Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-04-06

| common branches IN the national puDlle
schools. There are many seminaries ano
colleges of higher grade, besides private
schools tor girls, where needlework ano
more attention than the higher mathematics
mechanics, etc.
ANYBODY CAN BE A DOCTOR.
The practice of all trades and professions
including those of law. medicine and the
apothecary, is absolutely unrestricted, sc
that one need not even possess license OF
diploma. Rather too much liberty, one
would say, in thus placing human bones and
bodies at the mercy of any quack who
chooses to call himself doctor.
In 1864 the Government began the con-
struction of telegraphic system, and al
ready more than 1900 meters have been
completed, connecting the important centers
of Northern Colombia, including the Pacific
| port of Buenaventura. AT the latter town
the telegraphic system will be united with
that of the submarine cable which runs
along the coast OF Chilli and Peru, ,>and is in
tended to form junction with the European
and Atlantic cables at Panama.
As mistress of the connecting hyphen be-
tween the two continents, Colombia must
some day become very important country;
although so far, it has progressed at a
|
| both in extent and variety. Its numerous
rivers render the agricultural and manu-
featuring possibilities exceptional, while in
metallic wealth it shows the same richness
that characterizes the mountainous sections
of the rest of South America. Calculated
on the basis of 1880, the world produces
500, 900, 900 worth OF gold, and S75, 900, 900
worth OF silver, annually. 10 this total
| Spanish America annually contributes
$5,000,000 of gold and S25, 900, 900 of silver.
According to Mulhail, the total amount Of
| gold which Spanish America has already
put into circulation amounts to g. 220 tons,
or the enormous sum of 81 $50, ,000,0 Most
| of the old mines are still yielding as well as
they did centuries ago, while new ones are
being constantly discovered. Mulhall places
the United States next on the list with a
product of 81, 430, ,000, 900; and Australia
third, with 81 ,29O, 100000.
MINERAL AND OTHER PRODUCTS.
The principal minerals vet discovered are
gold, silver, platinum, mercury, lead, Gin
nabar, rock-salt, coal and nitre. The region
about the Cordilleras has as vet been but lit
tie explored, therefore no accurate estimate
of the mining possibilities can be made.
There is a wonderful emerald mine not far
from Bogota.
Among other productions of the country
may be mentioned india rubber, peruvian
bark, coffee, cacao, cotton, sugar cane, rice,
indigo, corn, potatoes, wheat fruits of the
tropical and temperate zones, and some of
the finest tobacco in the world, that from
which the famous Ambalema cigars are
made. The forests, that for the most part
cover the surface OF the country. abound in
magnificent woods of all descriptions; and
an endless variety Of medicinal barks, saps,
also found. Many of these are known to
science. but are exceedingly rare, while 9TH
ers equally potent, and some of them far
superior to anything yet employed in ma
terra medica, are used by the Indian medi-
cine men. For example, what all the re-
sources of science have failed to compass,
has been accomplished as a matter of course
by the Colombian Indians in the cure of
hydrophobia, and the bite of the most dead
ly serpents. The forests, which are for the
most part totally unexplored by white men,
are alive with vast and varied population
OF beasts, birds, reptiles and insects.
ALL POSSIBLE CLIMATES.
The alienation of valleys and heights
that rise above the line of perpetual snow,
gives a great diversity of climate, from the
cold of the polar regions to the sweltering
heats of Senegal; while the table lands and
hill slopes preserve The mild weather of the
temperate zone, scarcely varying five de-
grees from year to year. 1t is only in the
river valleys OF the interior, which are for
the most part covered with swamps or tropi-
cal forests, that intense heats and conse-
quent disease prevail.
The great sanitarium of the Caribbean
coast is Turbaco, built upon commanding
eminence about six kilometers from Car
thageua, at an elevation of only 1000 feet,
at the edge of a magnificent forest. The
emigrant coming to Colombia will find it
best to settle somewhere in the neighbor-
hood of Csrthagena, as that section seems to
offer most advantages.
A description of Colombia without men,
ton of the wonderful Falls of Tequendama.
would seem like the frequently quoted e1-
pertinent which nobody ever tried, of at
tempting to play Hamlet" with the Prince
of Denmark LETT out. Nearing the falls,
the country becomes indescribably lovely
A huge amphitheater of mighty rocks COW
cred with dense vegetation surrounds mag
nifcent cascade, whose height is variously
stated at from 600 to 1000 feet. The whole
body Of the Bogota river, forcing itself
through a narrow fissure in the heights
above, comes tumbling down with deafen-
ing roar, until, in mist and vapor, it dives
into pool more than 100 feet deep, and
then quietly flows away through the valley
below. Birds are flying in and out of the
spray, where it is said that caves exist in
which great numbers of "goat suckers
make their nests.
LEGEND OF TEQUENDAMA FALLS.
The Indians have legend to the effect
that the Great Spirit tore open the noun
tains and made this fall in order to drain
for their use the fertile plains above
Geologists argue that the great Sabana
of Bogota with its encircling hills, must
at one time have been the basin of fresh
water lake, which was maintained, in
spite of the rapid evaporation of the alti-
tude and the overflow toward the east, by
the Rio de Bogota with its numerous
branches rushing impetuously into it. But
the lake cannot have been very deep, as the
natural dam that confined its waters on the
southern edge at the junction of the Bogota
and Muno rivers, is no more than 100 feet
above the present lowest water level. Finally |
the pent-up waters overfowed this dam and |
began the formation OF the Tequendama
cascade through deep gorge of the Cordil-
lera. In course of time, probably on the
occasion of one of those great earthquakes
that have so frequently rent the Andes, the
dam was entirely swept away and the lake
drained. The contrast presented by the soil
and vegetation at various parts OF this most
celebrated cataract of South America, is
highly interesting. FANNIE B. WARD.
PUNlSHMENTS In THE NAVY.