The Traveler from Death by Cold When He Is Canghf in the Pára- Mo by Nigl1t Or Storm, Without Any Refuge from the Cold Except by Burying Himse1f in These Leaves

MQ.UNTAIN CHAl'EL. 217 the traveler from death by cold when he is canghf in the pára- mo by nigl1t or storm, without any refuge from the cold except by burying himse1f in these leaves. Fire is not thought of 'I'hese is no fuel. The only other plant I shall mention is the chusquea, ~ grass that might be l'~garded almost as a climber, Its hard woody stem is brought in bundles into Bogetá, to be used in the con- stmction of theroofs and sides of cheap houses. It is the Ohus- quea scandens. We entered the buildings attached to the church. They seemed a convent on a small scale, unínhabited, indeed, but in good order, Not so the kitchen, It seems to be the daily and nigbtly habitatíon oí a Iarge family, human and canine. The former seemed to oare very little for ns, but the Iatter manifest- ed a grea! interest in our legs, but evidently were afraid of the coasequences of yielding to their impulses. In the church there ís said to be a miracle-working copy of a miracle-working pieture of Our Lady of JVfontserratein Spain; but this could work notbing fór heretics, of course, nor for Liberales, who, in fact, are little better. The kitchen faces thenortb, and from the parapet there the gronnd descends rapidly to the garden and the spring, ina little amplritheatre scooped in the monntain, We passed round west and north of this. 0n a little ,plot of grass near tbe kitehen the family were spreading out a large supply oí priestly vest- ments=-albas, casullas, capas pluviales, ornamentos, parmentos, éIugulas, estolas, frontales, etc., etc., etc. Now, good reader, do not look for these things in the glossary, for I hardly know them one fromanother, and you do not wish too We walked along to the north, nearly te tbe head ofthe Arch- bishop River, First we rose a hill higher tban the top of the ehnrch, Then descending, we walked a long way on thetop of the ridge, havíng on our right a gentle descent, andagain be- y~nd higher monntains, nearly twice as high in reaJity as the place where we are, On our 1eft was almost a preoipice extend- íng so tp.e plain beneath, .A.llthis distance we met acaree a plant that grew on the plain beneatb, or on the mountain's base. Southward of the church the gronnd deseends gradually for sorne distance, I was shown a spet here where it is effirmed

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 218 . NEW GRANADA. that the ground is wann. 1 think the word ought to be used with some qualification, for I doubt whether a thermometer buried there would ever rise te 60° before the final conflagration. Imagination works wonders-indeed it works most of the wonders that I have yet examinad here, I saw growing here a genti.an, a veritable Gentiana, five inches high, sometimes blue, and sometimes entirely white, And another familiar genus, the Lupinus,I found represented by a huge plant as high as my head, near the church ; but 1am for- getting my promise a little while back. Well, 1will just mention one more, which closely resembles our common house-leek or Iive-forever, 1suppose it to be Sedum bicolor. A Iittle southward of the "warm ground" the land descends rapidly toward a huge gulf, the Boqueron,• through which rushes the San Francisco River, with a road creeping along irsaide. We descended to a peak, called the Macaw's Bill, whích looks up the basin of the San Francisco, a space of moderately hílly country, dotted with cottages and small fields cleared of bushes. But 1must not dismiss it so. From the head of the Boque- ron, which might easily be spanned by a suspension bridge 1000 feet above the river, the ground rises in every direetion. The west side of this amphitheatre is the wall through which the San Francisco breaks at the Boquerón, and on the two sides of whieh once stood the chapela of Montserrate and Guedalupe, The fírst we have just left; the other, which stood at a greater elevation, is apile of ruins that we have yet to visito The eastem border of this habitable slope is the páramo oí Choachí. We. migbt make the circuit oí all this slope, occupied perhaps by 50 wood-selling families in huts and hovels, bytraveling about 20 miles, without descending at any time to a spot as IQW as where w:enow stand. Our track wou1d be nea~ly a cirele, Al1 the space within it seems at first to be a forest, into which sett1ers have moved for the fírst time on1y a month ago, and have just cleared spots large enough to build on. But it would need but a single tree t0 dispel the illusion, In al! that spaca there is not perhaps a trunk three inches in diameter, 01' a bough 20 feet above the ground. All is bushes-stunted, gnarled shrubs, that make a w:alkthere a terrible monotony. We know no English name for ally useful plant that will grow there, ex~

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia POOR MOUNTAINEERS. 219 cept potatoes and barley, Not even these are cultivated, and how and why people live there is an inexplicable mystery. With every desirable climate in the world within two days' journey oí them, and land to be had any where for the asking. why do they live here? As 1 must give a reason, 1 will venture on two. These people must live near Bogotá. The same necessity that keeps some 20,000 wretches in New-Yonlc, who must starve every winter, and live by their wits all summer, because they can not endure the terrible solitudes of a country town, compela these pGOr creatures to Iive where they can visit Bogotá every few days. They would 1ive on the plain, but there the ground is all taken up by large proprietors, who can grow ríeh by raising wheat 01' éattle, but who could make nothing by raising so cheap and useless product as meno Tbese weeds of tbe animal creation are suffered to grow, like other weecls, where the ground is not susceptible of cultivation..A.nd these poor people are indeed weeds-" ereation's blot, creation's blank," not figul'ing either among preduoers 01' eonsumers. Had they not immortal souls, . were they not susceptible of religion, education, and civilization, it were a pity sorne measures could not be taken to exterminate them, for 1 know of no creature in the animal kingdom that en- joys less and suffers more. The other reason why these poor creatures do not migrate tq warmer lands is tbat they dislike high thermometers and ba.. rometers, An atmospheric pressure oí 30 inches of mercury is intolerable to theír lungs. They can not persuade themselves that the, air is not charged with sorne deleterious substance, 1t seems to differ from pure air just as a viscid liquid does from water, Neither would they be capable of enduring the heat and light of a New England summer without being cared for like polar bears. 1 would not attempt to snmmer one of them in New-York without the aid of darkened rooms and ice-houses, From the Macaw's Bill we climbed np and returned by the road we cama, for descent here was out of the question. In- deed, we hardly dared throw stones into the Boquerón lest tliey should faU on the head of some lnckless traveler in the road beneath, where they seemed to be movíng like ants. In fact, there was no danger, for our projectiles, urged horizontally with

•

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 220 NEW GRANADA. our utmost force, seemed io turn like a boomerang; and to .strike almost under our feet, Never had 1been so laden with floral treasures as when 1 returned to Bogotá. 1 had picked a small-fiowered Alstrceme- ria, the vine oí which had grown into a loop, through which 1 put roy armo In this way it seemed as if dropping out of my mammoth bouquet, As 1 was passing down by San Juan de Dios, a little girl thought she had better secure the prize that otherwise must fall to the ground, and Iaid hola of it from behind, not thinking that 1 should feel it as it took leave ef me. l turned round, and evidently surprised her by the specimen 1 gave her of my attainments in Castilian, for she fled precipi- tately. l made an attempt with Señor Triana afterward to pass the Boquerón on horseback. Passing up out of town, we 1eft Bolí- var's country-seat (d) and the river (e) -on the 1eft, and on the right two grist-milla, an extinct paper-míll, and a manufactory oí erude quinine (g). Our road rose rapidly till the mountain shut us in, and ~he Church 01 Montserrate, high on our left, disappeared from view, Patches of the cliffs were red with Be- gonias unex:ceiled by ooy ever seen by Rogg or Dunlap, The Odontoglossum, with its bushel of yellow erchid flowers, here and fuere perched itself just out of human reach.. At length carne a pass too narrow for a path, and we had to climb a point of rock on the south síde. Such a get:ting 'Up stairs on baok of horse or mule 1 never did see, At length my friend's horse carne to flat rebellion, and turned round as if to fall upon my head, ]l;[y horse revolted also. Perhaps their heads were tUzzy. At length 1 passed the recusant, who proceeded to scramble up to the tQp. No sooner were we up than again we had to desecad. When the water is not very high indeed, the pOOl'market-people fol1ow the stream to avoid thís cruel asoent and deseent over stairs built of round stones, forever wet. A curious bush that we found in fruit here cost me immense trouble, )...t first 1 could :find only fruit, a globe of the size of a plum, with a pair oí green homs. Long after 1 found the pis- tiliate flowers, but as it is dicecious, 1never could find the other sexo It proves to be Styloceras laurifolium, which is badly

