The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-27
C0LOMBlA'S CAPITAL.
LIFE ABOVE THE CLOUDS IN
THE CHIEF CITY
OF COIOmbia-The ChibChas-The
Present Inhabitants of the HIS
torie PlaIn-How They Live And
Move.

Move.
! Especial Correspondence Of the Journal
and Courier).
Santa Fe de Bogota. Colombia.
Nov Goth. 1902
| CoIombia's capital, the city Of Holy
Faith occupied a little detached
plateau Of the Andes, nearly nine thou
sand feet above the level Of the sea.
Away up here almost a half Il mile
: higher than the top of Mount Wash
lnston, one can easily imagine oneself
in the North Temperature zone. 50
thin, pure and cool is the atmosphere.
Though only few degrees removed
from the equator, the temperature av-
eTages fifty degrees Fair, and most Of
the northern products are found here,
hturishing amid a surprising prOfusion
Of tropical fruits and flowers. This
mountain valley is doubly interesting
as having been the traditional Paradise
OF the Chibchas, the ancient people who
inhabited this region III the dawn of
history Quesada, the ancient historian
Tan ancestor of the present Minister
! from Cuba to the United States), tells
quest, the ChibChas numbered nearly a
million. Here stood their sacred city,
called Bo-cat-a. The Capital of to-day.
which occupies the same site, evidently
i took its name from the older city;
though the corrupted modern word has
I quite different s1und the accent be
! ing strong on the final syllable-as
! BO-go-tak
! They were curious race, those long
! dead Chibchas, and around no spot in
the two Americas are clustered more
Wild stories and improbable traditions
concerning vanished civilization. The
world knows absolutely nothing of their
! remote history, except that they were
a very ancient and powerful rpople
When the Spaniards found them not
quite four centuries ago, Their most
ancient and imperial Capital, where thu
Emperor dweIt, was Majuita, On the
opposite side of the plqin: while
Bocata was the Sacred City of temples
and the residence OF the priests. The
! study of Chibchan religion. from the
shattered legends that remain. is q fas-
! chatting one; but newspaper space will
/ not permit more than the hriefest mem
/ ton of it. Their faith seems to have
! been strange mixture Of the Budd-
/ hism Of antiquity, combined with mod
ern Theosophy and Bible religion, but
! included no sanguinary sacrifices. like
those that marked the rituals of the
neighbOring tribes of Central and
South America. They had a deyine
| Mediata, or Deity of Mercy. COR
responding to Christ, the NaZarine.
Like all other races they had a tradi-
ton of the flood. and a character clcs.-
ly resembling the Hebrew Noah, the
Mexican Cojco the Greek Ducalame,
the Inca Nance Capac. 70 complete
the scheme of salvation. they had also
a spirit of evil, akin to the Scriptural
Satan. who was forever striving to get
the better of the higher powers. with
more or less success. Their god of
Science, as typified by earthen images,
was almost identical with the Buddh st
god of Wisdom, represented in the idols
that are to-day found in Chinese tenn
pies; While their Chibchat UNI was a
fac smile of the Buddhist god of Agri-
culture. The most splendid temple of
old Bocata, COnsecrated to the god of
Agriculture, stood exactly where the
grand cathedral stands in the center Of
the modern Capital Thither, twice
every year went the Emperor, his chief
caieques, and all the royal retinue, to
offer oblatious to the deity who was
believed to preside over the harvests a
ceremony not unlike the moon feasts"
that are yet celebrated in many OF the
! interior districts Of China and the
chuna, (potato), festival of Bolivia, in
South America.
But We of this rushing generation
have little time to devote to myths of
the shadnwy past, Each forgotten
faith, in the ceaseless march Of chang
ing religions has had its followers as
devoutly sincere, and perhaps as de-
serving of eternal peace, Gf living up
to ones conviction may win heavens
faVOr), as those who to-day build
temples to other forms Of religiOn--as
the unknown races Of coming centuries,
each in it's little day, will worship new
gods, yet to be evolved from mans
imagination.
The present inhabitants of this his
toric plain appear to be different nao-
pie from any we have met elsewhere in
Colombia. Perhaps it iH owing to the
altitude that they possess more energy
and show a disposition to keep up at
least within hailing distance of the
times. Here. agriculture and the use
full arts to be a century ahead of their
practice in the torrid valleys along the
burning coast. The wooden shovel and
clumsy forked stick have given place
to the iron spade and patent nl0w; and
the quintas. farms), enclosed within
substantial walls of stone and adobe,
have spacious houses that wear an air
Of palatial elegance as compared with
the mud and bamboo huts along the
great rivers. Sentimentalists may at
tribute this to the influence Of the early
owners of the sol-to the pastoral
Chibchas, whose spirit yet fingers in
the land they loved but the truth in
that natural condition Of the soil have
more to do with the condition of the