Sacramento daily record-union., 1890-04-05

L
/ traverse the whole length of the State, and
between them lie broad, hot and deep
valleys, watered respectively by the At
ratio. Cauca and Magdalena rivers. This
alteration of valleys and nights 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
hlil-slopes preserve the mild weather of
the temperate zone, scarcely varying 80
from year to year, on the Caribbean coasts
the heat is continually tempered by the
trade winds and other pure-alr currents
from the ocean. 1t is only in the river
valleys Of the interior, which are for the
most part covered with swamps or tropical
forests, that intense heat and consequent
diseases prevail. Hereabouts one does not
need to go north or south to find change of
climate, but merely up or down, for the
successive elevations of the Andes present
all grades of transition, from perpetual
summer to eternal snow while between
these extremes. at elevations ranging from
5000 to 10000 feet. unbroken spring crowns
the changeless year, and the favored IN
habitants find it difficult to die except
from extreme old age
The great sanitarium of the Caribbean
coast is Turbaco. built upon command
ing eminence about six kilometers from
Carthagena, at an elevation OF only 1,200
feet, at the edge Of a magnificent forest.
The emigrant coming to Colombia will find
1t best to settle somewhere in the neigh
norhood OF Carthagena. as that section
seems TO offer most advantages.
A description of Colombia without men,
tion of the wonderful
FALLS OF TEQUENDAMA,
Would seem like the frequently quoted ex-
pertinent, which nobody ever tried, of at
tempting to play Hamlet" with the
Prince of Denmark left out. To reach
them from Bogota requires long Journey
on horse or mule back, in course OF which
one must depend upon the hospitality of
the people for two nights or three, accord
ing to ones ability in the saddle. The
route lies straight across the Sabana, or
plain of Bogota, and then along the foot
OF hills whose almost perpendicular sides
jut thousand feet above the road. We
cross quaint stone bridge, built in 1886,
meeting droves of donkevs laden with
kegs of miel (natiye molasses), and pig
skin sacks of the favorite beverage chjche;
past wayside ranches, hedged with tall
cactus of the prickly pear variety, and
clumps Of gigantic aloes, or century plants,
many of them rearing stalk that in the
distance looks like a telegraph pole with
an enormous cluster of white flowers at the
top.
There is a po8dda where group of
country people were drinking ehiche out
of vermillion-stained gourds painted with
black vines, and just in the edge of Te-
quendama valley is the quinta, within
, whose hospitable walls most travellers
pass the night going and returning from
the falls. An early start must be made
next morning, for the road is long and
territieally steep, unless ore wishes to
chance sleeping out of doors, which would
be by no means pleasant, as after sunset
is liable to be enveloped in a the locality
damp and chilly mist.
Nearing the falls, the country becomes
indescribably lovely. Under tall palm
trees grow the rarest ferns, among them a
species OF gigantic maiden-hair; priceless
orchids, moses, lichens, Allamanda creep
ers covered with yellow flowers, wild
fuchsias and geraniums, purple blossoms
resembling butterflies with outspread wings,
shrub called ''silya-salva," which has an
aromatic taste like sal volatile, and is
eaten for toothaehe; over all monkeys are
swinging from the branches, and gorgeous
macaws and green and red paroquets are
screaming.
Suddenly we emerge into an open space,
and before us is spread such view as is
rarely presented to human eyes. A huge
amphitheater of mighty rocks covered
with dense vegetation, surrounding a mag
nifcent cascade, whose hight is variously
stated at from 600 to 1000 feet. The
whole body of a river, forcing itself
through narrow fssure in the nights
| above, comes tumbling down with deaf
ening roar until, IN mist and vapor, it
dives into a pool more than hundred feet
deep, and then quietly flows away through
the valley below. The mists reflect all
the colors of the rainbow, and such is the
tremendous force of falling water, that it
has actually followed out a well IN the
solid rock below 150 feet Deep Birds are
flying in and out of the spray, where it is
said that caves exist in which great num-
bers of "goat suckers" make their nests.
The Indians have
LEGEND
To the effect that the Great Spirit tore
open the mountains and made this fall, in
order to drain for their use the fertile
plains above. Biologists 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 main
tanned, in spite of the rapid evaporation of
the altitude and overflow toward the
east, by the Rio de Bogota, with it numer-
Gus branches rushing impetuously into it.
But the lake cannot have been very deep.
| as the natural dam that confined it waters
on the southern edge at the junction of the
Bogota and Muno rivers is no more than
| $50 feet above the present lowest water
| level. Finally the pent-up waters over
| flowed this dam and began the formation
| of the Tequendama cascade through deep
gorge Of the cordillera' In the course of
time, probably on the occasion of one of
those great earthquakes that have SO fire.
quently rent the Andes, the dam was en-
tirely swept away and the lake drained.
The Bogota river follows winding
course to a labyrinth of rocks and boul-
ders, where,with the towering cordillera of
Cundinamaria on one side and the nights
| of Quindiu on the other, it takes this stu
pendous leap. The contrast presented by
| the soil and vegetation at various parts OF
this most celebrated cataract of South
America is highly interesting. Here the
hitherto monotonous contry begins to
form series of many-shaped hills, all
covered with wild flowers and the most
luxuriant tropical vegetation. Where
the grasses are surrounded by thickest
bushes and the trees are tallest the river
rushes in clouds of foam through its
rocky bed until it reaches the deep gorge,
hidden from sight above by the dense
jungle, where it disappears with terrific
roar and plunges headlong into the awful
ABYSS
Below this point the river Bogota,
emerging again into the light, winds
through thick bushes and rocky banks to