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diles, and it is by no means uncommon to find the prints of the teeth of these carnivorous reptiles on their thighs. The carcasses of horses, mules, and cows, attract an innumerable quantity of vultures. The zamuros are the ibises, or rather the aquiline vultures, of this country. They have the mien of Pharaoh's chicken, and render the same service to the inhabitants of the Llanos as the vultur percnopterus to the inhabitants of Egypt.

3. PEDRAZA is situate at the foot of the mountains which separate the plains of Varinas from the province of Maracaibo.

This little town had, in 1807, a population of three thousand.

4. SAN ANTONIO is situate on the north bank of the Apure, just above where it divides itself into several branches to join the Arauca, in about 7° 30' north latitude, with a village called Bancolargo on the opposite bank of the river.

South of this town, and between the Capanaparo and the Sinaruco, the country is inhabited by tribes of wild and independent Indians, who allow no settlements to be made among them.

SECTION XV.

PROVINCE OF Santa fé.

SANTA FÉ, or Santa Fé de Bogota, is bounded on the north by Santa Marta and Merida; on the east, by the lofty summits of the eastern part of the Cordillera of the Andes, and the. province of San Juan de los Llanos; on the south, by Popayan; and on the west, by Santa Fé de Antioquia.

This province, which is exceedingly mountainous, is situate in the very centre of Cundinamarca, on the west of the eastern branch or parallel of the main chain of the Andes, and on both sides of the great river Magdalena, which pervades the whole province from south to north. The highest summits of this eastern branch are the Paramo de la Suma Paz, and that of Chingasa: it divides the valley of the river Magdalena from the plains washed by the Meta and the Casanare. None of the summits of the chain of Santa Fé de Bogota attain the regions of eternal snows, although they approach very near to it. The western slope of this chain is broken into numberless elevated plains and peaks, intersected with crevices of the most tremendous appearance.

Lake Guatavita may be considered as one of the curiosities of this province. It is situate

on the ridge of the Zipaquira mountains, north of the capital, in a wild and solitary spot, at the height of more than 8700 feet above the sea. It is a small oval piece of water, in a deep hollow of the same form, round which are cut ranges of steps, reaching to the brink of the lake, having served most probably for some religious ceremonies in use among the ancient .possessors of this country.

As it was supposed that a great quantity of treasure had been thrown into this lake, when Quesada conquered the kingdom of Cundinamarca, the Spaniards attempted to cut a canal through the mountain of which its banks are composed, in order to drain off the waters; but their design does not appear to have succeeded, for, after considerable excavations, it has been left off at little more than half the requisite depth.

The rivers of Sánta Fé are very numerous, but most of them are innavigable on account of the great declivity of the land towards the Magdalena. The Suarez, the Gallinazo or Sogamozo, the Rio Negro, and the Bogota or Funza, are the chief streams, which, rising in the eastern Cordillera, descend into and swell the Magdalena.

The cataract of the Tequendama, by which the river Funza joins the great Magdalena, is the most noted object in the country near the capital. The Funza, or Bogota, after receiving

the waters of the numerous small rivers which flow through the great plain, is about 140 feet in breadth, a short distance above the fall; approaching the crevice through which it dashes, its breadth is diminished to thirty-five, when, with accumulated force, it rushes down a perpendicular rock at two bounds, to the astonishing depth of 600 feet, into a dark and unfathomable gulf, out of which the river again issues under the name of Rio Meta, and continues its course, by an immense descent, till it joins the great river Magdalena.

In the fall of this river may be observed a strange variety of climate. The plain of Bogota is covered with crops of wheat, with oaks, elms, and other productions of a temperate region, At the foot of the fall are seen the palms of the equinoctial low-lands. The face of the rock, which finishes and borders the vast plain of Bogota, near the cataract, is so steep, that it takes three hours to descend from the river Funza to the Rio Meta; and the basin or gulf cannot be approached very close, as the rapidity of the water, the deafening noise of the fall, and dense mass of vapour, render it impossible to get nearer the edges of the abyss than four or five hundred feet. The loneliness of the spot, the dreadful noise, and the beauty of the vegetation, render this situation one of the wildest and most picturesque scenes that are to be observed in the Andes.

The outlets from Popayan or Quito to Santa Fé, are by means of roads traversing an assemblage of broken ground; and the pass of the Paramo de Guanacas, which lies across the Cordillera of Antioquia, is the most frequented, from which the traveller crosses the Magdalena, and arrives at the metropolis by Tocayma and Meza, or the natural bridges of Icononzo. These bridges are, however, not much frequented, excepting by the Indians, and travellers whose curiosity inspires them to venture on such desolate regions. They are the formation of Nature's ever-varying hand; and are situate west of the Suma Paz, in the direction of a small river which rises in the mountain of that name. This torrent rolls through a deep and narrow valley, which would have been inaccessible, but for the arches thrown across it in so wonderful a

manner.

The little village of Pandi is the nearest inhabited place to this pass, being a quarter of a league distant, and the whole road from the capital is one of the most difficult in the Andes.

The crevice of Icononzo is in the centre of the valley of Pandi, and appears to have been formed by some convulsion of nature, which has rent asunder the mountain. At the height .of near 300 feet above the torrent, (which forms beautiful cascades on entering and quitting the crevice), are seated these extraordinary bridges, one under the other; the breadth of the upper

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