150 SOUTH AMEEICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



belongs to another submarine bank, apparently connected with the Galapagos 

 Archipelago, and separated from Cocos by abysses of 1,700 fathoms. 



E.IVERS or Colombia — The Magdalkna. 



The Magdalena, main fluvial artery of Colombia, and fourth river of South 

 America in volume, belongs entirely to the Andean system. Its two chief 

 branches rise and are developed between two Cordilleras, and all its affluents come 

 from the rearion of the Andes. Its main trend is also in the direction from 

 south to north, that is, in a line with the longitudinal axis of the Cordilleras. 



The farthest headstream has its source in the Colombia mass between the 

 two loftiest groups of volcanoes — Puracé in the north, and Las Animas in the 

 south. After collecting various torrents from the lacustrine Paramo del Buey 

 plateau, the Magdalena plunges suddenly some 300 feet through a series of rapids 

 down to the confluence of the Suaza, by M'hich its volume is nearly doubled. 

 Here the mainstream is already 8 or 10 feet deep, with some navigable reaches, 

 although still 6,230 feet above sea-level. Regular steam navigation may be 

 said to begin at Neiva, although steamers usually stop at the confluence of 

 the Saldaiia, which descends from the Central Cordillera, and which increases by 

 one- third the normal discharge. 



Above Girardot, where it is deflected west by north bj'^ the escarpments of 

 the Bogota plateau, the Magdalena is joined b}^ the Fusagasuga (Suma Paz) 

 and the Bogota, both remarkable for the wild grandeur of their old lacustrine 

 valleys. After traversing an elevated terrace, of which the capital occupies one 

 extremity, the Bogota, here better known as the Funza, flows sluggishly in a 

 slightly inclined bed, overflowing its banks, and flooding the riverine marshes 

 during the rainy season. But on reaching the edge of the plateau a little 

 below Bogota, it is precipitated 475 feet over the Tequendama Falls into a rocky 

 chasm, clothed with a rich tropical vegetation, and usually shrouded in mist. 

 A marvellous spectacle is presented at this point, where 4,250 cubic feet of water 

 per second are discharged in a single column three times higher than Niagara. 

 Below the falls the stream rushes wildly over a succession of rapids to its 

 junction with the Magdalena, descending in this short space of about 60 miles 

 a total incline of 5,830 feet. 



Immediately below the confluence the Magdalena becomes entangled in a 

 rocky gorge 430 feet wide, now crossed by an iron bridge. Between Girardot 

 and Honda the fluvial level is lowered, with a tolerably uniform incline, from 

 920 to 650 feet. But at Pescaderias, near Honda, the stream enters a series of 

 dangerous falls and rapids, practically interrupting the navigation for a distance 

 of 15 miles. Hence a railway has been constructed on the west (left) bank to 

 facilitate the communications between the upper and middle Magdalena, the total 

 vertical incline at these Honda gorges being 116 feet. 



Farther on the stream still maintains a somewhat torrential aspect as far as 

 the junction of the Rio Nare, contracting at the Carare Narrows to a channel 

 410 feet wide, hemmed in by rocky walls on both sides. During the floods, when 



