JOUENEY TO QUITO. 301 



Ibague, one of the oldest towns in the kingdom of New Granada, 

 situated in the valley of Combairna, 2,305 feet above the sea, 

 where the temperature in the day ranges between 84 and 88, 

 and at night between 73 and 76. The travellers, on Sep- 

 tember 23, accurately determined by repeated astronomical 

 observation the latitude and longitude of Ibague. They then 

 crossed over the eastern spur of the Cordilleras by the pass of 

 Quindiu a route almost completely amid the snow. 



' This pass presents one of the most difficult roads in the 

 Cordilleras of the Andes. l It lies through a dense wood, wholly 

 uninhabited, which cannot be traversed even at the most favour- 

 able season of the year under ten or twelve days. Neither 

 shelter nor food can be procured, and therefore it is absolutely 

 necessary that at all times of the year travellers should carry 

 with them a month's provisions, since it frequently happens that, 

 owing to the rapid swelling of the torrents through the melting 

 of the snow, all progress is interrupted for days together. The 

 highest point of the road is 11,494 feet 2 above the sea. The 

 path is so narrow that it rarely exceeds 12 or 16 inches in width, 

 and for the most part resembles an open gallery cut in the rock. 

 The torrents, in their violent descent, have worn away ravines to 

 the depth of from 18 to 20 feet, along which the pathway passes 

 often through ground in a state of morass, and overhung by such 

 thick vegetation as to be almost excluded from the light. This 

 road is impassable to mules, and the oxen which are used instead 

 twelve of which were required for our luggage 3 can with 

 difficulty traverse these galleries, extending in some instances 

 the distance of a mile. In the event of unfortunately meeting 

 a string of oxen, one is obliged either to retreat along the path 

 already trodden, or to climb up the steep side of the ravine, and 

 hold on by the projecting roots of the trees above. In addi- 

 tion to other inconveniences, we suffered very much during the 



1 < Vues des Cordilleres/ PI. V. 



* The highest point at which they encamped was 10,800 feet. 



3 The statement therefore occurring in the Autobiography in Brockhaus's 

 ' Conversations-Lexikon,' so often cited, is erroneous, that ' The journey over 

 the Cordilleras from Bogota to Quito was performed entirely upon muks 

 .... and lasted four months.' In a letter to his brother, dated Lima, 

 November 25, 1802, Humboldt remarks : ' Oxen constituted the only means 

 of transport for our luggage on this route.' 



