clear. They inherit, at the same time the fine, expressive, dark eyes and regular features of the Spanish women, although partaking but in a slight degree of their elegant figures, owing to their careless manner of dressing and setting off their persons. They have, however, pretty feet, and an easy carriage. From the superiority of their personal appearance, there is the more reason to regret the absence of those endowments of mind, and that conduct, which alone render beauty permanently attractive. There are, perhaps, few cities, (it is to be hoped so, at least,) where the women are so generally depraved; and although there are, no doubt, individuals of uncorrupted morals and virtuous conduct, it is too evident that their number is but small." Captain Cochrane expresses his apprehension that morality in Colombia is at a low ebb. After marriage, the ladies of Bogota deem themselves for the most part entitled, especially if their husbands are out of the way, to act exactly as inclination prompts. He admits that exceptions exist, and that there are many highly respectable, virtuous, and honourable families.

The capital is at present full of priests, monks, and clergy, in consequence of a decree abolishing all monasteries which did not contain above a certain number, and directing their inhabitants to reside in Bogota. This is considered as a stroke of policy, having for its object not merely to apply the revenues of the suppressed monasteries to the exigencies of the state, but to bring the clerical body more immediately under the eye of Government, and counteract the more easily their disposition to political intrigue. “It is not easy," M. Mollien says, "to say what are the political opinions of the inhabitants of Bogota. Like all those who reside in capitals, they are oppositionists, because they see the machine of government too near; but, after having given the revolutionary impulse,

this capital will, for the future, receive it from the provinces."

The population of Bogota is said to have amounted, in 1800, to 21,464 inhabitants, "exclusive of strangers and beggars, whose residence was not known." The births exceeded the deaths in the same year by 247. The present population is estimated at from 30 to 35,000 souls. There exists a difference of opinion as to the superior eligibility of the site of the two capitals, Bogota, and Caracas. The Author of Letters from Colombia gives his decided opinion in favour of the former. The climate is here more congenial to English constitutions, and is favourable to great bodily exertion. The extreme rarity of the atmosphere, however, owing to the great elevation of the plain, is at first very oppressive to strangers, occasioning a difficulty of breathing, and an unpleasant sensation at the chest. After a few days, this subsides. The seasons here are divided into rainy and dry, forming two winters and two summers. The dry season begins with the solstices; the wet, with the equinoxes, varying ten or fifteen days. March, April, May, September, October, November, are reckoned winter months, during which fall almost incessant rains. mornings, from day-break to eight o'clock, are then piercingly cold, the thermometer frequently down to 47°, though it in general keeps between 58° and 63°. In summer, during the warmest time, it varies from 68° to 70°. June, July, and August are showery. N.N.W. winds invariably bring storms. But, during the dry season, the heavens are for the most part beautifully serene and unclouded, and the dews are so light, that the usual lounge of the inhabitants is by moonlight. Upon the whole, the climate may be regarded as salubrious. Epidemics are unknown, and the diseases to which the natives are subject, are attributable to other causes than the air.

The

FALL OF TEQUENDAMA.

"The elevated plain on which Bogota stands," says M. Humboldt, "resembles, in a variety of circumstances, that which is surrounded by the Mexican lakes. Each of these plains is higher than the summit of St Bernard, the first being about 8,800 feet, and the second 7,440 feet above the level of the ocean. The valley of Mexico is bounded by a circular wall of mountains of porphyry, and its centre is covered with water; for the numerous torrents which rush into the valley found no outlet, until the Europeans had dug the canal of Huehuetoca. The plain of Bogota is also encircled with lofty mountains; and the perfect level of the soil, its geological structure, the form of the rocks of Suba and Facatativa, which rise like small islands in the midst of the savannas, seem all to indicate the existence of an ancient lake. River of Funzha, usually called the Rio de Bogota, into which flow the waters of the valley, forced its way through the mountains to the south-west of Bogota. Near the farm of Tequendama, this river rushes from the plain by a narrow outlet into a crevice, which descends towards the basin of the River Magdalena. Were an attempt made to close this passage, which is the sole opening out of the valley of Bogota, these fertile plains would gradually be converted into a sheet of water like the Mexican lake."

The

This wonder of the country, the celebrated fall of Tequendama, was, of course, visited by each of our Travellers. The road to it lies across the plain, in a S.W. direction, to the village of Soacha, distant three leagues and a half, in the neighbourhood of which are Isaid to have been found some fossil remains of elephants. Here there is an inn. About half a league farther, the traveller arrives at the River Bogota, on the banks of which is a village where he may be

accommodated with fresh horses and a guide. From the river to the fall is nearly a league. The road lies over a ridge of mountains bounding the plain to the south-west, from the summit of which is gained a commanding view of the level country. A large portion of it being inundated at the time that one of our Travellers visited it, it had all the appearance of an extensive lake, with variously-shaped hills rising abruptly from its waters. Having ascended the heights of Chipa, the country becomes all at once most luxuriant in wood, and wild shrubs of peculiar beauty. A long, winding descent leads from the corn-lands through a dark thicket, in which the oak, the elm, and other trees which recall the vegetation of Europe, mingle with the cinchona (bark-tree), the bigonia, and others peculiar to these regions. Here, at a considerable distance, is heard the roaring of the waters. Suddenly the traveller discovers, as from a terrace, far beneath him, a tract of country producing the palm-tree, the banana, and the cane. A quarter of a mile from the Salto, you leave your horses, and descend by a precipitous pathway to the brink of the precipice, where the river, which at a short distance is 140 broad, having contracted itself into a narrow but deep bed of only 40 feet in width, precipitates itself with violence down a perpendicular rock, at two bounds, to the immense depth of 650 feet. "This overwhelming body of water," says our Traveller, "when it first parts from its bed, forms a broad arch of a glassy appearance; a little lower down it assumes a fleecy form; and ultimately, in its progress downwards, shoots forth into millions of tubular shapes, which chase each other more like sky-rockets than any thing else I can compare them to. The changes are as singularly beautiful as they are varied, owing to the difference of gravitation and the rapid evaporation which takes place before reaching the bottom, The noise with which this immense body of water falls, is

quite astounding; sending up dense clouds of vapour, which rise to a considerable height, and mingle with the atmosphere, forming in their ascent the most beautiful rainbows. The most conclusive proof of the extraordinary evaporation, is the comparatively small stream which runs off from the foot of the fall. To give you some idea of its tremendous force, it is an asserted fact, that experiments have more than once been made of forcing a bullock into the stream, and that no vestige of him has been found at the bottom, but a few of his bones. To give due effect to this mighty work, nature seems to have lavished all the grand accompaniments of scenery, to render it the most wonderful and enchanting of objects. From the rocky sides of its immense basin, hung with shrubs and bushes, numerous springs and tributary streams add their mite to the grand effect. At the bottom, the water which runs off rushes impetuously along a stony bed, overhung with trees, and loses itself in a dark winding of the rock. From the level of the

river, where you stand to witness this sublime scene, the mountains rise to a great height, and are completely covered with wood; and at one opening is an extensive prospect, which, on a clear day, encompasses some distant mountains in the province of Antioquia, whose summits are clothed with perpetual snow. Hovering over the frightful chasm, are various birds of the most beautiful plumage, peculiar to the spot, and differing from any I have before

The crevice into which the river throws itself, communicates with the plains of the tierra caliente, and a few palm-trees have sprung up at the foot of the cataract; so that, while the plain of Canoas is covered with grain, and other productions of the temperate zone, in the ravine beneath are seen the trees of the equinoctial valleys; and the inhabitants of Bogota tell you, that the river falls at once from a cold