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia SCARCITY O'F FUEL. 221 represented as to its fruit in Humboldt and Bonpland's No?). Gen. We were now in the wildest part of the gulf. Nothing was visible but rock and sky, with the brawling stream rushing through the chasm. Hereit began to rain. My health would not permit me to be wet with impunity, and we turned and re- treated. " A.gainst the rack where we tumed 1 saw a poor woman lean- ing to resto She had in her hand a long peon's staff, and on her shoulders a bundle, nearly as large as herself composed of small sticks. 'I'his ls a common sigh.t. In 'this way Bogotá is supplied with fuel Little coal is used. Al! the wood is sold in bundles (not weighed, however, as in Paris), whether brought on backs oí women or mulea.or in carts, A little he- low 1 met a little girl, not twelve years old, loaded in this way. Her scant dress, her naked feet, and the cold, tempted me to pay her a dime for her load and throw itinto the river. She would only have fished it out to sell again~ To ameliorate t11~ condition oí the poor needs wisdom more than money. How long has this vicinity been woodless ? Probably the Indiana stripped it eerly of ita wood, and it has never ha:d a ehanee to grow again in all the centuries since, In my opinion, the slopes toward the plaín might be nearly adequate to snpply the demand for wood andtimber, could it only have a chance to grow. 1 do not see that tbe land here has owners, nor would any one be enriched by, 'it in tms generation if the timber were preserved. And this would be impossible without aentinsls night and day. . It is worthy of remark that, wherever 1 have passed tbe bound- ary of the plain, all the slopes toward it have been stripped oí trees; but soon after you b.egin to descend.from it, aad particularly after the first steep descent, the' country is well wooded. The hills tbere have beeri stripped oí wood to meet the demands oí the Sabana: this may always have been prairie,

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 222 , NEW GRANADA.

" CHAPTER XVII.

THE PRISON, THE HOSPITAL, THE GRAVE. Guadalupe.-Discomfited Saint.-Boqueron and bathíng Girls.-Mh:acle-working Image.-Fuel-girl and Babe.-Powder-mill an:dMagaa:ine.-Soldiers.- Cemeteries,-Da.y of Mourn.i:ng.- Potter's-fields. - Gallinazo.-Hospital.- Doctora and Apochecaries.c=Provincial Príson. . My kind friend, Dr. Pacho, who showed me where to swim, but not when to swim, proposed one day, as 1 was recovering from my sickness, to which 1 have alluded already, that we should make a short excursión the .next day. Though still somewhat weak, 1 consented, 1 breakfasted ea1'lr, and we were soon aboye the city, at a place called Agua Nueva, where a dotted line is seen on the Plan, passing from fue east end of the street that runs up past the Cathedral: this is now a good road leading to tbe Beque- ron. This road we crossed, and 1 soon found we were rising ligher and higher, directly in the rear of fue north part of the ' city, and just south of the Boqueron. We carne to the foundations of a ehurch on a shoulder of the hill. The origin is said to be in the faet that, when the fane aboye was ruined by an earthquake, its sacred image was thrown down here, many hundred feet below, but that the next night it returned tD the ruins above, They then attempted to rebuild the ehapel down here, but the design fell through, and the poor j,mage was at length compelled to content ítself with quarters in the Church of San Juan de Dios in the city below, from whence ít has not since tried to escape. Up went the tortuous ascent, but in many placea the path was sunk into deep callejones. We still ascended till we could see over Montscrrate-could see the horizon beyond-nay, even loek down on the plain as it stretched off to the north of it. We carne at length to the ruina of the upper ehurch, in its day more splendid than that of Montserrate. This is the chapel oí Our Lady of Guadalupe,

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia GUADALUPE. 223 Mounting these walls, 1 found myself higher than 1 ever hall been befbre--ll,039 feet. 1 placed Mount Washington, in my imagination, with its foot at the level of the sea beneath me, and fonnd its top so Iow as scaroe to be discernible. From this point my friend, who never lost an opportunityof gettring into trouble, suggested a descent toward the northeast, from which we could reach the city by passing through the Bo- queron. In fact, he thought this the easiest way to retum heme. We were soon committed, and too far clown to retreat. The whole side was densely eovered with bushes, and without a path. But gravity will do wonders when one trusts himself-to it, and, strange to aay, we reached the bottom, by good fortune and good management, bringing our clothes with uso Á'llQther taskremained : it was to pass tbe Boquerón without wetting my feet, as at nhis time, when 1 was not acclimated, such a course would have ine:vitably brought on él. relapse. The wild magnificence of the scene is unsurpassed by any thing 1 recollect, For more than a mile the walls were too steep to scale, and the bottom too narrow for a wag0u-roac1. Tbrough this narrow gorge much of the supplies of Bogotá pass on the shoulders of men and women and the backs of oxen. Wood, charcoal, wheat, fewls, turpentine of frailejon in bottles made of leaves, and even plantaina from the warmer re- ' gions beyond the mountains, come pouring clown at a11hours of .the day, and particularly early Friday moming, Narrowly escaping a complete dueking in myefforts to save my feet, 1had crossed and recrossed tbe stream till bnt one more eroasing remained at the outlet of the Boqueron. Here a new obstacle met me. To pass where the road did was clearly impossible; above was unscalable rook, Below was a narrow path close beside the water, where a group of bathíng girls held possession. 'I'he whiteness of their skín sbowed them of no plebeian caste; indeed, 1learned they were headed by a school- rnistress. How tbesenaiads lived in the freezing current, where 1dared not clip my foot, was to me a mystery; but there tbey were, 1mnst get .round them as best 1 could, 1 díd so, and at length belowpassed the stream, and gainec1 the mouth of the Boqneron, Now came the rain. It rains every after- noon in the midc11e of tbe r8;iny season, but 1wasslow to find

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 224 NEWG'RANADA. it out, and my kind friends generally managed tú be caught in it. We took refuge in a venta. Passing through a little tienda, where market-people are apt to leave too much money and take too much chicha, we enterada desólate, empty sala, and seated ourselves on 111ecold poyo of adobe-a brick bench running around the room. Rere we watched t0 see it rain. Across the patio were two other mean mud huts. The posts oí the corredor were oí the rough, curious stems of tree-fems - palo bobo. 1 saw here a stupendous earth-worm - yes, an angle-worm, aJ.most blg enough to "DciD for whale" with. But there is no need oí hyperbole; it was abou:t two thirds of an inch in diameter, and e1ght or ten inches long. , About 3 the rain ceased, and the doctor, finding 1 had had as much exercise and fasting as was good fol' a convalescent, agreed with me that it might be time to get home to our din- ners. 1 made a somewhat similar expedition a few days after, only 1 1eft fue height of Guadalupe at my Ieft, 1 passed fust, on the base of the mountain, a church called Egypt (p on the Plan), whether from darkness or bondage, or ooth,1 know not, but in either sense more, churches than one might with propriety bear the name. Leaving ihe ontskirts oí the oity behind me, by rís- ing still higher we reach the little Ohurch oí La Peña - oí OUl' Lady of the Cliff-with its miraculous image oí Joseph, Mary, the infant Savior, and an angel bearing the custodia, in which they keep the conseerated wafer or hostia. This is the most venerated image 1 have ever seen, 1t was found by an ludian on an almost inaccessible peak aboye, carved out in the living rook, from whích ita base was not detached. With immense labor the pieee was detached, lowered with ropes from its native crag, and here a temple was built far it. They covered the di- vine workmanship a11over with paint, put showy dresses on the figures, and put the group in the camarín, where it contin- ues to work miracles, as are attested, by wax models of artns, Iegs, eyes,. etc"and pictures of various catastrophes, out of which those who called on La Señora de la Peña fcr help eame out alive,

