Barranquilla, United States Of Colombia.
Many of my correspondents have asked me for a little description of my country and of the tropic zone. I have been thinking that I can answer them all at once by writing another letter.
We live eleven degrees north latitude from the equator, near the mouth of the Magdalena River. It is very hot here, and the medium temperature in the dry season is 85°; in the rainy season it is higher. The dry season begins in November, and lasts till April; through this month we have rain, and the next month we expect it every day, and so onward. Many of the inhabitants are Indians, and about one-fifth of the population are negroes. The people in our city and in most places are divided into six classes. To the first or highest class belong the educated white people; and to the lowest, those folks who wear all the year only one pair of breeches or one dress, no shirt, and no shoes. Poor boys under four and five years wear no clothing, but they learn how to smoke.
The water in the river is so warm all the year that people can bathe in it at any time.
The huts of the Indians are made of sticks, and covered with a kind of reed. Our doors and windows are kept open the whole day, and at night we have nets around our beds to keep the mosquitoes off. As we have great and continuous heat, with abundant moisture, we have a wonderful richness and variety of vegetation. Blooming flowers and trees can be seen all the year. We have cocoa-nut-trees, bananas, pine-apples, sugar-cane, oranges, lemons, mangoes, coffee, cotton, tobacco, and cinchona-trees. In the sand of the river gold is sometimes found.
Birds, insects, and reptiles are remarkable for their variety and brilliancy. We have one bird with seven distinct colors in its plumage; and indeed the birds, from the parrot to the tiny humming-bird, are so nicely dressed that I can not describe them.
All kinds of snakes, from the boa to the viper, are found here. There is one green snake which climbs the trees, and looks precisely like the branches and leaves.
The woods in the interior are full of monkeys, and if disturbed in their sleep, they howl the night long.
A beautiful butterfly with blue wings is the most wonderful creature I ever saw. As you turn it around it changes to other lovely tints.
It is not unhealthy here. The laborers and the women cooks on their way to market ride on donkeys, for the streets are too sandy to walk in with ease.
Judith W.
We think Miss Judith ought to be accepted as a member of our Natural History Society. Her letter shows that she has learned to observe what is around her, and only people who do this are ever really well informed.
Georgetown, Kentucky.