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tim to the severities of the passage, lies buried on the summit. "Human bones were even then lying about, and some hundreds of rude crosses have been erected by the passing traveller, either to commemorate a friend who had been emparamado (fallen a victim to the paramo), or as a grateful offering for having escaped the danger."* The only inconvenience which the Writer suffered, however, was chapped lips. The sun shone with cloudless splendour, and the glass did not fall below 62°. But at Hato Jurado, a farm and pulperia which he reached after a gradual descent of an hour and a half, the thermometer fell, during the night, to 52°.

The country gradually improves in fertility and cultivation, as the traveller descends to the valley of the Tequia. At a short distance from La Concepcion, is " a considerable formation of sulphur, which impregnates the surrounding atmosphere," but no use is made of it. At Llano Anciso, where the Tequia is crossed by a rude bridge, the Travellers were repeatedly saluted, as they rode through the village, with the exclamation, Mira! no tienen gotos; meaning, we are told, "See, they have no goitres," the almost

* In crossing the paramo of Chisba in 1819, many of the British and other troops in the patriot service miserably perished. "On this paramo, the air is so exceedingly rarefied, that it is very difficult to breathe, and those who are affected by it (or emparamados) become benumbed, froth at the mouth, and lose their senses, tear out their hair, and, bereft of every sense of feeling by degrees, ultimately perish. The natives recommend eating sugar and drinking water, in preference to spirits, on passing these places, and flagellation to those who shew symptoms of being affected, not letting them stop for an instant. Ignorant at the time of these remedies, and all except the flagellation being out of their power, fifty Englishmen, besides two officers, and upwards of a hundred of the native troops, fell a sacrifice, without the possibility of assistance being given them."-COCHRANE's Travels, vol. iv. p. 480,

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universal disease in this place. A handsome premium is said to have been decreed by the legislature for the discovery of a remedy or antidote for this frightful disease. The road from this place, after leaving the Tequia, which continues to wind amid arid, rocky mountains, crosses two parallel ranges, to the valley of the Chichamache. Here, again, at the small village of Capitanejo, a large proportion of the inhabitants were seen disfigured by goitres, together with a species of elephantiasis, by which the limbs are swelled to an unnatural size. A new church had lately been built here, and a pretty bridge thrown across the muddy river, the water of which was found intolerably bad,—the only place where this had been observed. The Travellers were here "entertained" with a new species of vermin, called cucurachos, about the size of a large beetle, which found their way into their hammocks. The temperature varied, during their stay, from 82° to 86°. The following day, passing over another low mountain, they reached Soata. "The approach to this town," we are told, "is one of the most imposing sights imaginable. At the back of the town, which is situated mid-way on a sloping eminence, the land, divided by hedges, like the sections of a map, is cultivated to the very summit. The mountains here appear to concentrate their chains, forming a vast amphitheatre of prodigious height and magnitude: one mass rises above another, till their heads are lost in the clouds." A storm was impending over their dark summits as the Travellers approached the town; and the effect of the thunder, rolling from one chain to another, was extremely grand. In itself, Soata possesses little worthy of note. They were hospitably received by the alcalde, but all pleasurable feelings were neutralised by the unsightly objects which several of his family presented, through the effect of goitres. At Satiou, which they reached early the next day but one, a village situated on an

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elevated plain backed by a semicircular mountain, the Travellers noticed, with high satisfaction, the comparative absence of this deformity.* was Sunday and market-day; the village was consequently all bustle; and among the crowd, some pretty faces were distinguishable through the blue mantles worn by the women over the head and shoulders, and surmounted with a straw hat. The tout ensemble of this costume, with blue petticoats and sandals made of cord, is not unlike the dress of the Welsh peasantry.