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia MIRACLES. 225 ~-M We borrow the annexed diagram tú show how the wax figures would look were they not crowded together, covering eaeh other; and the style of execution is fairly emulated by he engraver. The pictures were in the same style, 01' poorer, and exhihited a glleat variety of haps .andrnishaps, One lady, for instence, was ric1ing up to Montscrrate,' and 'her horse tumed a somerset down the bank with her. Through the intervention oí this .stone image, she was not killed. Another was croasing an exposed place during' a bull-feast in the Plazuela of Sen Victorino. The bulltumbled 1181' over, and a comíoal sight she was, accordíng to the pieture; but, thanks tú La Peña,she Iived through it, From here out course was sonthwest, A steepascent, a mountainswamp, and a well-worn path over the ridge brought us in sight oí two miserable little fields, and a hut covered with grass. Here we saw aman, hís wife, and two little chíldren preparing loada of wood for the city. A descent directly south brougbt, U8 to a rosd, paved in sorne placea, running along the banks of the Fucha. 1 turned and went from the city on this road, As 1 was going up a steep pitch, 1 met a sight wliich 1 shal], not S00n forget. It was a young girl, apparently :fifteen, but doubtless older, She had ou her back a large load of wood, but was descending the steep road with a quick, elastic step : in her right 'hand was the long sta:ff they always carry, and on her left arm her babe, unconsciously drawing ita nonrishment from the living fountain, Ah, woman, how varied but universal are thy wronge.l The father of this l11noeent may hsve been sorne country priest, living in coarse Inxury, with nothing to -tax the energies oí his mind-neither oares, responsibilities, nor duties beyend the performance of prescribed ceremonies at prescribed times-nothing, in short, to do but "to draw nutrition, propa- gtJ>te, and rot." She, living possibly in a mud hut, seven feet long, six feet wíde, aad five feet from the eaves te the grouna, contrives -to eke out a subsistence fOI herself and babe by pick- P

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 226 NE:W GRA.NADA. ing up a load of sticks near her kennel, car:rying them and her babe from seven to twelve miles, and selling her load for three half dimes. N ear here 1 gathered the fruit of a curious shrub, the Coriarie, The flowers had been very small-c-sosrcely noticeable, indeed, escept for their number, and for apparently gl'owing on the Ieawes ] but when the time carne for it to go out of flower, the petals, instead of falling, took to g1'owing. They beeame so distended with bright red juice as to appear almost black, and to have crowded each other out of saape, and into angular maases, hiding entirely the little capsule, and appearing like a berry. 1 found here, too, for the first time in South Amedea, a nristletoe growing on a bush. The road from here to Bogotá does not closely follow the River Fucha, but rises over a shoulder of the mountain at a considerable height, while the river entera the plain through a gorge. Rere 1 found, a. gigantic figure painted on a sloping rock in the river, as if wading across it, with a child on his shoulders, and nsinga paIm for a staff. 1t was Saint Christo- pher (Oln'ist-bearer), of whose history, unf.ortunatel;y,I know no more than is shown by the ctymology of hiel name, 1wonder if his mother gave mm .that name in infancy, and if, when grown to more than, man's stature, he had the honor to carry once or repeatedly the infant Sarvior on his ehoulders, But it la useless to ask. Just below here 1 took my first bath in fue ch1lly elimate of

Bogotá. 1 was in the water bttt an instant, and H bathedlike a cat," Dr. Bayon said; but the dip cost me that sickness of a fortnight. How t1e "hard inhabitant" can enjoy himself in the wintry stream-how even little children are, as 1 have seen them, copiously and deliberately bathed, is to me amazing, My visita to the plains have been fewer and less interesting. One was to a spot a little below this. We passed throngh fields with walls of unburnt brick and roof oí tile-the gate- ways also roofed. A. more hateful fence to the Inmter 01" the botanist can not be found, He will not think oí scaling it, and, perhaps, when he needs a gate, none is to be found. We passed the southern borders of the cíty, and oame te a mili, where wheat is bought and converted into a :L10Ul' equal to our second

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia SOLDIERS. 227

(JI third rate, As a tropical voyage damages our superfine tlour, it does not shame theirs when it gets here, On the same canal which comes from the Fucha stood the national powder-mill: governm.ent .has since abandoned it, and the Serrería is to be sold, Examinad. from an eminence, it ap- peared to be an orderly, well-eonducted establishment, but 1 did not enter it. On the very banks oí the Fucha stands the magazine, under a guard of eoldiers, It is a solitary building, with a piazza, surrounded by a high wall, part of which has 'been carried away by the floods, The soldiers were asleep, and I had entered, the in':' closnre before 1knew it was fluarded. In the piazza hung, a soldier's babe in a hammock, and near stood their guns. Their cooking was done by puilding a fire in t!~e piaaza against the walls of the magazine. We found the mother of the babe near the desólate ooneern. A little way from here I saw a body of troops washing clothes in the river within a line of sentinela.They had a few wornen engaged with them. The fewness surprised me, for when an arrny is on march there ara more women than meno 1 have been repeatedly assured oí this, and that the commanders expe- dite their march, and aid them across the rivers with the great- est attention, Soldiers here are smaller than other people. I am not tall, but I can look over the heads of a long line of troops, and see the top of every cap. I was first struck with the díminutive stature of the natives in a dense crowd in a chureh, It was new to me, w.ho .had been 1'10 often buried in crowds, to find my head projecting over the uppel' surface of one, 1 have sometímes been mortífied by the rowdy conduet of the offsconr- ing oí the States in Spanish countries ; but when 1 see such troops, 1do not wonder they are tempted to piteh into them, just for a little fun, One of the offícers 1 saw was of unmix- ed African blood, I beg leave to introduce to the reader two specimens of this unfortunate and not very reputable class, Tbe taller of too two is one of fue President's 'Lancera, and the other one of the infant- ry. The dress of both resembles that of N orthern troops, except that the feet are partially covered with alpargates, figured and deseribed on page 236. Imagine the taller o:f these rather

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 228 NEW GRANADA.

E'OOT-SOLD1ER A.ND L..\NOER. short, and no more impudent than a cavalry soldier is apt to be : rmght not sorne oí the chivalrous sons of the Union be tempted to make him " know ros place?" 'I'he country around the Fucha is not exaetly flat, but ínter- mediate between plain and mojrntain. .All west of here is entirely level, and at this season oí the year much of the ground is covered with water. 1t difiln's from Westero prairies in that they have depressed edges, the boundaries heing streams .at a much Iower level, Here the boundaries are hills, and the stream in the interior is at the surfaee of the plain. In both, the centre is apt to be wettest. In the plain west of the northern end of the city is the principal cemetery (a), the pride of Bogotá. It ís an ellipse of about an acre, surrounded by a high wall, with a ohapel at the

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia CEl\rETERY OF BOGOTA, 229 farther end. 'I'hus rnuoh 1 could see from the mountains. My visit there happened to be just after All Samts, 2d November, the season when, in several successive l\lIondays,they do up th(;\ mourning for the year. 1 passed and -metjrumerous groups of moumers, gayly laughing and chatting as they tripped to 01' from the house appointed for aJ.l the living. The theory of rural cemeteries ís not understood in New Granada. Romalltic situacions are not sought, and gl'eat ex- tent is not desired. It may be desirable that sorne monuments be perpetuated, but the bones themselvea are no!; a sacred de- posit, so 1t matters not how full the ground ma-ybe while there is room on tIte surfaee; Hence the Granadan eemetery 01' Pan- teon is condensed, and most ·of the bodies tvrfl placed in. thc oven-like bóvedas. The wall of the Ceroetery of Bogotá is made up of bóvedas. These" narrow heuses' are placed side by síde, in three 01' four tiers, extending around the vast' ellipse, exceptthat the space 'opposite the entrance is occupied by j). chapel, without wlÍ.ich' a cemetery is not complete. The roof that covers toe bóvedas extends over a walk before them, where the visitor is protected from the weather, as he. contemplases paintings and inscriptions, on tin plate, in water-colora or eil, or chiseled in marble, and beautiful rose-eolored fine aandstone that would never béar frost, Many remain as they were 1eft when the apertura was elosed on the inhebitant, and the nam and date were written. in the fresh mortar with a stick. A series of masses were g9ing on, with the humane Inten- tion of rescuing the deceased from an unpleasant situation, in which some of them must now have been for long months. While the chapel was full ofworshipers, another gl'Oup'wel'ego- ing from grave to ¡p.'ave,with one 01' two priests, singing a little, and sprin:kling a little water on each grave. 'The price of a bé- veda is $8, which gives a right for ten years, when the bones are drawn forth withont farther expense to either the pursel5 or the feelíngs of thesurvivors, A grave in the ground is ohesper, and the body ia left tUl the ground is wanted again. A perpetual right in the gl'ound can 'be secured, but not in a.b6veda. 1 had left the ground, when 1 .met a bier onthe shoulders of four men, WJlO were walkíng at a brisk pacel andshaking from side to side a body of which 1 could see the clasped hands and

