64 
swell of the torrents, they find themselves so cir- 
cumstanced, that they can descend neither on 
the side of Carthago, nor that of Ibague. Tlie 
highest point of the road, the.Garito del Paramo, 
is three thousand five hundred and five metres 
above the level of the sea. As the foot of the 
mountain, towards the banks of the Cauca, is 
only nine hundred and sixty metres, the climate 
there is in general mild and temperate. The 
pathway, which forms the passage of the Cor- 
dilleras, is only three or four decimetres in 
breadth, and has the appearance in several places 
of a gallery dug, and left open to the sky. In 
this part of the Andes, as almost in every other, 
the rock is covered with a thick stratum of clay. 
The streamlets, which flow down the mountains, 
have hollowed out gullies six or seven metres 
deep. Along these crevices, which are full of 
mud, the traveller is forced to grope his passage; 
the darkness of which is increased by the thick 
vegetation, that covers the opening above. The 
oxen, which are the beasts of burden commonly 
made use of in this country, can scarcely force 
their way through these galleries, some of which 
are two thousand metres in length ; and if per- 
chance the traveller meets them in one of these 
passages he finds no means of avoiding them, 
but by turning back, and climbing the earthen 
wall, which borders the crevice, and keeping 
