64 



swell of the torrents, they find themselves so cir- 

 cumstanced, that they can descend neither on 

 the side of Carthago, nor that of Ibague. The 

 highest point of the road, the Garito del Paramo, 

 is three thousand five hundred and five metres 

 above the * level of the sea. As the foot of the 

 mountain, towards the banks of the Cauca, is 

 only nine hundred and sixty metres, the climate 

 there is in general mild and temperate. The 

 pathway, which forms the passage of the Cor- 

 dilleras, is only three or four decimetres in 

 breadth, and has the appearance in several places 

 of a gallery dug, and left open to the sky. In 

 this part of the Andes, as almost in every other, 

 the rock is covered with a thick stratum of clay. 

 The streamlets, which flow down the mountains, 

 have hollowed out gullies six or seven metres 

 deep. Along these crevices, which are full of 

 mud, the traveller is forced to grope his passage; 

 the darkness of which is increased by the thick 

 vegetation, that covers the opening above. The 

 oxen, which are the beasts of burden commonly 

 made use of in this country, can scarcely force 

 their way through these galleries, some of which 

 are two thousand metres in length ; and if per- 

 chance the traveller meets them in one of these 

 passages he finds no means of avoiding them, 

 but by turning back, and climbing the earthen 

 wall, which borders the crevice, and keeping 