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 230 NEW GRANADA. naked face, 'I'he bedy was that of an aged female, dressed in wbite flannel. Arrived at the graye, it was full of water. Here W8JS a pause: sorne were for thrusting the body clown into the water, others for dipping it out; but sorne men who were digging an adjoirúng grave gaya it up to the necessisies of the case, and awkwardly, and wiJ;p.offensiveexposure of the person, the body was Iaid in it. Then a boy caught up a huge lump of mud and pítched it clown. It struck the body with a sullen sound, made the whole corpse quiver, tore aside part oí the clothes, end disclosed the face and one little hand oí a babe a few months old thas had been concealed there! l was horrified, butsteod roy ground. Clod after clod feU on their naked faces, until, little by 1ittIe, fhe shocking scene passed from view. While these bodies were be:ing buried like those of brutes, a dozen priesta were within the consecrated grol.mds,hut came not near the scene, 1 'turned away siek at heart, but with a stron- gel' o.esite to Iive to reach my native land than ever lfelt before, The buriel-place ef the pOOl' is down in the damp plain west of the city. The Bogotanos hoped 1 should not see it, for it is truly a horrible plaee. The fence leading te it was oí wood-- sticks tied to peles with thongs of raw hide; but the fenee 01 theeemetery was ·of tapias and tile. Within were bones scat- tered over the ground, and even a skull or two,and that un- olean bírd, the gallinazo 01' chulo (Vultur Jota), nearly allied to our tnrkey-bnzaard, was perched on the wall, desiring 1:0 defile bis beak with the flesh of Christians, which 1 hope he could not reach, though he could smell it, This creature usuaUy fínds its up};lerlimit befere reaching the height of this plain, but Bogotá seems to be an exception, as it is warm consídering its altitude, We see large numbers of them walking over the waste placea, seeking food, 01' opening out their sooty wings on a roof where their peculiar positioa Ieads people to say that they are praying in eross, as they do at La Tercera.. 'I'he king of the vultures, rey de los gallinasos-« VultRJ:papa, the Vulture pope-m a dif- ferent bird, and not gregarious, like the gallinazo. When he comes to their feast, they, either from respeet, or posaibly from mere prudence, leave the whole to him till his majesty pleases to eat no more. On the whole, 1do not think the gallinazo, though a graceless Ioafer,is so uncleanly as our turkey-buzzard-Vul-

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia HOSPITAL. 231 tur Áurar---whose every feather disgusta, and when he has gorged so that he can not escape, 1.S not ashamed to spew out bis ob- scene repast on bis captor. Half way np to the ledge above the city, near a brick-kiln, where they burn tbeir brieks with brush smaller than haz el- bushes, is a place where they bury suicides, and sometimes, it is saíd, malefactors, They areburied Iike beasts, and their mem- ory perishes with them. Still, the good woman, whose rancho stands near the spot, dares not venmre out-doors at night, as if the miserable walls that can not keep out the air could protect her from ghosts. 1 will add, now that my theme has taken so grav-e a turn, that the use o/ coffins is a new and growing practice here, but as yet they are very expensive. The poor are carríed to their Iast resort by four prisoners from tbe Presidio, attended ay soldíers with loaded muskets, The íntroduetion of bóvedas would, 1think, be a benefit to our own cemeteries. From the grave to the doctor is to go back buta single seep, and yet 1 mean no disrespect to the profession, 01' to Dr. Meri- zalde, to make it and him the súbject of my next remarks, A more estimable 01" modest man 1do not knew than ;this pious and venerable physician. His library is to me the most ínter- esting prívate library 1 have seen in this country, and it is worthy oí a more extended notice than 1can give 01it, It contains many very rare books, some oí which have here been reposíng for two centuries, while the other copies of them have been exposed to various oasualties in Europe-c-have been flooded over and lost among the' offspring of a prolific press, 01' worn out by too much use, To sueh dangers a book is no longer exposed when jt has found a :refuge here ; and 1lmow of no moxa prom- ising a field for a hunter oí .rare books than in the eld Iibrariee 'oí New Granada. Dr. l'l1erÍrzalde is the principal physician oí the Hospital. 1 met him there once at the ear1y hour which he devotes to ihis labor of Iove, The good old man had quite a number ofstudents in bis train, and went from bed to bed with the tenderness of a father, 1 was aurprised at the number of patients 1 saw witl] a cake in their hand, but at length 1 noticed on the dootor's arDl a blue cotton handkerclíief, tied at the four cornera, that musí have held near a peck at first, from which they had been dex-

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 232 NEW GRANADA, terously transferred to the beds of patients without attl'acting any notice, The Hospital is an old convent of the Hospital Brethren oí Sto John-of-God=-San Juan de Dios, It was put into ,their hands ni ita erection as the best thing that then could be done ; but the rnonastic history of Bogotá has been terrible. Tbe only 0.1''- del' ever 'here that was not a humbug and a scandal was tbe Jesuies. Say what we will of them now,I can not doubt that they. were faithfnl at that time, and the first banishment oí tbem from this country was an unwise and cruel step, dictated by any thingelse thau a regard for religión. But the monks of San Juan de Dios settled the question oí how few patients they could take in, and still enjoy their spaeious corrvent and fat lardero Govel'Oment found itself at lengthcompelled to suppress the order, and put the Hospital under charge oí the gobemacion of tbe province, 1 think, however, it receives notllÍ~g from the pro- vinciaf treasury. , 'I'he Hospital ís not in gcod order : the rooms: are old, the @ricksof the floor are üa.versed by several crevie~s' in-each, ihat form so. many secure-depoaitories of dirt, sorne of which may perhaps date frem the las1; eentury, Every 'thing seemed to have been badly eontríved, and needed a thqrough refonn, This would require funds which there is no. p5J.o.pa;bility of their soon recervmg. The kitchen was dirty and inéffieient, without any larga vessels for wholesale cookery, 01' any labor-saving arrange- ments. lt seemed as if the cooking for each separate patient may have Been. carried on independently of the others, and every thing looked more as if the whole affair was there only tempo- rarily, So, too, of the dispensatory : it was in the most shock- .ing oondition, aad never can be any better without a radical re- .form. It gives the impressíon, too, that the medicines themselves must be the worst of their kind, when every thing ahout them bears evidence of so mueh neglect. As to the diseases, they can not be the same here as with us. 'I'here ís little 0.1' no. consumption : 1 do DOt recollect oí even a, single case. Dysentery reigns prime minister in the court of Death. 1 tried in varo to get at the statistics of the rnatter, but there were aone at hand, and can only express an opinión that abaut o.nethird of the-deaehs, if not one half, are nl-

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia DOCTO"RS .AND DISEASES, 233 timately from this disease, 1 was surprised at the small nnm- , ber of in sane patients. Dismal indeed is their condition, ana 1 think few recoveries could OCCUl' here, 8yphilitic patierrtsare not admitted. :M:any that apply from other díseases must be refused; and Dr. Merizalde assured me that, were the hospital empty and opened for thisdisease alone, it would be filled in a day! Of course, the old monaeteey is not without its pictures Illus- trative of the Iife oí ita patron aaint. Here we see two devils tossing him bask and forth to eaeh other, 1 saw the hanging- scene described by Steuart, but OUl' recollections di.ffer widely : instead of a monk hanging a heretic, it sesmed rather to me tba~ the devíl was strangling aman eitber with a rope 01' bis tail, and tbat t116 saint delivers the victim. It ís not ver:y ím- portant whieh ís l'ight, only I weuld put this most charitable eonstruction on the matter; but if I am wl'ong, so much the worse for the devil, Speáking oí pictnres, I saw one that, 1confess, surprísed me a little, hanging at ;the dOOT of tbe church at a great fiesta. Pictures are frequently loaned on such occasions, and any face, male 01' female, is at once reoeived as a saint, The one in qnestion, however, was not in a shape to give. much scope to charity: it. ;\"\;EiS the priest Abelard making love to Heloisa, I mentioned-the matter at home, and aguest present showed, that • she was 'better poªte:9.. up in that old love-affair than was cred- ítable to her, in m.y opinion. 1 can not say that 1 think tbe medical school 01' tbe faculty stand very high in general; Probablyone half of tbe popula- tíon never paya fee--dying is chesper, Dr. Oheyne, a Scotch gentleman who married -here long sínce, and one 01' two natíves who have studíed in Paris, ate the only ones on whom I could venturo to rely. Fortunately, 1nevero stood in need of them, The people here are said to be VCl'Y averse to Iarge fees. Out oí eitíes a man can not live by practice, so ít .seems to me, as there is not the tenth oí the whole population that ever receive a11y medical assistance from the day oí their birth till their death, both inclusive. . There are four 01' five apothecaries' shops here, They appear as good as need be: 110tas showy as our best, but really in good

