On the fifth day we reached an altitude of eight thousand feet, and entered a fine strip of forest, the first we had seen on this journey. This is the beginning of the forested zone, and close scrutiny revealed the fact that it begins at precisely the same height on both the Central and Coast Ranges, and continues to the very top of the mountains, several thousands of feet higher up. We travelled along the top of the ridge for some miles, and then again descended abruptly to the barren valley where the little village of Peque is situated, and where our journey by mules ended. Peque contains about fifty dilapidated mud huts, and its population is mostly of Indian descent, but includes some pure-blooded Indians. We had a letter of introduction to one of the latter, Julian David, who is the chief man in the town, and he rendered us every assistance. He called together a number of sturdy young half-breeds and requested them to join the expedition; in other words, told them to carry our packs to the top of the Paramillo. The men eagerly agreed to do this, for they had never before been in the service of strangers, and the trip to the high country and also the society of _gringos_ promised interesting possibilities. We spent a few days investigating the neighboring country, while the men had their wives prepare the provisions for their use during the trip. Some of the country surrounding Peque once doubtless bore a light forest growth, with heavier forest in the ravines; but by far the greater part is naturally barren or covered with brush thickets. I was told that at the time of the Spanish invasion forty thousand Indians inhabited the region, and as the several mountain streams supply an abundance of water, and the soil responds fairly well to cultivation, there seems to be no reason why it should not have supported an extensive population; at the present time only a few hundred people are left, the others having gone to swell the ranks of victims exacted by the lust of the conquerors. The forested zone, beginning at eight thousand feet on the ridge we had just traversed, gradually extends its limits downward as one goes farther north, until at Peque it reached as low as five thousand feet in the deeper and well-watered ravines; and, as previously stated, at Puerto Valdivia it reaches the very edge of the Cauca.