Y la extensa pradera
De fraganciosas flores alfombrada,
Forman el templo augusto que levanta
La creacion a Dios, á quien ofrece
Deliciosos perfumes por incienso,
Y por ofrenda el fruto delicado
Que el estival calor ha sazonado.”
“Here the forest secular, decked with festoons of divers climbers, of beautiful and brilliant colors, and the broad meads carpeted with fragrant flowers, form an august temple, which creation raises to God, to whom it offers delicious perfumes for incense, and, as an oblation, brings the delicate fruit matured by the summer’s sun.”
In these words of the Bolivian poet, D. Manuel José Cortés, might aptly be described the extensive forests and plains of which Orocué is the centre. Everywhere is that same exuberance of vegetation and profusion of vari-colored bloom that are so characteristic of the basin of the Meta. While lost in silent admiration of the countless floral beauties that on every side met our delightful gaze, we could but compare the scene to a ruined Eden,
“Where the first sinful pair