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began from that epocha to enlighten our pianel 

 during the night. Bochica, moved with com- 

 passion for those who were dispersed over the 

 mountains, broke with his powerful arm the 

 rocks that enclosed the valley, on the side of 

 Canoas and Tequendama. By this outlet he 

 drained the waters of the lake of Bogota; he built 

 towns, introduced the worship of the Sun, named 

 two chiefs, between whom he divided the civil 

 and ecclesiastical authority, and then withdrew 

 himself, under the name of Idacanzas, into the 

 holy valley of Iraca, near Tunja, where he lived 

 in the exercise of the most austere penitence for 

 the space of two thousand years. 



This Indian fable, which attributes the cata- 

 ract of Tequendama to the founder of the empire 

 of Zaque, contains a number of peculiarities, 

 which we find scattered in the religious tradi- 

 tions of several nations of the old continent. 

 The good and evil principle here seem, to be 

 personified in the old man Bochica and his wife 

 Huythaca. The remote period when the Moon 

 did not exist, reminds us of the boast of the 

 Arcadians on the antiquity of their origin. The 

 planet of the night is represented as a malignant 

 being, augmenting the humidity of the Earth ; 

 while Bochica, child of the Sun, dries the soil, 

 promotes agriculture, and becomes the benefac- 

 tor of the Muyscas, as the first Inca was that of 

 the Peruvians. 



