is considered a special luxury at state and official dinners. The donkey and the mule, here as elsewhere, are inseparable adjuncts of Spanish-American civilization, and afford the only facilities for mountain travel and transportations. The result is that "a mule farm," if well managed, rarely fails to be profitable. There is always a ready market at high prices, and a well-trained saddle mule will bring from three to five hundred dollars. During my residence here, thinking it possible to train one of the native horses to trot in single harness, I bought a young one that had never been trained to the saddle, and engaged a jockey to break him in. After several months the jockey brought in the horse ready for service. He did very well for a while; but one day when some herdsmen came dashing along the road at full speed, he seemed to suddenly forget how to trot, and broke off into a full gallop. When I attempted to check him, he stopped stock-still and refused to budge. Finally I got out and tried to coax him into a good humor. He quieted down somewhat; but when I attempted to resume my seat in the vehicle, he concluded that he wanted his liberty, and in less than ten minutes carriage and harness were in ruins, the horse was lying on his back in a deep ravine, and I was very much in need of repairs! These little mountain ponies make the best of roadsters under the saddle, but do not take kindly to harness. The population of the plain has been variously estimated at from 250,000 to 300,000. The truth is, nobody knows just what it is; there has never been a reliable census, and there are little data for an intelligent conjecture. There are a great many people of pure Caucasian origin; but the masses are, for the most part, mixed descendants of Indians and whites. And here, as elsewhere in South America, a man of pure Spanish origin is seldom, if ever, a farm laborer. This class of work is done by Indians, zambos, and mestizos. The proprietors of these fertile farms usually lease their lands to responsible tenants, and live in the cities. A few reside permanently on their country estates, others only during the dry season in December and January. There are no small landed proprietors. The soil of this superb valley is owned by a fortunate few. And yet the investment rarely pays over two and a half per cent, while the current bank rates of interest are from eight to twelve. This anomalous state of affairs is easily accounted for when it is remembered that rich lands near the national capital offer about the only safe investment in a country where local and general "revolutions" are so frequent, and where the large cities afford about the only educational and social advantages. Hence the price of farm lands near the city ranges all the way from one to three hundred dollars per acre, and can rarely be had at these prices. Bituminous coal, of good quality and in apparently inexhaustible quantities, is found in the foot-hills and mountain-sides all around the plateau, and the richest iron ores abound within easy distance. But neither coal nor iron deposits have been hitherto much disturbed by man. The inhabitants continue to use charcoal, and to import their iron from abroad, as did their ancestors of two hundred years ago. Petroleum of excellent quality is known to exist near the surface, within a few leagues of the national capital; yet petroleum for domestic use is imported from the United States at an aggregate cost of from one and a half to two dollars per gallon, and has been known to sell as high as three. Those who cannot afford lights at these prices - and of course the majority cannot continue to use tallow "dips," just as did their colonial ancestors. Most persons who know anything of the country have heard of the celebrated salt mines of Zipaquera. They are situated near the outskirts of the little city of that name, at the foot of the sierra some thirty miles north of the national capital. It is said that these mines were known to the aborigines, and were successfully worked by them centuries before the Spanish conquest. They are now the property of the government, which derives a handsome revenue from them. The main deposits are near the surface of a cone-shaped hill, or rather mountain, near the great sierra. Indeed, the entire hill seems to be a mass of solid salt rock, which extends to unknown depths below the surface. The main shaft enters the hillside a few feet above its base, and then branches off in different directions, the roof, floor, and sides being one solid mass of salt rock. As quarried from the mine, this rock looks very much like our gray granite, and contains about eighty per cent of pure salt. The salt is obtained by crushing the stone, and then boiling it down in large caldrons, and crystallizing it in the usual manner. It is then compressed by means of hydraulic machinery into cylinders weighing about |