79 
not only with the aralia, the alstonia theDeforinis^ 
the begonia^ and the yellow bark-tree (cinchona 
cordifolia), but with oaks^ with ehns^ and other 
plants, the growth of which recalls to his mind 
the vegetation of Europe ; when suddenly he 
discovers as from a terrace, and at his feet, a 
country producing the palm, the banana, and 
the sugar cane. The crevice into which the Rio 
de Bogota throws itself communicating with the 
plains of the warm region (tierra caliente), a 
few palm trees have sprung up at the foot of the 
cataract. This particular circumstance leads 
the inhabitants of Santa Fe to observe, that the 
cataract of the Tequendama is so high, that the 
water falls in one bound, from a cold ( tierra fria ) 
into a warm country. We are sensible, that 
a difference of one hundred and seventy-five 
metres of height is too inconsiderable, to have 
much influence on the temperature of the air ; 
and it is not on account of the height of the soil, 
that the vegetation of the plain of Canoas con- 
trasts with that of the ravine. If the rock of 
Tequendama, which is a gritstone with a clayey 
basis, were not quite perpendicular ; and if the 
elevated plain of Canoas were sheltered like the 
crevice, the palm trees, which flourish at the 
foot of the cataract, would have pushed their 
migrations to the upper level of the river. The 
appearance of this vegetation is so much the 
more interesting to the inhabitants of the valley 
