2 Bogota'. 



approaching traveller, by the peculiar amphi- 

 theatrical form in which the cathedral, con- 

 vents, and houses are situated ; the whole 

 being backed by the lofty mountains, on 

 whose pinnacles are convents, towering 1000 

 feet above the town itself, which, extending 

 from North to South, covers about a mile in 

 length, from the extreme boundaries, and 

 about half a mile in breadth in the widest 

 part ; the ends tapering off into nearly single 

 houses. On account of this great elevation, 

 although the situation is so near the equator, 

 the atmosphere is so rarefied, that it becomes 

 for some time exceedingly oppressive to 

 strangers, who are obliged, whilst walking, 

 to stop frequently to recover their breath, 

 and are unable to proceed, until respi- 

 ration becomes more free — a feeling which 

 1 experienced myself in a great degree. 

 But this is not the least serious inconve- 

 nience of the climate ; for travellers, arriv- 

 ing here by the Magdalena, (a more general 



