78 



appears to have been formed by an earthquake, 

 js only ten or twelve metres wide. In very dry 

 seasons, the volume of water, which, at a double 

 bound, falls to a depth of a hundred and seventy- 

 five metres, still presents a side view of ninety 

 square metres. The two figures of men, repre- 

 sented in the drawing, serve as a scale of the 

 total height of the fall. The point where these 

 men are placed, on the upper bank, is two thou- 

 sand four hundred and sixty-seven metres above 

 the level of the ocean. From this point to the 

 river Magdalena, the small river of Bogota, 

 called at the foot of the cataract Rio de la 

 Mesa, Rio de Tocayma, or Rio del Collegio, 

 has still a fall of two thousand one hundred 

 metres, which is more than one hundred and 

 forty metres in every common French league. 



The road, which leads from the town of Santa 

 Fe to the fall of Tequendama, passes by the 

 village of Suacha, and the great farm of Canoas, 

 well known for its fine crops of wheat. The 

 enormous mass of vapours, which continually 

 rises from the cataract, and which is precipi- 

 tated by its contact with the cold air, contributes 

 much, it is believed, to the great fertility of this 

 part of the plain of Bogota. At a small distance 

 from Canoas, on the height of Chipa, a magni- 

 ficent prospect astonishes the traveller by the 

 variety of its contrasts. Leaving the cultivated 

 plain rich in corn, he finds himself surrounded, 