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 234 NEW GRANADA.

condition and well served, 1 knew best thatof DF. Lombana, If a preseríption were written with the weights here used, 1 would have no fea¡ but that it would he properly put up. The safest way would be to write the preseription in granos of-No of a grain: a useful faet to remerober, if we could only be sure of ít. But the diversity of languages on earth is hardly more perplexing than the diversity oí weights and measures, and here theyare little sure oí them, for their own have been chang- ed so often. N OW the legal standard lS -that.oí the French. It ought to be universal. you aloestruck with the medicines here as being the same as at heme. There are no druggists here, Even the ipecacuanba, if not the sarsarparilla, ate brought from Europe 01' the U nited States. 'I'he pharmacopoeia is the old Spanish one, but most of the medica! books read here are French. .Indeed, aman who reads no other language than Spanish ought never to pass fa): an educated physician. From the Hospital it ls natural to go to the Prison. 1 w011.1d wish 10 "Qeexcused from this task; but as the jefe politíco offer- ed to accompany me in person, aun as a prison is always a prop- el' place to tell the trujh of, 1 could not excuse myself. Tho provincial prison is in fue same block with the Halls of Con- gressr aad distant not 200 reet from the chair of the President of the Senate. The entrance is on the street that runs clown from the seuth side of the square. A guarc1of soldiers is always • at the door, The prison within ís very small and dirty at Ieast, if not excessively so. 1t has not a whole pati0 to ítself, bur . ouly a part of one, built in by a high bl'ick wall, with a corredor running round two sides only. Rere 1 saw still sorne debtors, though on recent notes there ís now no liability to -plison. Que room was used as a ohapel, having a meanly furnished altar, but at the same time itserved as dormitory. 'I'his building is the night1y resort oí a detachment 01presidanios, that are ern- ployed dmillg the day as scavengers, and in the burial of the po.or, etd., aIways under the watch of seldiers, The prisons can hardly be alleged as a reproaeh to the government. 'I'me, they are horrible, with the single exoeptiou of the Casa de Reclusión at Guaduas, but the authorities can not remedy the matter, though they would. The government i

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia HYDROGRAPRIC NOTlONS. 235 poor. It can: not maintain suitable officers, nor can it furnish new buildings; and with erewded roems and low salaries, no Howard himself, wer.e he alive, could keep a prison from being what that of Bogotá emphatically Ís-a nuisance,

------

CHA.PTER XVIIL

THE VALLEY OF THE Ql'l.INOCO.

Hydrogl!apby.-Pármno of Choachí.c-Oordillern of Bogotá and the Provínces on itáSummit. -~ltstern Wilderne$i3.- Thermal Spríngs.- Indian Reserves.- Fortunate Priest.-.H.is cunníng Penitent.e=Cordage Plant.-Laguna Grande. -Rid Treasllres.-Murder of the Chibcha King.-Señor Quevedo.c-Bolfvar. -J'oaquin Mosquera.c=Bafael'Urclalle.ta.-Domingo Caieedo.-José María 01laudo.-Francisoo de Paulo Santander.-Six Administrations and three Re- beUions.-Murder and Mystery.-Sucre, Sardá, and Mariano P~ris.-Une.- Páramo of Cruz Verde.-Rare Planta.

1 HAn seen plantaina and oraoges desceoding to Bogotá by the steepreads that lead from the páramos. They do not grQw there, Beyond there must be a warmer place, and 1 wished to see it. They told me 1 must go to Ubaque, To Ubaque 1 re- solved to go. But where could that be? In the basin of the Orinoco ? 1 thought it hardly possible, and 1 asked a military gentleman. He assured me that its streams were tributaries to the Bogotá. Bnt he spoke of cane and plantaina there, and when 1 suggested that water could not flow:.from a cane-field up to this cola plain, he admittecl the difficulty. Bogotá is on the very edge of the basin of the Orinoco. The hydrographic notions of the country have not been very exact, and much space that ís supposed to be drained by the.Magda- lena, in reality senda ita waters to the Orinoeo. Most mapa show the Bogotá Chain, 01' Eastern Cordillera, as a well-marked, straight ridge, running northeast, Mosquera's map puts Bo- gotá half way betweeo this ridge and the Magdalena, 01' even nearer the river. Tanner's map oí Colombia, of 1829, the best yet extant, puta Lake Tata and the battle-field of Boyocá far west of the riage. 1 had to close up rus outlet of Lake Tota into the 'Sogamoso, and open with ruy pen a new eme,the Up' , fr"ÚID the opposite end of the lake, and over a lrigh mountain

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 236 NEW GRAN ADA, ridg,e into the Meta, and Orinoco. The map of AC08ta, the best Graaadan geographer that ever Iivedtill Codazzi took that place, shows that same error, Lastly, another map puts Bogo- tá entirely east of the Andes, in the plains oí the Orinooo '! In all my previoús expeditions 1wore boots. 1 new intro- duced my foot to a new chauesure, the alpargate 01' alpargata. Imagine a mat made of braided string oí the exact size of the sole of the foot. The braíd is first coiled in the proper shape, and then sewed by a long needle passing th1"Ough the wholc width from side to si de. A woven cap is sewed 011 at the toe, although the very tip is left open, so that the extremity of the great toe is visible. At the heel a strap is fastened, so 'as to come up behind, and be. held in place by a showy woven string that ties in front of the ankle. In thefigure it is wom slipper-fash- ion, and to the practíced eye looks strange, with the leg of tbe pauta- 100n8 in sueh elose proximity. The alpargate is the best pos- siNe defense fer the foet in walking. It yields to the metions of ALP>.RG:ATE OR A.LPAMA-U, the foot, Iets it take lwld 01 th.e fl1'o~lnd,and dces not heat ít. Wel'e 1ever to walk for my life, 1 should, if possíble, walk in alpargatas. The price in Bogotá is fifteen cents a pair, but in the Cauca they are both dearer and pomer. Still, 1 can not do without them. It is a significant circumstanee, too, that 1often find no pan: large enough. 1am not in the habit of looking much at feet, but all testimony goes to the point that this is a land of beantiful feet, and that, 1sup- pose, means small feet. If so, the best proof that 1can allege is to say that 1never yet found one alpargate too large for me, alshough 1can wear most gentlemen's slippers that 1have had occasion to try. There are two other rentes to Tlbsque, hui, as 1l:ike to take a circuir, we will, by your leave, go by Ohoachí. So first we pass the Boquerón, in whích we have already spent much time, and pass through the amphitheatre we saw from Montserraee, A small venta stands just out oí tl1e.;Boquel'on, and, as we tum and look back, you agree with me that highway never penetrated

