100 THE CAUCA. 



fire-arms, which I always kept under my 

 head, and called to the bogas to know what 

 caused the sounds I heard. They said it 

 was only alligators plunging into the water 

 in search of prey. They considered the 

 place so safe that they were sleeping on 

 their mats covered with their toldos. 



9th. Rose at five. At eight I passed the 

 river Cauca, which joins the Magdalena a 

 league below the little village of Pinto. 

 The Cauca appeared as broad as the Mag- 

 dalena, and winds far into the country. It 

 rises in the Sierra Nevada, in the district 

 of Popayan, and runs on the west side of 

 the Cordillera of Quindia, nearly parallel 

 with the Magdalena, which flows on the east 

 side. — At Pinto, procured stock to continue 

 our journey, which we did, breakfasting in 

 the canoe to save time, and cooking in the 

 stern of the vessel by lighting a fire in the 

 midst of a box filled with sand, and placed 



