11SS 



BOGLiroilK. 



>TA. 



11M 



district i besides watered by many small stream* which full i 

 Ganges on each side, none of which are navigable except >lm . 

 flooding of the Ganges. Many Joels, or stagnant lakes, are met with in 

 this district. 



Besides Boglipore, the capital, the district contains the towns of 

 Rnjmahal, Champanagur, Surajeghur, Colgong, Monghir, Bogwangola, 

 which has an important grain market, and Oudanulla. The popula- 

 tion amount* to rather more than two millions, of whom 400,000 are 

 Mohammedans, and the remainder Hindoos. The mountaineers 

 residing to the south and west of Rajmah:d in this district are 

 described as an uncivilised race, differing in manners, customs, and 

 religion from the inhabitants of the surrounding plains, never sub- 

 mitting to the native governments, and subsisting by plunder. The 

 British government has for some years been gradually bringing the 

 mountaineers within the pale of the customary laws, modified in some 

 few particulars to suit their hereditary views of justice. 



Great numbers of pilgrims, soldiers, and European travellers are 

 continually passing through the district both by land and by water, 

 mi.! this forms a principal source of profit to the inhabitants, who 

 furnish travellers with provisions and other necessary articles of con- 

 sumption. Rice, wheat, barley, and maize form the principal articles 

 of agricultural groduce. Potatoes are cultivated about the towns of 

 Monghir and Boglipore. Some cotton is grown. Small quantities of 

 silk and saltpetre are produced, and about 7000 maunds of indigo ore 

 exported annually on an average. Black bears, a species of baboon 

 called Hunimaun, and a short-tailed monkey called the Ratuya, ore 

 met with in the district 



BOUUl'O'KK, the capital of the district lost described, is a town 

 of modern erection, beautifully situated on the right bank of the 

 Ganges, in 25 13' N. lat., 86" 58' E. long.; 110 miles N.\V. from 

 Moorshedabad. The town contains about 5000 dwellings, and 30,000 

 inhabitants, most of whom are Mohammedans. There are a few Roman 

 Catholics, partly the descendants of Portuguese settlers, and partly 

 native converts. A Mohammedan college exists in the town, but is 

 ii"W in a state of decay. A school for the instruction of natives, 

 established here in 1823, under the patronage of the supreme govern- 

 ment of Calcutta, is supported out of the public funds. The few 

 houses in the town which are inhabited by Europeans are handsomely 

 built, and the Mohammedan mosques are also ornamental structures, 

 but with these exceptions the buildings are of a mean character, and 

 are generally scattered about without order. Boglipore is one of the 

 stations of the steamers which ply on the Ganges between Calcutta 

 and Allahabad. About a mile north-west from the town there are 

 two round towers, supposed to be of Jain origin, which are considered 

 tly huly to be the objects of pilgrimages. For the accommo- 

 f pilgrims a building has been erected near the spot by the 

 |ioor. 



BOGOTA, or SANTA FH DE BOGOTA, a city in South America, 

 up to 1811 the capital of the Spanish vice-royalty of New Granada, 

 then to 1819 of the republic of Cundinamarca, afterwards of the 

 republic of Columbia, and since the dissolution of this republic in 

 'lie metropolis of the republic of Nueva Granada, is situated in 

 14 1"' \V. long. Bogotil was founded by Quesade 

 ^. It is situated at the foot of two lofty and rocky mountains, 

 Montaerrat and Guadoloupe, which belong to the high range that runs 

 nearly north and south between the basins of the Magdalena anil the 

 Orinoco ; these mountains completely shelter the town from easterly 

 winds, and supply it with water. The city is slightly elevated above ' 

 a very extensive and fertile but in ]>arta swampy plain which lies to ' 

 the west of it. The river Bogota, or Kunza, from which the town has 

 received its name, winds through the centre of the plain, at t i 

 tance of nine or ten miles from the town. The San Francisco, a small 

 feeder of the Kio Bogota, traverses the city. 



Although Bogota is only a few degrees from the equator it has a 

 very mild climate, owing to its high elevation above the level of the 

 fen : the thermometer seldom risen above 65 in summer, and it falls 

 in winter only to 45*. There are two rainy seasons, one during April 

 and May, and the other from the beginning of Septombi , 

 of December. In June, July, and August the weather is unsettled 

 and showery, and only from the beginning of January to the end of 

 March it is rather dry. But mling this excessive humidity 



the climate is not unhealthy. Kpiil< niio diseases are unknown, and 

 Europeans commonly enjoy good health, after having had on their 

 arrival a fever for a few days. 



