218 THE LEGEND OF BOCUiCA. 



and tributary streams, and over and around all darted 

 strange birds, with beautiful plumage. A great portion of 

 the fall was lost in vapour ; what little was left below, a 

 dwindled streamlet, rushed impetuously along a stony bed 

 overhung with trees, and was lost in the dark windings 

 of the rock. The crevice into which the river plunged, 

 communicating with the plains of the warm regions, a 

 few palm trees had sprung up at the foot of the cataract. 

 This led the inhabitants of Bogota to say that the river 

 plunged from a hot into a cold country. Humboldt suc- 

 ceeded, not without danger, in carrying his instruments 

 into the crevice. It took him three hours to reach the 

 bottom by a narrow path. A few feeble rays of noon 

 fell on the bottom of the crevice. The solitude of the 

 place, the richness of the vegetation, and the dreadful 

 roar that struck upon his ear, were long remembered by 

 him. He considered it one of the wildest scenes in the 

 whole range of the Cordilleras. 



The column of vapour, rising like a thick cloud from 

 the falls, could be seen from the walks round Bogota, at 

 five leagues distance. 



There was a legend connected with the place: " In the 

 remotest times," it ran, " before the moon accompanied 

 the earth, the inhabitants of the plain of Bogota lived 

 like barbarians, naked, without agriculture, without any 

 form of laws or worship. Suddenly there appeared 

 among them an old man, who came from the plains situ- 

 ate on the east of the Cordillera of Chingasa, and who 

 appeared to be of a race unlike that of the natives, 

 having a long and bushy beard. He was known by 

 three distinct appellations, Bochica, Nemquetheba, and 

 Zuhe. This old man instructed men how to clothe 



