BOCA DEL MONTE. 299 



I cantered for three hours, when I came to 

 Boca del Monte, a gap in the parapet of hills, 

 which, I have no doubt, once confined the 

 waters that lay here. The view from this 

 spot was highly beautiful and striking : be- 

 hind me lay the extensive plain of Bogota, 

 terminating in lofty eminences; and before 

 me was the cleft in the mountain, the sides 

 of which were covered with thick and ver- 

 dant brushwood. But to give a true descrip- 

 tion of the deep and astonishing glen, which 

 presented itself abruptly beneath my feet, is 

 utterly impossible. Its depth is three thou- 

 sand feet, and its sides are thickly covered 

 with fine trees, whose size and verdure en- 

 rich the scene ; a spiral road winds from 

 the summit to the base, down which, as far 

 as the eye could reach, were to be seen 

 mules and muleteers slowly winding their 

 way, diminished by distance to moving- 

 specks . It is impossible to see the bottom 

 of this vast abyss, (down which I was pre- 



