THE MULE ROAD AND GUADUAS. 



83 



some thirty yards in width ; and a few hundred yards above, a 

 second and smaller stream comes in. Between these there is a 

 comparatively level terrace which widens considerably as one goes 

 back from the river, and on this and along the river-shore the town 

 is built. 



We reached Honda about five, and went at once to the best hotel, 

 a very neat one kept by two Englishmen, Messrs. Bowden and Will- 

 cox. It Avas a positive luxury, after being cramped up on the 

 steamer for so many days, to get into a clean and spacious room, to 

 find cots with clean sheets, and above all to have clean and appetiz- 

 ing food. After seeing that Alice was comfortably fixed, Cabell 

 and I went out to call upon our consul, Mr. Henry Hallam, and to 

 take a look at the town. We did not find Mr. Hallam, but at his 

 office was a cablegram, sent from New York the preceding day, 

 saying that all were well at home. 



The town is not of much size, and offers nothing of especial 

 interest. It is said to be the hottest place on the river, and deserves 

 its reputation. It is shut in by the parched and baked mountains, 

 and the few breezes that stir feel like blasts of hot air from a fur- 

 nace. The houses are of the usual type, some thatched, some tiled. 

 Through the enterprise of Mr. Hallam, water has lately been 

 brought into the town. This gentleman has also established a line 

 of wagons running westward to Mariquita over the terraces of the 

 valley of the Guali. I mention this as wheeled vehicles are prac- 

 tically unknown throughout the interior of Colombia. I was told 

 that the muddiness of the Gauli was due to the hydraulic working 

 of gold mines near its head-waters. This river was in former times 

 spanned near its mouth by a ponderous masonry bridge of two 

 arches, but this was destroyed by the earthquake of 1805, and now 

 there is a fair iron bridp^e thrown across from the old abutments, 

 and a short distance above there is a second brido^e of wood. In 

 the upper members of this iron bridge several large swallows 

 had their nests. The centre pier of the original bridge remains, 

 twisted to one side, and leaning up-stream. There are in the 



