216 HONDA. 



take to their canoes. Crocodiles came up to the banks 

 to feed on the offal thrown from the city. 



From Monpox to Santa Margarita the shore was bor- 

 dered with orange and lemon trees. At Pinon they saw 

 the mountains in the interior. The depth of the water 

 increasing along the shore, they were now and then 

 obliged to lay in the poles, and haul along by the trees. 

 They passed the island of Morales, which was shaded with 

 cocoa palms. Beyond Badillo the crocodiles diminished, 

 and cocoa plantations began. Sometimes the river, 

 broadening, resembled a large lake, bordered with forest- 

 trees. At such places the travellers saw their old friends 

 of Cumana and the Orinoco, flamingoes, herons, parrots, 

 and macaws, and hordes of bowling monkeys. Turtles 

 were plentiful, as were also crocodiles and jaguars. They 

 saw the crocodiles and jaguars fighting on the banks as 

 they passed. At last they reached the town of Honda, 

 having been thirty -five days on the river. 



From Honda they proceeded on mules to Bogota. 

 The road was more like the bed of a torrent than a 

 road. They descended from the mountain of Sarjento 

 into the picturesque valley of Guaduas ; then they 

 climbed the steep sides of the Alta del Trigo, and again 

 descended to the plain of Villietas. From the paramo 

 of Cerradera they saw the plains of Bogota, though 

 they were still nine leagues from the capital. At last 

 they came in sight of the white towers of the cathedral, 

 and the monasteries of Monserrat and Guadalupe. 



The travellers arrived at Bogota in June, and remained 

 till September, pursuing their botanical and geographi- 

 cal researches, and making excursions to the natural 

 curiosities of the neighborhood. 



