The province of Carthagena contains no towns of much note besides the capital. The greater part of the population is scattered on distant plantations on the plains, or in small settlements on the hills, where they are occupied in breeding cattle. The most considerable town is Mompox, situated about 110 miles south of the capital, in a very healthy country, about twenty.five miles above the junction of the rivers Magdalena and Cauca. A custom-house is established there, where the dues are paid on all goods transmitted from the city of Carthagena to the interior of the viceroyalty. The inundations at Mompox are considerable in the rainy season, the waters rising from twelve to fourteen feet above their usual level. This has induced the erection of an elevated quay, on which the custom-house stands, and is both an ornamental and useful work.
The other towns, Tolu, St Sebastian, Barancas, Santa Maria, Zamba, and Gumaco, are very in considerable, are mostly inhabited by Indian families, who, without commerce, and with little intercourse with the rest of the world, or with each other, sub sist on the productions of the fertile soil that sur rounds them.
The province of Santa Marta has, by its salubrity, beauty, and fertility, obtained in New Granada the title of the Pearl of America. It is about 300 miles in length and 200 in breadth. The greater part of the interior consists of mountains gradually rising in elevation till they ascend above the limits of perpe tual congelation. The valleys between these moun tains are refreshed with the perpetual streams that descend and the cool breezes that blow from them, so that an everlasting spring is enjoyed by the in habitants. The air, unlike that of Carthagena, has not that degree of humidity which generates fevers and leprosy, or that tends to shorten life, npr are they plagued with that innumerable phalanx of scor pions and noxious insects which form the misery of the inhabitants of the adjoining province. This pro vince was one of the earliest settlements formed on the coast of the Carribean Sea. Its founder was Alonzo de Ojeda, and his authority included Darien, Carthagena, Santa Marta, and Maracaybo, which were united under one government, and then called New Andalusia. The principal city, of the same name as the province, enjoys an excellent harbour, and is fortified with considerable attention. It is the see of a bishop, has a cathedral, several parish churches, and some convents. The inhabitants are estimated at 7000 souls, who are mostly Indians or mixtures of Creoles and Indians, but there are few whites, and of them very few are natives of Europe. The trade of the port has declined considerably of late years, the greater part of it as well as that of the other port, Rio de la Hacha, having transferred itself to Carthagena. The river Magdalena is the most important feature of the province. Numerous tributary streams descend with rapidity from the mountains, which increase its volume. In their course they have worn ravines so deep, and with banks so precipitous as to render them impassable. In order
to cross these ravines, temporary bridges are formed of a most peculiar construction. They stretch over the stream two cables twisted from the flexible roots of trees ; they are laid parallel to each other, and stretched, by means of a windlass, as tight as their great thickness and weight will permit ; over these two parallel cables, bushes, and rushes are laid to form the flooring of the bridge ; two other ropes a little above these distended cables are fixed, and form a kind of balustrade. The great weight of the cables causes them to drop in the centre, and thus form a concave semicircle. When the river is wide and the wind high, this bridge is much agitated, and swings backwards and forwards, to the no small alarm, and sometimes to the not slight danger of the passengers.
Another kind of contrivance for passing these ra pid streams is frequently adopted by passengers. Three or four thongs of leather are twisted into a species of rope, and fastened on the higher and lower banks of the river, forming an angle of descent of fifteen or sixteen degrees. The passenger is sus pended in a kind of basket, with a grove through which the rope passes, and when loosened from the higher bank descends to the lower across the stream, with such rapidity, that the friction causes sparks of fire to be elicited from the leathern rope, and some times in such quantities, as to endanger the eyes of the passenger. The Indians, who act as guides over these precipices, recommend those who are thus con ducted to keep their eyes shut during the flight, for such it may be called, over the precipice. These kind of machines are constructed near to each other, where the unequal elevation of the banks will admit of them ; one is for going, and the other for returning from one part of the country to another. The mouth of the River Magdalena forms a Del ta, which is overflowed in January and February. On this land the deposit of slime which is left creates a degree of fertility, equal to what is known in any part of the world. The productions of the valleys of Santa Marta are all the tropical fruits, especially cocoa, which is supposed to be better than in any other part of the Spanish domi nions on the eastern side of America. The hills abound with cattle, many of which are slaughtered for the sake of the hides and tallow, which form a considerable part of the export commerce of the province. The whole number of inhabitants is es timated at about 280,000 souls, the far greater part of whom are Indians, though some negroes and mulattoes are found in the plantations of sugar and coffee in the lower parts of the country. The town of Rio de la Hacha is next in importance to the ca. pital, and has the advantages of a good harbour, and a river navigable for small craft. The other towns are Cordova, Puebla-neuva, Teneriffe, Ocasia, Pue bla de la Reys, and Tamalameque, none of which are considerable, or have any productions that de serve to be particularly noticed.