FALL OF TEQUENDAMA. 181 



she was very beautiful, very malevolent, and 

 overturned every thing Bochica attempted; 

 by her magic she sv^elled the rivers and 

 overflowed the plain, so that the people, 

 with the exception of a few who escaped 

 to the mountains, perished in the waters. 

 Bochica, exasperated at her conduct, drove 

 Chia from the earth, and she became the 

 moon. He then, by the mighty force of his 

 arm, broke a passage through the encircling 

 Cordilleras, and constituted the Fall of Te- 

 quendama, by which means the lake formed 

 by Chia was drained, and the plain of 

 Bogota rendered more fertile and beautiful 

 than it had been before." 



The appearance of the plain of Bogota 

 at this moment justifies the tradition of its 

 having been formerly a lake : low summits 

 appear here and there like islets ; and the 

 whole extent is rendered marshy by the 

 numerous streams which cross it in every 

 direction. 



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