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia PÁRAMO DE CROACHI. 237 a more l11g.geddefile. Were it within one hundred miles of New York ínstead of two miles from Bogotá,it weuld be much fre- quented. Many ladies here have never passed it, Sublimity is at 'a díscount here: there is too mueh of it. We rise continually by deep-worn roads, sometimes steep, but for considerable spacea nearly level. 'We left the San Francisco at the mouth of the Boqueron ; indeed, it is formed there by streams coming in :from all directions. What a lonel - road ! 1t seems as if it W8Te through a country tl}-áthaO.beea rejected, and very proper1y, as unfit for human residence. Now our path 'breaks into a d021~n.,and all bad; now they concen- trate in a callejon su narrow as to render it díffieult to let a pOOl' woman pass you with a huge load of eharcoal on her shoulders covered wíth frailejon Ieaves. We me continually, We mark our progresa by the mountains behínd us, and particularly the Cburch of Móntserrate, Now its top is seen no longer against the blue sky, but against tbe blne ridge on the opposite side of the plain. Now the frailejon becomes abundant, and vegetation assumes a more gloomy hue. Guadalupe, too, sinks, and the whole ridge tbat .frowns over Bogotá, with its head covered in angry clouds while we have pleasant weather below, has now subsided so as to allow U$ to see fue plaín over its highest peak, and far, far beyond, if clouds hieleit not, the Quindio, Ana yet we rise, The last steep is gained, and before us what .would be called Tolling prairie stretches offmiles to the east. At the beginning of this stand s the first house 011 the .road since we 1eft the ven.ta of the Boqueron-c-and such a miserable house ! A small in- clesure here was devoted to potatoes 01' arracachas, but besídes naught seemed to encourage the hopes of mano Siberia mnst be aparadise in comparison. Long and desólate was my jour- ne)'"over the páramo of Choachí. And yet ít scarcely deserves the name ofpéramo: it is too 10w and too warm. There were a number of housea, too; but 1 amtold that in bad weather tbe inhabitants mnst keep within c1oors'- Why is this plain colder than those oí AfriGa? The sun strikes it as fairly. The air, nearly twice as rare, can not carry off the ,heat so fasto 1 confess that 1 know oí"no reason except that the surfáoe is farther removed from he molten interior of

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 238 NEW GRANADA_ our planet, the chief source of our heat, which is aided lesa by the sun than we are apt to suppose. The under surface oí onr Northem snows melts inthe spring, snd the ground thaws before the rays of the sun reach it. The streams that descend from perpetual snows are, 1suspect, supplied from its under surface, Still. it is to be expected that the temperature of even 'lihe lowest placea in this country should be less than that justly due to theír elevation, 01', if you please, to. the tbiokness oí the crust OH which they stand. Every breeze that fans the nook of Vijes from the west has left, not 20 minutes before, altitudes where y011. would shiver, If from the east, it may have beeu warming some two honra, and if fróm the south, much lcmger; but evea from the north, we can scarce get a puffthat has not been play- ing around sorne peak that frosr visita every night. Henoe, if a man wants a specímen of the torrid zone, 11~can not find it in New Granada) and there must be many plants tLat could not live here except in hot-houses, Rence, too, a Granadae never has heard of a warm night. But this talk, though good for dog-days with my readers, is too cool a theme for the páramo ef Choaohi, Let us hasten on. There are sorne peales above us that 1 should líke to climb, but want of time and pl1ldence alike forbid. If the páramo should get angry, "ponerse bravo," we shonld have finetimes and fine fare in one of these deso1ate, fíreless, windowless huts, even could we reach one. How stíll it is ! No birds come here. Insects nave here no heme, 'I'he very streams do not gurgle as they do 'below. Tbis must be due to the rarity oí the atmosphere, 1 drank of their waters at a natural bridge of a larga &t stone, under wlúch flowed a small mill-etream, a trihutary to the Ori- noco, In an hour from Bogotá we cross the "divide," though 1had great difficulty to even learn the name for a hydrogl'aphic basin-hoyo-for intelligeat men never had thought of one. In one of these hollows 1passed a singulal' bush-any bush is singular here-but ibis had leaves as large as apple-leaves, white underneath, and of a pungoot taste. It is the well-known Winter's bark-Drymis Winteri. 1t is not mneh used as a,. med- reme, Itis called canelo, thus confouuding it with cinnamon, ' which it migbt serve to adulterate, though it has only the

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia CORDILLERA. DE BOGOTÁ. 239 pllllgency to excess, while the agreeable flavor is entirely want- iug. ' We approach the eastern edge oí thepáramo. 1 30mamazed at the width ef tbe mountain summit, and consider it the type of the whole Bogotá chain. Entire provinces sit on the top oí it, sida by side, north of here, for in Vélez, SOCUITO, Tunja, Tun- dama, and Pamplona, few important towns lie on either side down in the l'egion of the caneo And this mountain top is the garden of New G:i;anada and oí all South America, Nowhere in America, exoept in sorne few of tbe United States, is tbere so dense a population as swarms in this sea of bilis. They Iack but the pl'opel' educa- non to make them one of the best mees 011 earth, 'I'he Socor- ranos are proverhially enterprising, and all of the inhabitants of the oold lands are constitutíonally índnstrious, Nature has here been prodigal of her mineral wealth, Just north ef the great Sabana are the mines of rock salt at-Oipaqui- rá. A Iittle farther on are the iron mines of Pacho. Tbe emeralds oí the world come from Muzo and Somondoco. N orth oí Muzo is the copper mine oí Moniquirá, and, lastly-to say nothing oí tín, Iead, and sulphur, none of wbich are systematic- a11yextracted-the gold deposita of the vicinity of Piedecuesta, But the most valuable of all mineral deposita is coal, and this, thoughperhaps Iess abundant than in England 01' Pennsylva- nia, is praeüically inexhaustible in the present condition of the nation. 1 Iook forward from the very eastem edge, where Iittle croases, orected in gratiil1de by those who had lived to toil up the steep ascent, stand thick around my feet; 01' 'perchance some may be those of persona anxious about theí» deseent, who prayed to reaeh fue bottom wíth unbroken bones. If any expect here to see 'En PLÁINS, the boundless prairies (ji the Orinoco, he will be disappointed, You may consider them and the Magd.a.lena to lie at about eqnal distances from here ; andso you see before you a depth tbat the eye can not measure, and beyond it the monntains rising again, head over head, and you know not by sight that you have passed the summit-Ievel of the Cor- dillera. How aire these mountains occupied ? What are their names ?

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 240 NEW GRANADA,

What towns are at their base? The mountains are unnamed, and useless to mano A few horrible paths thread past tnei¡' base, but they are unknown to the traveler. The Orinoco and Amazon draín nearly one half of New Granada, but of ~ts 2,243,730 seuls in the census of 1851, only 51,072 are ascribed too thisregion, besidea that oí sorne cold lands nsually suppésed to be drained into the MagdaJena. Of these, 28,87:.3 are inthe cantones oi' San Martín and Cáqueza, in the province .of B0g0tá -the empire province, that extends from the Magdíllena to the Orinoco; 18,523 to the province of Casanare, and 3676 to the vast territories of San Martin and Mocoa, h.etween .which the law has not marked out the limita. And in all thís vast space there are but seven post-offices. Here, then, we have a future world, the >,ery edge of which only is ocoupíed with a few civilized Indíans, Oáqueza, a good dais journey frOID Bogotá (25 miles), is as far in as people often penetrarte. AH this siete issparse settlement; all beyond, is ef- fecti1rely wilderness,

!HD1NG IN A flLLQN.

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia FAMILY JOUHNEYING. 241 . . While pRUSingas if for a plullge, let us táke a survey of a part;}'"just emerging from the depths beneath us, wno have been stopping to adjust their dress to the climate en which they are entering. The principal figure, which a casual observer might regald as a heep of something earelessly laid on amule, would, . after unwrapping it liké a .lDurnmy, be found to have for its nu- cleusa respeetable and somewhat elegant lady ofBogotá, though 110t atpresent in a ccndrtion for athletic exereises, Rence she has been condenmed to malte this expeditjon in a sillon-a con- veyance by no means so secure, except when a lady is clumsy, as the Turkieh, or even the European. Her feei, you see, are on the contrary side from that whích they oocúpy when she uses the side-saddle. The aillon is rich- ly ornamented with red mol'OCCOand silvexand is so cushioned as. to be quite easy to the rider when g01ng at the pace of an ex, but not probab1y as eomfortable te the beast as a saddle, Behind follows her .husband, bearing her first-bom in his arms, The figure on foot puzales me mosto Clearly he is no Indian, and his hat is that of a gentleman; but the load he bears, the pantaloons rolled up, and the a1pargatas, .indicate that for once he is taking resolutely a position to which he is not used. My solntien-is not a very charitable one, and it may not be true, Itis this: they are a 'party that have been down to Choachí, or, perhaps, to Ubaque, to templar, _which 1 translate thaw out. They have been gambling there, and have lost, They went down 011 fOID'hired mnles, with a oarguero fer the child, and come back as we see them, because they have need to retrsnch, One.saddle and part of their luggage.-eqúipaje-h"as been 1eft for another opportunity-perhaps in pawn. This explains all we see, A deseenf oí a hnndred feet brings a material change-of vege-

tation, Rere 1 carne upon a splendid planr, that at firet Iooked ¡. something Iike fue trumpet-honeysuckle, with scarlet ñowers three inches long. It proveclto be an earth-growing Loranthus, a bush eight feet high. 1 afterward found, just east 01' the Bo- quel'on, a smaller species-L. Mlltisii-with flowers six inches long; and 1 have seen another terrestrial species, with much smaller yellow flowers. A splendid Melastomate bush grows down here too, and farther clown 8011;1e tall trees of that Order Q

