placed at the summit of the cones, and are enclosed by a little mud wall from ten to fifteen inches high, were nearly contiguous, the explosions did not take place at the same time. It would appear that each crater receives the gas by distinct canals, or that these, terminating in the same reservoir of compressed air, oppose greater or less impediments to the passage of the aëriform fluids. The cones have no doubt been raised by these fluids, and the dull sound that precedes the disengagement of them, indicates that the ground is hollow. The natives asserted that there had been no observable change in the form and number of the cones for twenty years, and that the little cavities are filled with water even in the driest seasons. The temperature of this liquid was not higher than that of the atmosphere. A stick could easily be pushed into the apertures to the depth of six or seven feet, and the dark-coloured clay or mud was exceedingly soft. An ignited body was immediately extinguished, on being immersed in the gas collected from the bubbles, which was found to be pure azote, or nitrogen.

The stay which our travellers made at Turbaco was very agreeable, and added greatly to their collection of plants. "Even now," says Humboldt, writing in 1831, "after so long a lapse of time, and after returning from the banks of the Obi and the confines of Chinese Zungaria, these bamboo-thickets, that wild luxuriance of vegetation, those orchidea covering the old trunks of the acotea and Indian fig, that majestic view of the snowy-mountains, that light mist filling the bottom of the valleys at sunrise, those tufts of gigantic trees rising like verdant islets from a sea of vapours, incessantly present themselves to my imagination. At Turbaco we lived a simple and laborious life. We were young; pos

sessed a similarity of taste and disposition; looked forward to the future with hope; were on the eve of a journey which was to lead us to the highest summits of the Andes, and bring us to volcanoes in action, in a country continually agitated by earthquakes; and we felt ourselves more happy than at any other period of our distant expedition. The years which have since passed, not all exempt from griefs and pains, have added to the charms of these impressions; and I love to think, that in the midst of his exile in the southern hemisphere, in the solitudes of Paraguay*, my unfortunaté friend, M. Bonpland, sometimes remembers with delight our botanical excursions at Turbaco, the little spring of Torecillo, the first sight of a gustavia in flower, or of the cavanillesia, loaded with fruits having membranous and transparent edges."

In the course of two months, the travellers had passed up the river from Carthagena to Santa Fe de Bogota, the capital of New Grenada. This city stands in a beautiful plain, surrounded by lofty mountains; and this plain would appear to have been formerly the bed of a great lake. It is 8727 feet above the level of the sea, and is, consequently, higher than the summit of St. Bernard, in Switzerland. Here the travellers spent several months in exploring the mineralogical and botanical treasures of the country, together with the magnificent cataract of Tequendama. "The traveller who views the tremendous scenery of the cataract of Tequendama, will not be surprised that rude tribes should have assigned a miraculous origin to rocks which seem to have been cut by the hand of man; to that narrow gulf into which falls, headlong, the mass of waters that issue

*This alludes to the detention of M. Bonpland in Paraguay by the dictator, Dr. Francia.

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from the valley of Bogota; to those rainbows, reflecting the most vivid colours, and of which the forms vary every instant; to that column of vapour, rising like a thick cloud, and seen at the distance of five leagues from the walks around Santa Fe."

In remote times, according to the tradition which is current among the people, the inhabitants of Bogota were barbarians, living without religion, laws, or arts. An old man on a certain occasion suddenly appeared among them, of a race unlike that of the natives, and having a long, bushy beard. He instructed them in the arts; but he brought with him a very malignant, although very beautiful woman, who thwarted all his benevolent enterprises. By her magical power she swelled the current of the Funza, and inundated the valley, so that most of the inhabitants perished, a few only having found refuge in the neighbouring mountains. The aged visitor then drove his consort from the earth, and she became the moon. He next broke the rocks that enclosed the valley on the Tequendama side, and by these means drained off the waters; then he introduced the worship of the sun, appointed two chiefs, and finally withdrew to a valley, where he lived in the exercise of the most austere penitence during 2000 years.

This fall and its scenery present a remarkable combination of attractions. Humboldt observes that the impression which cataracts leave on the mind of an observer, depend on the concurrence of a variety of circumstances. The volume of water must be proportioned to the height of the fall, and the scenery around must wear a wild and romantic aspect. The Pissevache and the Staubbach, in Switzerland, are lofty, the latter, indeed, exceeding 800 feet in height;