TOPOGEAPHY OF COLOMBIA. 



193 



valleys. Despite the difficult approaches Yelez has prospered, and is now scarcely- 

 inferior in size to the capital of the province. Near JLa Paz, 12 miles farther 

 north, occurs the curious Hoi/o del Aire (" Air-Hole "), a pit 390 feet deep and 

 over half a mile round, which appears to have been formed by the surface strata 

 sinking into underground chasms. 



Socorro, capital of Santander, lies at a height of 4,120 feet, on a sloping 

 terrace rising in steep escarpments above the Suarez, which flows 2,000 feet 

 below. Socorro, which was removed in 1681 to its present unhealthy position 



Fig. 73. — Chiquinquiea and Lake op Fitqttene. 

 Scale 1 : 280,000. 



; • ••% ,bL.3 h 



74-14' 



nest oF Greenwich 74° 4- 



6 Miles. 



from the site of the old Indian settlement of Guame, is one of the chief cities of 

 the republic. Here began the revolutionary movement in 1781, when Maria- 

 An tonia Vargas broke the royal escutcheon, tore down the edict proclaiming 

 fresh taxes, and rallied to the standard of revolt the first band of comuneros, 

 forgotten precursors of the Bolivars, Sucres, Santanders, and other heroes of the 

 War of Independence. 



South-west of Socorro a less elevated terrace is occupied by Simacota, which 

 was long famous for its so-called " volcano," the smoke of which, rising above a 

 neighbouring gorge, is caused by a mass of coal and pyrites in a state of com- 

 bustion. Farther north the Suarez is joined below Socorro by the Rio Sanjil, 

 14 