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A gradual and slippery descent from this elevated plain, leads to the vale of Serinza. far,' says our Traveller, there is a striking difference between Venezuela and New Granada: the former is more wooded, less thickly peopled, and, generally speaking, more fertile. But, as we now gradually leave the chain of the Andes, the soil is better cultivated, numerous huts and cottages present themselves, each possessing a portion of ground more than sufficient to support the inhabitants; and the roads continue to improve as we advance. We descended into the vale of Serinza, presenting a different aspect from any of the varied scenes that have occurred during the journey. The contrast is most striking. An extensive and perfectly even flat, varying from a quarter to half a mile in breadth, is bounded on each side by a range of moderately high mountains of arable land. The valley is in general cultivation, and remarkably fertile, producing fine

*These endemic glandular complaints are very prevalent in many parts of Brazil, particularly on the banks of the Paraiba, and in the mining districts.-See MOD. TRAV. Brazil, vol. i. p. 251; vol. ii. p. 40. Almost all travellers agree in attributing them to the properties of the waters of the rivers, which are, for the most part, charged with earthy particles. The exclusive use of spring water, and plenty of salt, are recommended as the best preservatives.

crops of maize, wheat, beans, potatoes, peas, &c. all of which were in a state of spring-like verdure, and cultivated with the utmost regularity and cleanliness. Verdant meadow-lands intersect the tillage; the River Serinza (lower down, called the Chiquito,) slowly winding through the midst, with a placidity more resembling the soft-flowing Avon,' than a mountain-stream in America. The whole extent of the valley, which, with different windings, may be three or four leagues in length, is extremely well peopled. Many of the cottages were adorned with flowers, and very neat. The land belonging to each individual is partitioned off by mud-walls or hedges, giving a further appearance of civilisation and independence; and the pasturage is abundantly stocked with sheep, oxen, and horses. It is, upon It is, upon the whole, a most interesting tract, and gives a favourable opinion of the kingdom of New Granada. We took a slight repast at the house of the village curate, which is about half-way in the vale. According to his account, the parish contains a population of upwards of 3,000 persons. In the early part of the Revolution, these people made extraordinary exertions in the cause of the patriots. When Bolivar arrived with his army, worn out with fatigue, from the banks of the Apure, they clothed them, remounted their officers and a great part of the cavalry, and supplied them with necessaries at their own expense. Its known patriotism brought upon it, during its subsequent occupation by the Spaniards, the greatest hardships and contributions without number."

The village of Serinza has, according to Alcedo, the pompous dedicatory title of Nuestra Senhora de Belen del Valle. Three leagues further is the large and populous village of Santa Rosa; and two leagues beyond, in a rich and productive plain, the straggling village of Duitama. This place was formerly the

head of a distinct corregimiento, and, previously to the conquest, is said to have been a great and rich city of the Mozca nation, the capital of Tundama, one of the most powerful princes in the kingdom, who was routed in the battle of Bonza by Quesada in 1538, and afterward became tributary to the crown of Castile.' "2 Three leagues beyond Duitama, is the village of Paypa, where the Spaniards had their head quarters previously to the affair at Bargas, which was followed, a few days after, by the decisive battle of Boyaca, which opened the way to Bogota. Four leagues further, the Travellers quitted the road, and crossed the plain to the village of Tuta. The next day, (the 11th from Pamplona, one of which was passed at Soata,) they reached the city of Tunja,

TUNJA.

This provincial capital, founded in 1539, was, at one time, one of the most opulent cities in the kingdom, and its inhabitants boasted of being descended from the first conquerors. The province of Tunja, (bounded on the S. by that of Bogota, on the W. by the River Magdalena, which divides it from Mariquita, on the E. by Casanare, and on the N. by Pamplona,) formed, prior to the conquest, the kingdom of Hunzusta, whose zaques (or sovereigns) were independent of the monarchs of Bogota and Zipa. Though generally of a cold and dry climate, it is fertile in grain, and has yielded tobacco of excellent quality; it abounds also in salt-petre, on which account the only government powder-manufactories were established here; and it was celebrated for its gold mines and emeralds. The city is seated on an eminence in the same valley in which the Indian capital was placed; and it is seen at a considerable distance, surrounded

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