The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-01-23

canal steamer thence through the diuue
to Calamar a town on the Magdalena some
seventy miles above its mouth, and there
embark on regular river steamer for Hon
da. But this is rarely advisable. You will
have ample time to see all you care to see
of Carthagena without, and a passage
through the dique is neither very interest
ing or very agreeable. Besides, you would
miss seeing Barranquilla, which is to CO.
lombia commercially what New York is to
the United States, and to the Magdalena
valley geographically what New Orleans
is to the Mississippi.
Carthagena Tor Cartajena, as it is known
in the language of the country is one OF
the oldest Seaports in Spanish America.
The city was founded by Don Pedro Here
TIA in the first quarter of the sixteenth
century. 1t has been called 1.-The Charles
ton of Colombia perhaps because it has
long been "a finished town. perhaps be-
cause it has somewhat similar political
history; perhaps because it was once the
city of wealth and culture and lives in
the memory of past greatness. Be this as
it may, it is very interesting place. pro-
Vided you don't stay there too long. AS
first seen afar off, from the upper deck
OF the ocean steamer, it presents
grand and picturesque appear
ance. The buildings are large and
costly. The tall towers of the grand Old
cathedrals are quite imposing, and the
high and almost perpendicular hills and
cliffs in the rear, all covered with peren-
NAL green, make pleasing background to
the picture.
In the time of Philip the Second of Spain,
CarthaSena was enclosed by a high wall
of stone and cement, at a cost of nearly
SI0J,U00. Since the beginning of the pres
ent century this massive wall has received
little attention. 1t has probably not
been repaired for more than n hundred
years. And yet it seems to De i'll an eX-
cellent state of preservation; and many of
the SubterraNean passes leading out to the
Notifications on the hills and bluffs beyond
are still open and traversdble. In early
colonial times the city and EarbOr were sue
cesstully defended against hostile fleets by
an elaborate and costly system of fortihca-
tons. These numbered about thirty in all
and commanded all approaches from sea
or land. Many of these old forts are now
in ruins; others, though long disused, seem
to be good as new. One of them is still
utilized as Il national bastile; and as late
as 1855, ambitious but unsuccessful
'revolutioniSt'' found accommodations here.
The prison is a dark, cemented vault be
meath the fort some fifteen feet below the
water level at low tide. II is a horrible
place in which to incarcerate Il human
being and yet such incarcerations We're
very common in old Spanish colonial days.
At the time of the first formal declaration
of the independence Of the country. in 1870
Carthagena was not only the strongest
naval station on the Caribbean. but the
principal mart of commerce. It's accessi-
biity, salubrity Of climate and the culture
and refinement of its Inhabitants, made II
one of the most desirable places OF resi-
dence on the southern hemisphere. 1t has
been called The cradle Of liberty from the
circumstance that here. on the 18th Of
November, 1909 was the first organized
resistance to Spanish plisruIe. The same