THE FALLS OF TEQUEXDAMA. 21 7 



The plain of Bogota was encircled with lofty moun- 

 tains ; and the perfect level of the soil, its geological 

 structure, the form of the rocks of Suba and Facatativa, 

 which rose like small islands in the midst of the savan- 

 nas, all served to indicate the existence of an ancient 

 lake. The Eio Funzha, into which flowed the waters of 

 the valley, forced its way through the mountains to the 

 south-west of Bogota. Near the farm of Canoas this 

 river rushed from the plain by a narrow outlet into a 

 crevice, which, descended towards the basin of the Eio 

 Magdalena. Here were the celebrated falls of Tequen- 

 dama. Taking one pleasant day the road which led to 

 the falls, the travellers passed the village of Suacha, and 

 the great farm of Canoas, famous for its crops of wheat. 

 At a small distance from the farm, on the height of 

 Chipa, they found themselves surrounded with oaks and 

 elms, and plants which recalled to their minds the vege- 

 tation of Europe. Looking down, as from a terrace, 

 they discovered below them a country producing bana- 

 nas and sugar canes. They descended by a dangerous 

 pathway to the brink of the precipice, into which the river 

 threw itself. At a short distance above them it was one 

 hundred and forty feet broad, but as it drew near the foil 

 it contracted itself in a deep but narrow bed, scarcely forty 

 feet wide, and plunged at two bounds down a perpendi- 

 cular rock to the depth of six hundred and fifty feet. It 

 came on like a broad arch of glass ; as soon as it was over 

 the brink of the precipice it became a fleece of spray, which 

 was changed in its descent to mist. The mist rose, how- 

 ever, to a considerable height, and was crowned with glit- 

 tering rainbows. From the rocky sides of the crevice, 

 hung with shrubs and bushes, gushed innumerable springs 



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