126 Travels and Adventures 



pleasant gardens and surroundings. Some Moorish, 

 some Persian, and even Indian and Japanese archi- 

 tecture is represented, with an extravagance of Italian 

 marble and paintings scarcely credible, all this making 

 an agreeable entrance to this isolated Andean city. 



Entering the city of Bogota from the north side, 

 the visitor is disappointed in finding the streets narrow 

 and dirty, and the houses miserably tumble-down ; 

 but in a very short time we arrive at the Park 

 San Diego, a small recreation ground, tastefully 

 laid out, and beautifully ornamented with fountains 

 and statues, the principal one being a full-sized 

 bronze figure of the statesman and soldier Simon 

 Bolivar. The dome and pedestal are of Italian work- 

 manship, very tastefully made, and the whole is 

 surmounted by a gilded condor. The town of Bogota, 

 the capital of what is now called the Republic of 

 Colombia, was founded, according to history, on the 

 6th of August, 1528, and in the year 1540 Carlos V. 

 of Spain raised it to the rank of City, with many 

 other privileges. It numbers about one hundred and 

 fifty thousand inhabitants, and covers an area of 

 some two millions of square yards, situated at an 

 altitude of ei^ht thousand feet above the level of 

 the sea, and only four degrees thirty-six minutes 

 north of the Equator. Except for the slight incon- 

 venience of the rarefied air produced by the altitude, 



