14 BOGOTA'. 



There is another disorder which is not 

 mortal, but which is widely spread through 

 Colombia ; that of the goitres. It deforms a 

 great part of the population, destroys the 

 beauty of the fair sex ; it weakens the senses, 

 and sometimes the understandings of those 

 affected by it : it makes the children weakly, 

 and frequently idiots. This disorder chiefly 

 prevails in the temperate valleys, although 

 the inhabitants of the frozen summits of thfe 

 mountains are not exempt from it ; nor those 

 who dwell in the burning plains of the Mag- 

 dalena, of the Meta, of the Apure, and of 

 other similarly situated rivers. 



The disorder of the goitres, which, accord- 

 ing to the concurring observations of the 

 oldest men, daily extends wider its gloomy 

 empire, and which may become a national 

 disease, demands the most serious considera- 

 tion of the legislative body, in order to res- 

 train its progress. The government is of 



