The houses are spread over a gentle slope, to the very edge of a little _barranca_.

Each had a little enclosure, with a group of banana plants.

Butterflies of brilliant hues lazily flew about, and a few birds uttered their characteristic cries.

We could not, however, delay.

Before us lay a tremendous ascent; the first part, which we had passed after dusk, we found rougher than we realized; rock masses here were covered with a thick cushion of brilliant crimson moss, a kind of sphagnum.