140 



COLOMBIA. 



COLOEADO. 



Yean. Attendance. 



1872 13.207 



1873 11,974 



1874 13,295 



were public; the total attendance was 11,974; 

 and the appropriations for their support, $81,- 

 470, of which $58,010 were from the State, and 

 the remainder contributed by the various dis- 

 tricts. There were 100 schools of all kinds in 

 Toliraa, with 3,640 scholars. 



As for Panama, public instruction is report- 

 ed to be in as forward a state there as circum- 

 stances permit. At the beginning of the year 

 1874 there were no public schools on the 

 isthmus ; and in September sixteen had been 

 established. 



The actual progress attained in this im- 

 portant branch will be better seen by compar- 

 ing the attendance at the schools in Santander 

 in each of the seven years (1869-'74), as fol- 

 lows: 



Yean. Attendance. 



1868 5,631 



1869 6,608 



1870 6,625 



1871 12,238 



The advantage of the new system is mani- 

 fested by the increase in the number of scholars 

 from 1870 to 1871 : the attendance having al- 

 most doubled immediately. The expenditure 

 in Santander, at the end of 1874, for public 

 instruction, was 



From the national Treasury $8,200 



From the State 81,470 



From the districts 46,357 



Total $134,027 



The increase in the attendance at school in 

 the State of Cundinamarca from January to 

 August, 1874, was nearly 6,000, or almost fifty 

 per cent. ; that from July, 1872, to August, 

 1874, was 14,515; and 26 new schools were 

 opened in the year 1873-'74. Out of the State 

 revenue in Oundinamarca, $164,664 per annum 

 are expended on the schools. 



The national Treasury devotes $317,120 year- 

 ly to the development of public instruction, as 

 follows : 



Subsidies to the States $200,000 



Subsidy to the National University, the Vas- 

 quez Academy, and other colleges 117,120 



Total $317,120 



And this, besides the renta nominal prim- 

 legiada recognized by the Treasury in favor of 

 public instruction, and amounting to $1,680,- 

 000, which is punctually paid. 



In almost all the States there are colleges 

 in which higher instruction is given, and which 

 are supported out of private incomes, amount- 

 ing in the aggregate to about $1,000,000 per 

 annum. 



There are in Bogota schools of engineering, 

 natural sciences, arts, and trades; and five 

 teachers of painting, music, architecture, sculpt- 

 ure, and engineering, for the Vasquez Acad- 

 emy, were to be brought from Europe. Nor- 

 mal schools .for females, and several new com 1 

 mon schools, were to be established in each 

 State. 



From the foregoing statistics it would ap- 

 pear that each. State iu the Colombian Union 



devotes nearly one-half of its entire revenue 

 to the cause of education, and that alone af- 

 fords sufficient proof that the present adminis- 

 tration of the republic, and the two immedi- 

 ately preceding it, have not been ignorant of 

 the maxim that the education of the people is 

 the groundwork of prosperity. 



COLOEADO. The officers of this Territory 

 are as follows: Governor, Edward M. McCook; 

 Secretary, John W. Jenkins ; Judges of Su- 

 preme Court, Moses Hallet (Chief-Justice), 

 James B. Belford and E. T. Wells (Associate 

 Justices) ; United States Attorney, H. C. Alle- 

 man ; United States Marshal, M. A. Schaffen- 

 burg ; Assayer U. S. Mint, J. F. L. Schirmer ; 

 Surveyor-General, T. B. Searight. Colorado 

 is fast becoming a popular resort for invalids, 

 especially those afflicted with pulmonary com- 

 plaints. In respect to climate, the Territory 

 may be divided into two parts, viz., mountains 

 and plains. The former, comprising about one- 

 half of the area of the Territory, and forming 

 its western portion, consists of a succession 

 of perpetually snow-clad ranges and peaks, 

 separated by beautiful and fertile valleys and 

 parks, which are from 7,000 to 9,000 feet 

 above sea-level, while many of the peaks at- 

 tain an altitude of nearly 15,000 feet. It is 

 well watered by clear, cold rivers and streams, 

 which are rapid in their course, and abound 

 with speckled trout. The forests are composed 

 principally of pine and fir, which give a delight- 

 ful and healthful aroma to the air. Hot and 

 cold mineral springs, possessing a great variety 

 of medicinal virtues, are found in many locali- 

 ties. The atmosphere is a little moister than 

 that of the plains, and is rare, clear, cool, and 

 charged with an unusual amount of electricity. 

 This region is unsurpassed, in its endless variety 

 of grand and beautiful natural scenery, by any 

 place in America. Persons desiring to escape 

 the fatal diseases incident to large towns and 

 cities in the summer months, may here gain 

 not only health and comfort, but pleasure ; 

 those who are fond of botany may find in the 

 abundant flora many rare and most beautiful 

 plants and flowers ; while those who have a 

 taste for mineralogy may also here find depos- 

 ited every variety of the base and precious 

 metals, from the crude iron-ore to the delicate 

 frosted wire-gold. 



The second climatic division of Colorado 

 embraces the eastern portion, which extends 

 from the foot of the mountains to the boun- 

 dary-line. It is an open prairie, or plateau, 

 which varies in altitude from 3,000 to 6,000 

 feet above the level of the sea. It is watered 

 by streams rising in the mountains, which are 

 all swift in their courses. The soil is dry and 

 alkaline, free from boggy and marshy places, 

 and " blossoms as the rose " with a great 

 variety of flowers during the spring months, 

 but is principally covered with a short, thick 

 herbage, called buffalo-grass, which usually 

 dries into sweet and nutritious hay during the 

 month of August. Trees are only found along 





