the Magdalena River in the south and the César River 
in the southeast. It has an area of some 5,000 square 
miles, and its axis runs approximately east-west, in con- 
trast to the approximately north-south axis of the Andes 
(40, 47, 64). 
The Kogi of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta occupy 
a lens-shaped territory, the long axis of which runs east- 
west, situated back from the sea coast to its north and 
west, with a band of civilization between them and the 
sea. Various groups of the Kogi are located in small 
settlements along rivers and on the slopes (18, 47, 51). 
There was a migration of Kogi about 1875 (51); this may 
explain, in part, discrepancies between early and more 
recent accounts of these Indians and their neighbors. 
Considering this topography, it is not difficult to imag- 
ine the relative ease of communication in pre-Columbian 
times between the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and 
the Venezuelan Andes; the trend of the mountains and 
their valleys would offer easy access to men on foot. 
Even today, there are traces of ancient roads, some with 
paving, leading in many directions (138). 
A final factor in a consideration of transmission of a 
culture trait is archaeological evidence. 
Artifacts indicate that the Indians of Colombia may 
have been culturally more advanced than those of Vene- 
zuela (64). They would, therefore, have been more likely 
to take the initiative in establishing communication and 
introducing their culture traits. 
Acosta Saignes (pers. comm.) points out the present 
scarcity of information on migrations, particularly of the 
Goajiro. In 1954, however, he explored a large shell 
mound in the Goajiro area which was peculiar in con- 
taining ceramic ware of high quality, similar to some 
found in Colombia by Reichel-Dolmatoff. This similarity 
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