180 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



distinguished by its vigorous constitution, intelligence, and shrewdness in business 

 matters. No other section of the Colombian nation has increased more rapidly, 

 havino- risen from about lOD.OOO at the close of the last century to over 

 1,000,000 in 1892, despite the numerous emigrants to every part of the republic. 

 Should they continue to increase at the present rate, the Antioquians will con- 

 stitute the chief section of the Colombian population long before the close of the 

 twentieth century- 



In many respects the Socorrans, who occupy the Santander uplands, show a 

 marked resemblance to the Catalanians. Like them, they are extremely thrifty, 

 laborious, usually taciturn, skilful tillers of poor land, and clever craftsmen. Like 

 the Antioquians also, they emigrate in considerable numbers, founding little 

 agricultural settlements in various districts, or seeking employment on the coffee 

 plantations of Cucuta and elsewhere. 



On the Atlantic and Pacific coastlands the negro element has held its ground, 

 and even increased at the expense of other races in the struggle for existence. 

 Certain pursuits, such as those of bargemen, stevedores and day labourers, are 

 almost monopolised by the Sambos, as all half-breeds are called in whom black 

 blood is dominant. 



ToPOG RAPHY. 



Although the Rio Magdalena is the great artery of the republic, its main 

 commercial highway as well as the natural link between the various provinces, its 

 basin is still but sparsely peopled. 8o far from having recovered the teeming 

 populations which it possessed at the time of the Conquest, it oflfers, after three 

 centuries of Spanish occupation, more ruins than flourishing cities. Most of its 

 towns and villages had even to be rebuilt after the wars of extermination which 

 ended in the destruction of the Andaqui, Yalcones, and Pijaos Indians. 



San Agusttn — Timana — ISTeiva — Fusagasuga. 



San Agustin, most elevated town in the Magdalena valley (5,360 feet), lies 

 in a secluded corner of a vast territory where the Andaqui formerly assembled 

 for their religious celebrations. From the still extant remains of a temple, 

 converted by treasure-hunters into a mass of shapeless ruins, it may be inferred 

 that the structure consisted of a huge basalt slab resting on pillars and 

 masking an underground recess. Coarse sculptures, representing human 

 and animal figures — amongst them that of the frog, one of the commonest 

 idols in the North Andean regions — occur at intervals, forming so many 

 stations, at which the pilgrims stopped to recite some prescribed formulas. 

 The ruins date prabably from an epoch anterior to that of the Muysca 

 civilisation. 



Some six miles east of San Agustin, in the opposite direction to the temple and 

 line of idols, is situated the so-called Llano de la Matanza (" Field of Slaughter ") 

 where a multitude of Andaqui were butchered by the Spaniards, who were thus 



