280 



PASSAGE OP THE QUINDIU. 



Descent of 

 the eastern 

 cliain. 



Mountain 

 forest. 



CiiAP.XXm province of Choco and the shores of the South Sea. In 

 passing from Santa Fe to Popayan and the banks of the 

 river now mentioned, the traveller has to descend the 

 eastern chain, either by the Mesa and Tocayma or the 

 bridges of Icononzo, traverse the valley of the Rio Mag- 

 dalena, and cross the central chain, as Humboldt did, by 

 the mountain of Quindiu. 



This mountain, which is considered as the most 

 difficult passage in the coi-dilleras, presents a thick un- 

 inhabited forest, which, in the finest season, cannot be 

 passed in less than ten or twelve days. Travellers 

 usually furnish themselves with a month's provision, as 

 it often happens that the melting of the snow, and the 

 sudden floods arising from it, prevent them from 

 descending. The highest point of the road is 11,499^ 

 feet above the level of the sea, and the path, which is 

 very narrow, has in several places the appearance of a 

 gallery dug in the rock and left open above. The oxen, 

 which are the beasts of burden commonly used in the 

 country, can scarcely force their way through these pas- 

 sages, some of which are 6562 feet in length. The rock 

 is covered with a thick layer of clay, and the numerous 

 gullies formed by the torrents are filled with mud. 



In crossing this mountain the philosophers, followed 

 by twelve oxen carrying their collections and instru- 

 ments, were deluged with rain. Their shoes were torn 

 by the prickles which shoot out from the roots of the 

 bamboos, so that, unwilling to be carried on men's backs, 

 they Avere obliged to walk barefooted. The usual mode 

 of travelling, however, is in a chair tied to the back of 

 a cargucro or porter. When one reflects on the enor- 

 mous fatigue to which these bearers are exposed, he is 

 at a loss to conceive how the employment should be so 

 eagerly embraced by all the robust young men who live 

 at tlie loot of the Andes. The passage of Quindiu is not 

 the only part of South America which is traversed in 

 this manner. The wliole province of Antioquia is sur- 

 rounded by mountains so difficult to be crossed, that those 

 who refuse to trust themselves to the skill of a carguero, 



Deluge of 

 rain. 



Great 

 futiguc 



