The natural bridges of Icononzo are most extraor dinary exhibitions of the effects of the greater con vulsions of nature. The small torrent called Rio de in summa Paz falls from the eastern chain of the Andes, and would be impassible but for these natu ral bridges. A crevice, probably formed by an earthquake, receives this torrent in the valley of Pandi ; and within the crevice are formed two beau tiful cascades ; over the top of the upper cascade, the enormous rocks have been so thrown together, as to support each other on the principle of the arch. This arch, thus formed by nature, is forty-eight feet in length, forty-two feet m breadth, its thickness, in the centre, is seven feet. This bridge is about three hundred and twenty feet above the torrent, and the water, in the stream, is about twenty feet deep. About sixty feet below this, another similar bridge has been formed much resembling it ; three enor mous masses of rock have fallen so as to support each other ; that in the centre forms the key of this natural arch. The torrent appears to flow through a dark natural cavern, where arises a melancholy noise, caused by the flight of numberless birds which haunt the crevice, and appear like bats of a most unusual size. Thousands of them are seen fly ing over the surface of the water, and they appear as large as a fowl. It is not possible to take them on account of the depth of the fissure, and they can only be examined by throwing down torches to illu minate the sides of the crevice.
The city of Santa Fe de Bogota is the capital of the province of Santa Fe, as well as of the viceroyal ty of New. Granada. It is on the plain before no ticed, 8700 feet above the level of the sea. The thermometer sometimes, though but rarely, descends to the freezing point, and the temperature is, in ge neral, remarkably equable. It is a handsome well built city. It contains four squares, which are con nected by wide and regular streets ; two small rivers run through it, over which five handsome bridges are constructed. The public buildings are sump tuous, particularly the cathedral and the palace of the viceroy. It contains several handsome churches, eight convents, four nunneries, a royal mint, a hospital, and a university, in which several of the professors, as well as their pupils, have ac quired considerable celebrity. The inhabitants are estimated at 35,000 ; they are, in general, in a state of mediocrity, possessing lands in the province, and some are occupied in the more common manufacto ?ies, but it is not a place of extensive trade. The country around the capital is thickly studded with farms and cottages, the industry of the inhabitants is considerable, and it is principally exercised in agriculture, by which they obtain abundant crops of every species of grain, and usually have two har vests in the year Next to Santa F6 de Bogota, the most considerable town is Honda, which is on the banks of the river Magdalena, and is the principal port. Vessels of larger size can reach this town, than are capable of ascending higher, though the -river is navigable for smaller boats to a considerable distance upwards. This place, from being the point
where an alteration in the size of the vessels be comes necessary, has become an entrepot, where -goods are deposited, and is the residence of some opulent merchants.
Mariquita is dignified with the name of a city, has a cathedral and a bishop. It was, when the gold mines of Bocanime and San Juan de Cordova, and the silver mines of Loxes and Frias, were extensive ly worked, a place of more importance than it now is, but the declension of the mines has caused the declension of the city, and the inhabitants are not now more than 1500.
San Gil is a flourishing town, principally inha bited by Creoles, but the district around it has vil lages wholly peopled with Indians. Socorro is an other town at a short distance from San Gil ; the cir cumstances of both are the same ; they are in a healthy climate, and the population has rapidly in creased. They, however, deserve notice, principal ly from having been the seats of the insurrections which broke out in 1781 and in 1797. The inha bitants of these districts, in the first mentioned pc.
Hod, rose to resist a new militia law, which was very unpopular throughout the viceroyalty. They were in confederacy with some inhabitants of the capital, who, at the same time, discovered strong re. volutionary symptoms, and assembled in great crowds. As the inhabitants of Gil and Socorro ad vanced towards the capital, and expected its support, the Archbishop, preceded by the host, addressed the populace, and, by the influence of religion, dispersed them. Thus the people of the provinces, disap pointed in their expectation of support, were com pelled to retrace their steps. They were followed by some troops, who attacked and defeated them. A few were punished, and the insurrection was quelled. In 1797, similar demonstrations were ex hibited by the people of Gil and Socorro, on ac count of new regulations in the law for the exten sion of the monopoly of tobacco. The plan was bet ter projected, and was rather combined with the new principles of government which had recently been developed in France, and which some of the younger men had imbibed. It was, however, counteracted by the vigilance of the viceroy, and, without any se rious tumult, was suppressed. The revolutionary leaders were either imprisoned or made their escape ; of the latter many repaired to France, some to the United States of America, and some to England, and from thence were afterwards collected by General Miranda, the subordinate agent employed by him to revolutionize Spanish America. They composed a part of the force with which he landed at Coro, in his ill-timed and unfortunate expedition. The po pulation of these towns has exhibited an increase equal to what has been remarked in the most rapid ly rising districts of the United States of America, having doubled twice between the year 1781 and 1811.