Although it was still early in the afternoon, we decided to spend the rest of the day in Antioquia, as the pack-mules seemed nearly exhausted; but it was not long before we heartily regretted not having avoided the town and made camp out in the open plains. Our _arriero_ had guided us to the little hotel, where a matronly _señora_ received us with evident joy and a great deal of ceremony, probably because we were the first guests in some time; we soon discovered, however, that she was not the only one to whom our visit gave pleasure. Fleas in droves appeared from the cracks in the brick flooring and made their way through leggings, trousers, and all other wearing apparel as quickly and easily as the proverbial rat running through a cheese; and when we entered our room, vermin of a still more objectionable character rushed joyfully from the beds, walls, and chairs to gloat in hungry anticipation at their prospective victims. We erected our cots in the _patio_ and spent a long, long night out in the open. Buriticá was reached on the following day. Immediately after leaving Antioquia, a mere ledge of a trail begins the ascent of the Coast Range, and while a good deal of anxiety was felt for the safety of the pack-animals, it was nevertheless a relief to escape from the cheerless desert wastes and the intolerable heat of the low country. The altitude of Buriticá is six thousand two hundred feet. On account of the jaded condition of the mules, we spent a half-day in the town, and also lightened the cargoes by leaving at the inn all equipment intended for a subsequent journey in another direction. We had, of course, never visited Buriticá before, but I had not the slightest hesitation in leaving with perfect strangers a good deal of valuable material. The honesty of the Colombians is well known, and we did not lose a single thing by theft during the entire two years I spent in that country. At Tabacal, a half day’s ride from Buriticá, we lost sight of the Cauca River. Our view was shut off by an independent ridge of mountains several thousand feet high, which rises out of the valley between the range we were on and the stream. A slight change was also perceptible in the character of the country; extensive areas covered with brush now dotted the slopes, although at infrequent intervals; and on the extreme tops of both ranges a thin fringe of green was plainly discernible. The country is also very rough and broken, and there are a number of ridges to be crossed, many of which are two thousand feet high. Several separate mountains, not connected with the main ranges, stand here and there like giant, man-hewn monoliths, rising from a basal elevation of three thousand to eight or nine thousand feet, which magnifies their tremendous proportions.