TOPOGRAPHY OF COLOMBIA. 



197 



PoPAYAN — Santander — Palmira — Manizales — Pacora. 



Near the source of the Cauca, or western Magdalena, stands the famous city 

 of Fopayan, the " learned," the " noble," the birthplace of more illustrious 

 citizens than any other place in the republic. Popaj^an, capital of the province 

 of Cauca, presents from a distance an imposing view, its houses, domes, and 

 towers standing on the gently inclined slope of a cultivated tract, traversed by a 

 copious stream which falls in a series of cascades down to the Cauca. South- 

 wards is developed an amphitheatre of hills, crowned by the superb cones of 

 Sotara and Purace. 



Popayan lies within the temperate zone at an altitude of nearly 5,900 feet, 

 with a mean temperature of from 62° to 64* Fahr. The old Indian settlement 

 of the cacique Payan occupied a part of the ground where the followers of 

 Belalcazar founded the Spanish town in 1536. Under the colonial rule ft became 

 a thriving colony, thanks to its gold-mines and various privileges ; but after the 



Fig. 76.— Popayan and Guanacas Pass. 

 Scale 1 : 900,000. 



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political emancipation of Colombia it suffered more from the civil wars than any 

 other city in the republic, the aristocratic character of its leading families making 

 it the chief centre of conservative interests. Its progress was also arrested by 

 earthquakes, especially that of 1827, and the local industries are now reduced to 

 the production of coarse woollen fabrics. 



Popayan has the advantage of being situated on the natural highway leading 

 from Quito to Bogota ; but it still lacks easy communication with the Pacific, 

 either by the Patia valley or, better still, by a road leading across the Cordillera 

 down to the Rio Micai. The Pitayo hills, north-east of Popayan, formerly abounded 

 in quinquina- trees, and according to Stiibel and Blake White, the air of the district 

 contains an extraordinar}'- proportion of ozone. 



Some 60 miles below Popayan the picturesque town of Santander stands on 

 the site of the old Indian settlement of Qnilichao, between the Cauca and the 

 Quindio range. Beyond it follows Cali, which is at present the largest place in 

 the province, and which has long outstripped the capital, thanks to its better 



