55 
man. Their naked and barren summits present 
the most picturesque contrast with the tufts of 
trees and shrubs, which cover the brinks of the 
crevice. The small torrent, which has made 
itself a passage through the valley of Icononzo, 
is called Rio de la Summa Paz, and fails from 
the eastern chain of the Andes, which, in the 
kingdom of New Grenada, divides the basin of 
the river Magdalena from the vast plains of the 
Meta, the Guaviare, and the Orinoco. This 
torrent confined in a bed almost inaccessible, 
could not have been crossed but with extreme 
difficulty, if nature had not provided two bridges 
of rocks, which are justly considered in the 
country as among the objects most worthy the 
attention of travellers. In the month of Sep- 
tember, 1891, we passed these natural bridges of 
Icononzo, on our journey from Santa Fe de 
Bogota to Popayan and Quito. 
The name of Icononzo is that of an ancient 
village of the Muysco Indians, situate at the 
southern extremity of the valley, of which 
only a few scattered huts now remain. The 
nearest inhabited place to this remarkable spot 
is the small village of Pandi, or Mercadillo, at 
the distance of a quarter of a league toward the 
north-east. The road from Santa Fe to Fusa- 
gasuga, (lat. 4° 20' 21" north ; long. 5^ 7 ' 14"), 
and thence to Pandi, is one of the most difficult 
and least frequented to be found in the Cordii- 
