144 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



of heiglils, where it is impossible to recognise the primitive foldings of the 

 plateau ranges, which have been carved into distinct groups by the running 

 waters. The general trend, however, is parallel with that of the eastern scarp of 

 the Cordillera, and in the same direction, that is, either to the south-west or the 

 north-east, have been discharged the large volumes of lacustrine waters which 

 formerly filled the depressions of the plateau, and the outflow of which has 

 modified the primitive relief of the land, excavating deep gorges, levelling 

 mountain masses, heaping up enormous quantities of detritus at the foot of the 

 escarpments, and depositing vast beds of alluvial matter brought down from the 

 eroded uplands. 



South of the highlands whence the Rios Upia, Chicamocha, and Funza diverge 

 in various directions, the outer rim of the Eastern Cordilleras develops a series of 

 long paramos, such as the Gacheneque, with its Pan de Azucar (" Sugar-loaf") 

 12,140 feet high, and the Carbonera (11,300). Immediately east of Bogota the 

 Choachi and Chipaque paramos, ranging from 10,500 to 10,830 feet, form the 

 divide between the Magdalena and the Orinoco, and this rampart is connected 

 by a few bare crests with Nevado de Suma Paz (" Supreme Peace "), which 

 culminates in a peak 14,146 feet high, and which gives its name to the whole 

 system of the Eastern Cordilleras. Viewed from Bogota, these superb heights, 

 aglow wdth the rays of the setting sun, seem a new Olympus, a happy abode of 

 the gods dwelling in '* supreme peace." 



South-westwards the Suma Paz is flanked by the Alto de las Cazuelitas 

 (12,800 feet), the Cumbre de las Oseras (12,470), the Ari-Ari (11,485), and a few 

 lesser giants about the sources of the Guayabero, westernmost headstream of the 

 Orinoco. Farther on begins the so-called Miraflores Chain, last and lowest 

 section of the Cordilleras, whose culminating peak, Miraflores, scarcely exceeds 

 9,180 feet. Its eastern scarp trends south-westwards to the three peaks of La 

 Fragua (" The Forge "), whose very name would seem to suggest an igneous 

 origin, as they are figured on the old maps, although, according to Codazzi, the 

 dominant peak consists of syenite. Here terminates the Eastern Cordillera, 

 the erosion of the Amazonian affluents having left nothing but an elongated ridge, 

 under 6,000 feet high, between the Forge and the Central Cordillera. 



The Cp:ntral Cordillera. 



The central branch of the Colombian Andes is sharply limited by the course 

 of the twin rivers, Magdalena and Cauca. It often takes the names of the 

 Sierra de Quindio from the famous pass by which it is crossed about the middle of 

 the system. This central section, possessing the loftiest summits and most 

 Alpine character, should be regarded as the main range of the Andean highlands, 

 of which the Cordilleras of Suma Paz and of Choco are mere ramifications. But 

 these superb heights, with their jagged crests standing out against the blue sky, 

 are seldom visible from the terraced plateau of Bogota, except during the early 

 morning hours. After nine o'clock fleecy vapours are seen rising in the upper 

 valleys, which gradually become more dense and expansive, until the huge mass 



