TOPOGEAPHY OF COLOMBIA. 187 



stitution. The Tocaima vines yield a grape of exquisite flavour, but useless for 

 making wine, owing to the high temperature of these bottom-lands, which stand 

 at an elevation of little over 1,650 feet. 



Girardot, terminal station of the railway on the Magdalena, lies immediately 

 below the two confluences of the Fusagasuga and Bogota. It is a modern place, 

 which has suddenly acquired some importance, thanks to the railway and to an iron 

 bridge, 430 feet long, which spans the mainstream at the Flandes gorge, and 

 which is utilised for most of the traffic between the capital and the province of 

 Tolima. 



Ibagiie, second city in the province, stands at an altitude of 4,270 feet, on a 

 fertik plain encircled by the spurs of the Tolima volcano and traversed by the 

 Rio Combeima, which joins the Magdalena at Coello. Eastwards stretch the arid 

 lava- fields, which are separated from the mainstream by the rocky rampart of the 

 volcanic crests of Gualanday. Although Ibague neglects its silver-mines and 

 sulphur-beds, it does a brisk trade as a chief depot between the Cauca and Magda- 

 lena valleys. The outlet of this traffic on the latter river is Giiaiaquisito, opposite 

 Guataqui, starting point of the route ascending in the direction of Tocaima and 

 La Mesa. 



Am balema — Honda — Mariquita. 



Ambalema, one of the chief towns of the department of Tolima, is a modern 

 place, founded in 1780 on the left bank of the Magdalena at the confluence of the 

 Recio. The tobacco formerly grown in this district was regarded as the finest 

 in Colombia, and was exported in large quantities to the Bremen market. But it 

 was attacked by a blight which reduced both the quantity and quality, so that 

 the Tolima plantations were no longer able to compete with those of other 

 regions, such as Java and Sumatra. 



Some 60 miles below Ambalema, and on the same side of the Magdalena, stands 

 the town of IToi/da, so named from the " depth " of the stream above the rapids. 

 Honda, which is one of the historical cities of Colombia, served in colonial times 

 as the general depot for all goods imported from Cartagena by the Magdalena 

 route for Bogota, Popayan, and other inland places. The Guali torrent, which 

 reaches the mainstream above the rapids, and which is crossed by several bridges, 

 divides the town into two quarters — one on the right side, founded by the Con- 

 quistadores, but overthrown by the earthquake of 1805 ; the other on the left side, 

 of recent origin. In the old town the ruined houses occupy as much space as those 

 still standing, and the population has fallen from 20,000 to about 5,000. Nor is 

 there much prospect of a revival, as the so-called Dorada railway, which turns 

 the rapids, has had the natural consequence of shifting the position of the depots. 

 This line, some 12 miles long, receives at the inconvenient port of Las Yegiias the 

 goods brought up by steamer, and conveys them to the terminal station of Arranca- 

 Plumas, above the rapids. From this place, which lies opposite Fescaderias, they 

 are forwarded by pack-animals pending the construction of other lines up the 

 escarpments of the Bogota plateau. The Dorada line itself is also to be continued 



