ployed for weeks,
kept him buoyed up with the hope of richer mining quarters than he had
yet seen; but when he professed to be able to show him mines of "brass,
steel, alcohol, and pinchbeck," Stephenson discovered him to be an
incorrigible rogue, and immediately dismissed him. At length our
traveller reached Bogota, and after an interview with Mr. Illingworth,
the commercial manager of the mining Company, he proceeded to Honda,
crossed the Magdalena, and shortly after reached the site of his intended
operations on the eastern slopes of the Andes.

Mr. Stephenson used afterwards to speak in glowing terms of this his
first mule-journey in South America. Everything was entirely new to him.
The variety and beauty of the indigenous plants, the luxurious tropical
vegetation, the appearance, manners, and dress of the people, and the
mode of travelling, were altogether different from everything he had
before seen. His own travelling garb also must have been strange even to
himself. "My hat," he says, "was of plaited grass, with a crown nine
inches in height, surrounded by a brim of six inches; a white cotton
suit; and a _ruana_ of blue and crimson plaid, with a hole in the centre
for the head to pass through. This cloak is admirably adapted for the
purpose, amply covering the rider and mule, and at night answering the
purpose of a blanket in the net-hammock, which is made from fibres of the
aloe, and which every traveller carries before him on his mule, and
suspends to the trees or in houses, as occasion may require." The part
of the journey which seems to have made the most lasting impression on
his mind was that between Bogota and the mining district in the
neighbourhood of Mariquita. As he ascended the slopes of the
mountain-range, and reached the first step of the table-land, he was
struck beyond expression with the noble view of the valley of the
Magdalena behind him, so vast that he failed in attempting to define the
point at which the course of the river blended with the horizon. Like
all travellers in the district, he noted the remarkable changes of
climate and vegetation, as he rose from the burning plains towards the
fresh breath of the mountains. From an atmosphere as hot as that of an
oven he passed into delicious cool air; until, in his onward and upward
journey, a still more temperate region was reached, the very perfection
of climate. Before him rose the majestic Cordilleras, forming a rampart
against