but their masses of water are inconsiderable. The falls of the St. Lawrence at Niagara, and those of the Rhine at Schaffhausen, furnish enormous volumes of water; but even the former does not exceed 160 feet in height, while the latter scarcely reaches 60 feet. The height of the fall of Tequendama (which forms a double bound), is 574 feet!

Cataracts which are surrounded by hills only, produce far less effect than the falls of water which rush into the deep and narrow valleys of the Alps, of the Pyrenees, and above all, of the Cordilleras of the Andes. Independent of the height and mass of the column of water, the figure of the landscape, and the aspect of the rocks, it is the luxuriant form of the trees and herbaceous plants, their distribution into groups, or into scattered thickets, the contrast of those craggy precipices, and the freshness of vegetation, which stamp a peculiar character on these great scenes of nature. The fall of Niagara, placed beneath a northern sky, in the region of pines and oaks, would be still more beautiful, were its drapery composed of heliconias, palms, and arborescent ferns. The cataract of Tequendama forms an assemblage of everything which is sublimely picturesque in fine scenery.

Leaving Santa Fe in September, 1801, the attention of the travellers was next arrested by the natural bridges of Icononzo, and from their reports of these specimens of natural architecture we extract the following details.

The valley of Icononzo, or Pandi, is one of the most remarkable in the Andes, not so much for its dimensions, as for the singular form of its rocks, which appear as if they had been cut by the hand of man. Their

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naked and barren tops present the most picturesque contrast with the tufts of trees and shrubs, which cover the edges of its curious crevice. Through this valley, a small torrent, called the Rio de la Summa Paz, has forced a passage; it descends from the easternmost of the three chains into which the Andes are here divided, or that chain which separates the great plains of the Orinoco from the basin of the river Magdalena, and it flows towards the latter. The bed in which this torrent is confined is almost inaccessible; and it could not have been crossed without great difficulty, if Nature had not provided two bridges of rock, which are justly considered, in the country, as among the objects most worthy of the attention of travellers. The name, "Icouonzo," is that of an Indian village, which stood at the southern extremity of the valley, and of which a few scattered huts are now the only remains.

It is at about the middle of the valley that the torrent rushes through the deep crevice over which the bridges extend; and the stream here forms two fine water-falls; one on entering the crevice, and the other on escaping from it. At the height of nearly 320 feet, the uppermost bridge crosses the chasm; its length is about 48 feet, and its breadth 40. The rock of which the bridge is formed is very compact; it preserves its natural position, lying in beds nearly horizontal.

Sixty feet lower than this bridge, and very near to it, is the second, crossing the same chasm. Unlike the first, however, it is not one fragment of unbroken and undisturbed strata, but it is composed of three enormous masses of rock, which have accidentally fallen down and met in their descent, so as to support each other, and form an arch, of which the middle mass is

the key-stone. In the middle of this second bridge is a large hole about eight yards square, through which the traveller looks down into the abyss beneath, and discerns the torrent flowing, as it were, through a dark cavern, while his ear is assailed by the ceaseless and melancholy noise of the countless troops of nocturnal birds, which haunt the chasm. Thousands of these birds were seen flying over the surface of the water. Humboldt at first mistook them for the gigantic bats, so well known in the equatorial regions. It is impossible to catch them, on account of the depth of the crevice; and the only mode of examining them is by throwing down rockets to light up the sides of the chasm. Their plumage is of an uniform brownish grey: according to the Indians, who call them cacas, they are of the size of a common fowl, and have a curved beak, with the eye of an owl. Humboldt supposed them to belong to the Caprimulgido or goat-suckers.

The next description which arrests our attention, is that which refers to the mountain of Quindiu, and from Humboldt's narrative of it we furnish the subsequent interesting particulars.

The pass of Quindiu is considered to be the most difficult in the Andes. The mountain presents a thick uninhabited forest, to traverse which, in the finest season, requires from ten to twelve days: not a hut is to be seen, nor are any means of subsistence to be found. It is the custom for travellers to take with them a month's provision, when they attempt the passage; as it often happens, that by the melting of the snow, and the sudden swelling of the streams, they are in a manner insulated and prevented for a time from descending in any direction. The highest point of the pass is almost 11,500 feet above