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 242 NEW G..R.AN ADA.

tantalized me with fíowera for which I síghed in vain. TIria species has been published by Karsten and Triana as Codazzia rosea. Here, too, 1 incautiously séised on a 13!rge, handsome yellow flower, a Loasa, thatstung like a wasp. Just before entering the woods, 1stopped at a venta witb sorne peasants that 1 had fallen in with. They opened a wallet and took out sorne provisions, and preceeded tú lunch. Olle of them ventured to Ul'ge on me a delicate morsel, a piece oí roast- ed crisp rind of pork, but I declinad, assuring him that I was not inthe least hungry. A:t the bottom I found a hot aulphnr-spring, A stream ran from it mio a little bathing-house, where abo was Ied in a stream ofcold water, so as to reduce the temperatura till it could be €R- dured. A considerable quantity of gas escapad from the spring, whicla I supposed to be carbonic acid, 1 had not even a thermometer with me, and can on1y swy that it seems quite probable that the spl'ing is hot enough to boíl an egg in time. It is strange that this spring is not more known 'aud resorted to as a watering-place; but the Bogotanos love cold bathing, and would rather ice their water than heat it. On the Plain oí Bogotá are also thermal spl"ings worthy oí examination, but 1 díd not even hear ofthem till too late to YÍJ3it them, Those of Tabio,some twenty miles nOlih oí Bogotá, have a temperature of 114°, while a stream flows near them with a temperature oí 53°. 'I'here are also others at Suba, ten 01' fifteen miles north of nhe capital. From the spring, which was a Iittle below the toad, I proceeded south to Oheachí, This is a tolerable víllage, standing on a Ievel spot on the side hill, but a mue 01' more frem the roauing stream that flowed along the base. .Both sides oí this river are thiekly settled with Tndiaas. Lhave not seen so much cultivation in all this counny, and the scene delighted me inex- =pressibly. The distric» oí Choaehí contains 4691 inhabitants ; Ubaque, a 1itt1e farther on, 3399; while on the other side of the stream, the district ofF6meque contains 6645. The amount of white bleod in all this multitude ís quite small. . The Iand here has been kept in. the hands of the Indiana by a benevolent provision oí the law, restraining them from sellihg I except according to certain provisions; but, with the ad vancing

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia Bo,qOTANOS AT CROA.CH1

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia THE PENITENT. 245 ideas of liberty, jt .is seen thlltt Ít is undemoeratic to restrain thus a man's liberty. 'I'he mat~er is now winh the provincial Legislaturas, and in sorne previnces these reserves-resguardas -can he sold only at auetion, and in others, any man that can persuade one of these thoughtless aborigines to sell te him can buy at any price, however small. It grieves me to hear that large numbers have sold. Among the most diligent buyers oí resguacdaa is fue Cura of Cheachi, who is now the owner of land that once was occnpied by a score of famílies, 1 was t.alking with one of his fíock, and' míschievously asked what ki:ndof a mistress the priest kept, aRd the simpleton, without any apparenf surprise at the quesrion, told me thst she was very pretty. And yet, 1 think, it is of tbis place that they- tell me oí a 'ente triék at the confessional. All lndian was g6ing to confesa, and his unlawful companion accompanied him as fal" as a eertain, C'I'088, where he desíred her te await bis retnrn. So Out priest, who disliked concubínage, as it diminished his mar- riage-fees, asks mm, " Are you married ?" '"No, señor." " Do you live with 'a; woman ?" " I n.ave líved with -ene, señor, but l have left her as far back as the cross,P Now by The Oross the priest understood their festival of 3d May, which had elapsed so long tnat he thought proper te let by- gones be oygones, and José got off'W;ith quite- a ligbt penance. The matter being squared up to mutual satisfaction, he returned to " the croas," rejoined ros companion, and they went home. Choachi is by no means a,pretty place. The houses are all of (me 'story, and thatched; and 'if any of them are casas clau- stradas, stíll they appear more like four huta placed corner to comer than a regular "house, 'I'he Plaza is small, and 1 thiuk r would much prefer to reside on the epposite slope, . Still, the vicinity of the thennal spring, and other causes, make it sorne- thing ef a watering-place. On the opposite page is eihibited the most successful imitation of European costumes and CUs- tems that l have ever heard of 'I'hat all these six figures, clad in imported articles exclusively, could Irave ever been met mone day, exceeds my belief. With such care has every thing na-

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 246 NEW GRANADA.

tional been banished, that 1 am tempted to think that they themselves have been imported to order packed.. in. sawdust, Te me there is much more Interest in the two remaining figures. The In.dian woman, who is selling Gmnadillas to them, is seated behind an empty cage to sell fow la n·om. Her way oí weaa:ing her mantellina, hanging loosely dewn her baok,shows her a reinosa 01' üplande», The tarro New Kingdom of Grana- da did not at first inclüde the coasts, and a kingdo1Jl-man is now used as the opposite oí calentano, OJ: inhabitant of the Ti- _,erra Caliente. But the person that intereats me most is that boy on his way from Férneque to Bogotá. He too carries fowls, and sorne other artícles fo.l' sale, protected by a goat-skin, also for sale. He has taken off his hat to say 8aC'ramento del altar. to the grand folks, who are too busy serutinising the Granadil- las even ro see him, He wears under hís hat a handsrohief'bound on bis head, A heavy ruana. and a camisa protect paJit of hís hody, Then comes. a pair of soant aamarras, that have perhaps sorne pantaloons un- del' them still more scant, while his ankles and insteps must take all risks that offer themselves, The sole only of the foot is protected by the albarca of lude, far inferior to the alpargate ex- eept in mua. 1t ís not often so well seeured as here we see it. Generally a toe ís thrust through a loop made for it, and it i.s slightly fastened at the heel, Át Choachí 1 left the main road, and ascended amo,ng th fields until it was agam quite cola. Here 1 was under the necessity of asking the way at a rancho. It consísted of two roofs and a gable, while the end toward the north was @pen as door and window, Quite a number of happy-looking Indian girl$ seemed to be at work within. They were employed on tha fibre . of Fourcroya, a plant too important to be passed by. 1t is frequently callea. aloe and century planto Bnt the century plant i.s not an Aloe, but .Agave Americana, wbile this plsnt isneither Alee nor Agave. Lile the .Agave, the Fourcroya ia a slow- growing plant, with leaves three al' fOUTfeef long, five ínches wide, and half an inch thick. Áftel' vegetating in this way for years, it shoots up a flower-stem ten 01' twenty feet high, generally sheds from it abortive flowers and bulbs, and then dies. 'I'his plant is called magué, cabuya, and fique. The pith of

