TOPOGEAPHY OF COLOMBIA. 183 



Cundinamarca and of the whole of Colombia. Hundreds of millions of cubic j^ards 

 of salt are contained in the neighbouring rocks, which overlie a slaty sandstone 

 with saline springs, yielding about two -thirds of the salt consumed in the 

 republic; in 1888 over 20,000 tons of salt, valued at £80,000, were derived from 

 this source. Unfortunately this salt, unlike most of that obtained from the 

 Antioquian springs, contains no iodine, so that goitre has been developed and 

 rapidly increased amongst certain communities using the Zipaquira article. 



FuHza, capital of the southern Muyscas at the time of the Conquest, had at that 

 epoch a probable population of 100,000, for Jimenez de Quesada calculated that 

 it contained 20,000 cabins. At present it is an obscure village, although for a 

 time chosen as the capital of the State of Cundinamarca. Before the ojjening of 

 the railway on which it forms a station midway between Bogota and Facatativa, it 

 had even been abandoned by the main highway, travellers usually alighting at the 

 neighbouring inn of Cuatro Esquinas. 



Funza stood originally in the middle of the level plain between the Rio Funza 

 audits tributary, the Serrezuela. Butin 1538 Quesada chose another site 12 miles 

 to the south-east, beyond the Hio Funza at the foot of the Eastern Cordillera, 

 where was situated the Indian village of Teusaquillo. Under the Spanish rule 

 Bncata {Muequeta), an alternative name for Funza, was transferred to Santa Fé, as 

 Quesada had called his new settlement. Hence the expression, Santa Fé de Bogota, 

 or simply Bogota, by which the place is now officially known. 



No other South American state has selected for its capital a city so far 

 removed from the seaboard, and consequently left more entirely to its own 

 resources. To this circumstance are largel}' due the peculiar features by 

 which the historic evolution of Colombia is distinguished. Lying in the 

 cold zone at an altitude of 8,680 feet, on a bleak plain growing no trees 

 except the apple and the willow, Bogota rises eastwards on the lower slopes 

 of the Guadalupe (10,580) and Monserrate (10,290) heights, which stand nearly 

 at the same elevation as the neighbouring cordillera. The city is divided 

 into several distinct quarters by two affluents of the Funza, which during the 

 rainy season are often transformed to raging torrents. In the central square 

 stands the statue of the " Liberator," surrounded by the chief public build- 

 ings, whence the main thoroughfares radiate in all directions. The " Martyrs' 

 Column " commemorates the fate of about a hundred Colombians, shot by the 

 Spaniards in 1816. 



Besides the university, founded in 1867, and already the best institution of the 

 kind in the Andean region north of Chili, Bogota possesses a valuable library of 

 over 50,000 volumes, an observatory founded by Mutis, a fine-arts institute, a 

 picture-gallery, a herbarium, and other collections. The city is expanding con- 

 siderably, especially westwards and northwards in the direction of Fontiboii, and 

 of Chapinero, a popular holiday resort. 



Owing to the absence of easy communications Bogota has developed few 

 industries beyond those needed to supply the more urgent local wants. Before 

 the year 1836 it took three long days' journey to traverse the short but difficult 



