Visit to the Salt WorTis of Zipaquera. 89 



Akt. VIII. — A Visit to the Salt WorJcs of Zipaquera, near Bo' 

 gota, in New Granada ; by J. H. Gibbon, M. D. 



On the 11th of June, 1836, I accompanied the gentlemati who 

 has the management of the Salt Works at Zipaquera, to visit that 

 place, a distance of thirty miles from Bogota ; which distance we 

 cantered over in five hours, passing along the skirts of the moun- 

 tains at the foot of which the city is built, and through the rich plainj 

 watered by the river of Bogota, whose banks were covered with 

 fine cattle of various kinds, while lively patches of corn, wheat, bar- 

 ley, potatoes, and artificial grapes, protected by Indian boys and 

 girls fi-om the depredations of the four footed creatures which gra- 

 zed under their charge, were seen to surround the villages of low 

 Indian huts ; some of which, situated in the midst of this cultivation^ 

 are nearly concealed by trees and flowers. A few large country 

 seats, built by the Spaniards, appeared at intervals upon eminences 

 at the base of the hills ; they are now seldom frequented by the 

 proprietors, who prefer to live in the city ; their estates are left to 

 the care of managers, being principally employed for grazing ; the 

 cattle are said to thrive and fatten very rapidly upon them, being re- 

 strained from wandering by an enclosure of substantial stone walls. 

 I had an opportunity of seeing the very slow and tedious process of 

 repairing roads — an art itself altogether curious in that country ; 

 being apparently, to judge from experience of their condition, very 

 seldom attempted. A pair of oxen were fastened by ropes to one 

 corner of a large hide ; this being drawn to the side of a hill, was 

 filled over with earth and stones ; the corners of the hide were then 

 tied together, and the rubbish was dragged upon the ground in this 

 strange vehicle to the spot where it was needed. 



Zipaquera is an old Indian settlement, and now contains about eight 

 thousand souls. The salt works are managed upon the same general 

 plan pursued by the natives before the conquest, for calcining and 

 hardening the salt, that no injury or loss might be sustained by heavy 

 rains, in its transportation to distant stations, or in passing rivers in- 

 tercepting the roads. 



Upon the mountain directly above the town is exposed a huge 

 rock of salt, of a dark lustrous color, interspersed with crystals of a 

 purer white, called palamos, bleached also in streaks by the filtration 

 of water and heat of the sun. Between the main body of salt and 



Vol. XXXII.— No. 1. 12 



