16 The Wine-Dark Sea - Libro della tutto

Patrick O'Brian The Wine-Dark Sea
And after a while, 'It is a bromeliad.'
'Yes, sir,' said Eduardo, delighted, proprietorial.
'We call it a puya.'
'Ruiz did not know it. Nowhere is it described,
still less figured in the Flora Peruvianae et
Chilensis. What would Linnaeus have made of
such a plant? Oh, oh!' he cried, for there, as
incongruous in this severity as the bromeliad,
flew or rather darted minute green hummingbirds,
hovering at an open flower, sipping its
honey, flashing on to the next, taking no notice
of him whatsoever.
A week later and two thousand feet higher
Stephen and Eduardo walked out across the
flank of a quiescent volcano at a fine brisk
pace: on the left hand a chaos of rocks, some
enormous; on the right a vast sweep of volcanic
ash, old settled ash, now just blushing
green from a recent shower. They were carry-