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia GRANADAN CQRDAGE. 247

the Jmge fíower-stem, often six inohes in diameter, 'is usad as tinder after the ends oí the fibres .have beenonce scorched, FroID the leaves is extraeted a fibre :resembling that which is called .Hani1larg1Yl$8. The long Ieaves are split, andtwo hard .sticks, held close together on opposite sides oí a piece, scra,pe away the epidermis aad parenehyma, leaving nothing but the strong white fibres oí the length 01 the Ieaf No ether appa;ra- tus is used in the manufacture. It is twisted into corda and ropes, knit inte bags (guambías, mochilas, andtalegas), or braided into alpargate stuW. lt might, were ameles of commerce needed, supply a large quantity from dry knolls, useless otherwise eacept fbr pasture. l suspect that it could be nearly pre- pared for use by simply passing it once throngh a olose pair oí iron rollers, The Fouroroya is an Amarillate planto The finer and more costly:fibre, called pita, is said to be from a Bromeliate plant, of which l never have seen fue working oí the Ieaf nor yet the flower ; and from theleaves of the prince of the Bromeliate family, the pine-apple, a still finer fibre is 1l0W found in Out North- cm cities in the form of most costly handkerchiefs. Well, these poor ludian girls, on the shoulder of the mount- ron, separated from Bogotá only by a few miles oí steep rock aud páramo, were twistíng cabuya in that low, miserable rancho. They were evidently alarmed at the sud den appearal1ce oí a í01'- eigner at the meuth oí their den, and were quite relieved when 1 informed them that 1 wanted to IU10w the direetion of Laguna GJ:ande, nothing more. True, they suffer far leas outrage from the Spaniacds than they would from the more brutal eutlaws of the Anglo-Saxoll race, but they are.Iess protected by law there than they would be in those N orthern States where the testimony of ah ludian 1S reeeived in courts. Poorrace! In Dan- te s He1l they should be employed in the e:x:d1:1S1Vework (Ji' tor- turing conquero1'sand Iegielators. 1 .had risen, to the foot of the ledge that has the earthy lana above Bogotá on the west síde, the páramo on its bread top, and cultivable slopes exsending on the east side far down to the river below me. 1 followed along still south till directly before me was an abrupt deseent to a basin nearl:y filled with many acres ef water, black, still, and oold as death. Lake

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia 248 NEW GRANADA. Avemus in summer must be sm:iling in comparison, but in a bleak Italian Deeember they must be as Iike as iwms. No summer ever smiles on Laguna Grande. A perennial autnmn, with its alternate sun, mist, and storrn, have reigned here from the day of creation till now. 1t has a fringe ef bushes, with quaking marsh wíthin, and a centre that i13 said to be unfathom- able, No singing-bird has ever discovered this retreat, and, but JOl' the chill-loving disposition oí fuese Andine Highlanders, the Reinosos, man never would have found it. What a fine place fOI" traditions l 1 menta1ly exelaimed, Was there e-ver a place more apropos to spirits and genií, 01' to hidden treasures ? So full oí this idea was 1 that my first ques~ tion tú sorne friends 1 met below was, "ATe there no hidden treasures at the hottom of that pond ?" "They say that there is wealth incalculable there, Señor," was the reply, ., 1t is said that, on an annual festival, the Zipa, 01' chief went out to the centre oí Laguna Grande in a boat, weariug a rieh ana.y of gold and emeralds, and dnring the ceremonies he took them off one by one, and dropped them into tbe water." " And has there been no attempt to recover them ?" " It has often been projected, but never attempted." But, besides the treasures thus thrown in for glol'Y, there is equal pl'obability of others thrown there for spite, In 1538 01' 1539 died, near Bogotá, Zaquesazipa, last Zipa of the Muiscas, "with extraordinary fevers-calenturas." These calenturas-e- bumings-e-are supposed to have referred to the applicationa oí heated 'herse-shoes to his feet, and othersimilar torments, by Quesada the Conqueror, Reman Pérez his brother, Suérez (Rendon), and García (Zorro). The object was to make him tell what had become oí tlie treasures of his cousin Tisquesusa, whose kingdom he had usurped when Quesada murdered him, These treasures never llave been reeovered, ir they ever existed, and, if thrown to utter de~t1'uction, were most probably buried beneath these black, still waters ; but this is not probable, for hiding-places on land may answer the utmost desires of con- cealment. Now, as I am writing, it eccurs to me, for the first time, to .inquire whetber this Jeep hole be 111e cráter of a volcano. It is

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia UBAQUE, 249 en a si de hill that, might be called steep, North and west of the laguna the ground rises as steep as a roan ceneasily olimb. To the east the ground risas slíghtly for a few rods to a height oí not more than ten feet, 1 should judge, aboye the level 0~ the water, and tben falls rapidly, 1 can think of no possible theory to account. for its origiu except this, but Ldid not notiee any evidence there oí any other than a sandstone formation, Two 01' three hnts oí Indiana, who keep some rather cross dogs, stand 11ea1'the lake. vVant of time, and tl're expectation of a futuro retum to the l~onc1prevented my observing with the eaee 1110W wish I hac1used, A steep,long walk brought me clownto Ubaque. It is quite a collection of pOOl'houses just aboye the upper limit of the caneo It is ene of the watering-plaees of Bogotá. Though inferior to roany others, it is perhaps the most accessible, 1 confesa 1 would 'rather go down tú where the cane-boiling fur- naces are smoking in the valley below,for here it is yet much too cold to suit me. The Plaza occupies nearly all the Ievel ground thera ís, and the houses on the one side are crowded against the hill, and the ground descends steep behind those on the other, A noisy torrent, cold enough to make one's teeth chatter in half a minute, tears down to tbe river below, and makes a deliciously coel bath, which the Bogotanos enj.oy for half an hour at a time. I was glad to get out oí it in the Ieast possible time, and would as lief be buried naked in a snow-hank as to venture in it again. 1 here became the guest of an excellent family of Veneaola- nos, the Quaved.0s. Señor Queveao 18 an officer of the War oí Independence, living fu Bogotá on his savings, his half-payv or by bis musical talents. 1 am 80rl'Y to come tosuch a conclu- sion, butI am led to regard this and another Venezolano family, that of Colonel Codazzi, as the two most interesting I have found in Bogotá. It is perhaps because 1 understand them best, or they know best bow to make me at home. 1 think, too, that there are few ladies in New Granada better educated than sorne in. these two famílies, Señol' Quevedo is an enthusiastie admírer of Bolívar. I aro happy tú come to nearly the same conclusions with himself in the main, but 1 would like to know more than I can well ascer-

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia J 250 N]JW GRANADA. tain about his concessions. to the priesthood, 1 can not consider him, however, as actuated by a base leve of power. Aad when Joaquin Mosquera was elected to his place, 1 do not re- gara it as a wise atep, and fear tba:t there may be meaning in the hint oí Samper, that the "youtb-juventud (b'hoys ?)-0f Bogotá" had more to do with the matter oí superseding 'Bolívar than they ought. We may well 8upp0se that the old hero sighed at leaving the reine in hands all too weak to hold them, 1 can not 'tmllk thaf Bolívar had auy thing to do with the revolution in which Urdaneta, after the battle of Santu!lJrio at Puente Grande, September, 1830, drove out the feeble adminis- tration. Rafael Urdaneta, a goocl subaltern general, was never called to be the supreme head oí a nation, and his rebellion was an immense mischief wíthout otber motive that 1 can guess than personal ambition, Little good did it do him 01' his faction, as in nine months, 15th May, 1831, he was as easily driven out as his predeceesor, What became of Jeaquin ? He seems .to have had enough oí fue executive, and JÍn. the short space from the retirement oí Bolívar, we fmd thesupreme power in the hands of President Mosquera till September, 1830; Dictator Urdaneta till the 15th oí M:ay.-,1831; Vice-president Domingo Caieedo till December, 1831; Obando till Maxch,.1833, when the Convention tba! formed the :tir8t Constitution of, N cw Granada by itself, in 1832, made Santander, then an exile for his share in the conspiracy of 1828, the first President of the new republic, Santander was a good president, So 1 believe from. the charges against mm by Samper, a11 oí which 1 nhínk redound to bis credit. Especially would 1 commend to fnture govern- ments bis energy with the Sardá conspirators. Sardá had no other motives than amhition 01' fanaticism. Many oí the conspirators were seized, and Sardá an,dMari:anoParis, who escaped, were outlwwed, a proceeding that roight be with advantage in- trodnced at the North, were we not so tender with criminals. 1, for one, think. they deserve no more protection than our othen crtrzens, Paria wss canght and shot, under plea that he was likely to escape. Sardá was assassinated at night, in a house where he was hid, by José Ortiz, a Iieutenant in the army, who was not op.enly rewarded nor brought to tria:!. Síxteen oí the

® Biblioteca Nacional de Colombia