194 



SOUTH AMEEICA— THE ANDES EEGIONS. 



whicli takes its name from the industrial town of Savjil {Sail Gil), where are 

 manufactured coarse fabrics, hammocks, and agricultural implements, besides 

 sua:ar and brandy in sufficient quantities to meet the local demand. Some 2,620 

 feet above Sanjil stands Aratoca, while the terrace enclosed by the beds of the 

 Suarez and Sogamoso is occupied by Baricham, a place of pilgrimage, which had 

 its origin in 1751 in a shapeless block mistaken by a shepherd of the district for 

 an imao-e of the Virgin. Farther north follows Zapatoca, perched on a platform 

 4,120 feet above a suspension bridge which here crosses the Sogamoso. 



Zapatoca and neighbouring villages are the last groups of habitations in the 



Fig. 74. — SOCOREO, BUCARAMANGA AND SoGAMOSO GoEGES. 

 Scale 1 ; 1,000,000. 





iP ^"PA^"A''IG^ 



/ 





West oF ureenwich 



73° 



18 MUea. 



Sogamoso valley, for here begin the great forests where nothing is to be seen, 

 except at long intervals a solitary woodman's or boatman's hut. The gloomy 

 solitudes of the lower Sogamoso merge in those of the Eio Magdalena, which is 

 here fringed by swamps, lagoons, false rivers, and backwaters. 



Some 30 miles below the Sogamoso confluence the right bank of the Mag- 

 dalena is occupied by the little riverine port of Faturia, which was founded in 

 1867, and which still awaits the construction of the projected railway to become 

 a busy centre of traffic. At this point the Magdalena communicates by a lateral 

 channel with the Eio Lebrija and a system of inland lagoons affording navigable 



