CATARACT OF TEQUENDAMA. 281 



is consequently higher than the summit of St. Ber- 

 nard. The river of Funza, usually called Rio de 

 Bogota, which drains the valley, has forced its way 

 through the mountains to the south-west of Santa 

 Fe, and near the farm of Tequendama rushes from 

 the plain by a narrow outlet into a crevice, which 

 descends towards the bed of the Rio Magdalena. 

 Respecting this ravine, Gonzalo Ximenes de Que- 

 sada, the conqueror of the country, found the fol- 

 lowing tradition disseminated among the people : 

 In remote times the inhabitants of Bogota were bar- 

 barians, living without religion, laws, or arts. An old 

 man on a certain occasion suddenly appeared among 

 them, of a race unlike that of the natives, and hav- 

 ing a long bushy beard. He instructed them in the 

 arts ; but he brought with him a very malignant, 

 although very beautiful woman, who thwarted all 

 his benevolent enterprises. By her magical power 

 she swelled the current of the Funza, and inun- 

 dated the valley ; so that most of the inhabitants per- 

 ished, a few only having found refuge in the neigh- 

 bouring mountains. The aged visiter then drove 

 his consort from the earth, and she became the moon. 

 He next broke the rocks that enclosed the valley on 

 the Tequendama side, and by this means drained off 

 the waters ; then he introduced the worship of the 

 sun, appointed two chiefs, and finally withdrew to a 

 valley, where he lived in the exercise of the most au- 

 stere penitence during 2000 years. 



The cataract of Tequendama presents an assem- 

 blage of all that is picturesque. The river a little 

 above it is 144 feet in breadth, but at the crevice 

 narrows to a width of not more than 12 yards. The 

 height of the fall, which forms a double bound, is 

 574 feet, and the column of vapour that rises from 

 it is visible from Santa Fe at the distance of 17 miles. 

 The vegetation at the foot of the precipice has a 

 totally different appearance from that at the sum- 

 mit ; and while the spectator leaves behind him a 

 Aa2 