The street* are narrow ; but they intersect one another at right 

 angles, and are tolerably regular. All of them an paved, and the 



prinoip:il hare footpaths, where the passengers are i-l m the 



min by the projecting roofs of the houses. A stream of v 

 stant ly (lowing throui:h the miililV of tin- streets. Ti 

 street (Calle Real) is well puved, and built with the great/--- 

 At the extremity of it is the principal square, win-re on Friday a 

 market in held. One side of the square is occupied by the palace, the 

 other side by the custom-house and the cathedral. The other square* 

 also are spacious, and all of them . : ornamented with fountains. 

 Tli.- market-place is well supplied with provi- 

 <.] In rlis, and Bowers. 



As Bogota is subject to frequent earthquakes, most of the houses, 

 which ore constructed after the Spanish fashion mum! a court-yard, 

 consist of one or two stories only; they are built of linked 1 

 the greater part are covered with tiles, and the external walls are 

 whitewashed. The cathedral of Bogota was great! \ l>y an 



earthquake in 1827, but has been since repaired and is still a noble 

 bnililing. The other churches, to the number of L'fi. are in their 

 interior splendidly decorated. There are nine well . ndo\\,d ami 

 solidly built monasteries and three nunneries. The palace, which 

 once was the residence of the Spanish viccmys, and is now inli 

 by the president of Xueva Granada, is a flat-rm 

 adjoining ones, much lower, ornamented with galleries, constitute its 

 dependencies. The palace of the deputies is merely a largo house at 

 the corner of a street; the mound-floor i let for shops. The senate 

 assembles in a wing of the Dominican convent, which has been 

 up for the purpose. There are three colleges in Bogota, all well 

 situated and well built. The principal one. that of the Jesuits, pos- 

 sesses the character of solidity peculiar to all the edifices erected by 

 that famous order. The course of instruction in these o' 

 consists of the Latin language, philosophy, mathematii --. and 1 1- 

 Among the other public buildings are the Mint, the hospital 

 Juan do Dios, and a theatre. 



The majority of the inhabitants of Bogota are Creoles. The half- 

 bred Indians however are numerous, being alone employed as sei 

 Mulattoes are not frequent, and negroes very rare. The popuhr 

 estimated at 40,000. 



The alomedo, or public walk, which forms one of the pr 

 entrances of the town, is a fine piece of ground, intersected by fragrant 

 hedges of rose-bushes and a variety of wild flowers of luxuriant 

 growth. The amusements of the townsfolk consist of balls, cock and 

 bull fights, and occasionally the theatre ; but more frequently games 

 of chance are resorted to. 



Bogota owes its importance solely to the circumstance of its having 

 been so long the seat of government, for which it is well ail. 

 owing to the ready communication with the country to the north ami 

 east. In three days the town of Honda on the banks of the Map 

 is reached, whence the post generally arrives at the coast in 

 days, owing to the great velocity of the current, which 1 

 delays its return after the rainy season, sometimes fifty or sixty days. 

 A-'ain, the river Meta runs to the east of the mountains which 

 at the bock of the town. This stream falls into the Orinoco, and thus 

 gives facilities for sending information ilown that river. During the 

 present year (1853) a fleet of large river steamers has been built in 

 I. mil I. in for the navigation of the Magdalena. 



The plain of Bogota is 45 miles 1< >ir_r from north to south, and above 

 in miles I Voin east to west. Only the part about the city i* cultivated ; 

 the rest of it is overgrown with pasture, shrubs, or swamp reeds. 1 1 

 contains abundance of coal, rich salt mines, and huge fossil remains 

 of animals. On its south-western edge the Rio Bogota enters a ravine 

 nearly 40 miles in length, from which it emerges into the valley of 

 the Magdalena. The rocky sides of the ravine in many places approach 

 close upon each other, especially above the cataract of Tei|iienilama, 

 where the raging waters ore pent in between over-hanging cliffs only 

 36 feet apart, and when they escape from the pressure spring down in 

 an unbroken mass full 650 feet, forming perhaps the finest waterfall 

 in the world. Near the road from Bogota to Ibaque are the two 

 natural rock bridges of Icononzo. The upper one is above 40 feet 

 wide, 8 feet tli iek in the centre, and more th :ib.,vc the 



surface of the Soraraa-1'az, a feeder of the Bogota, which hero runs at 

 the bottom of a dark and deep chasm in the rocks. The lower 

 50 feet beneath the first, and seems to have been formed by the fall of 

 a part of the rock of which the upper bridge is composed ; it has a hole 

 in t lie centre through whiih the abyss is seen far In-low, and innu- 

 merable owls, baU, and ravens h iv. IIHL- r the .lark stream. These 



bridges are frequented only by the Indians and by curious travellers. 



tllumboldt; Mollien's LeUeri from Columbia.) 



MI: i. 



HUAMl ET AltD KVAXI, PSJITIU, WIllTlFRIAk'. 



