The other rivers whose copious streams water this favoured country are the Julia and the Catatumbo, which discharge themselves into the Gulf of Mara caybo ; the Pedral or Sogamoso, and the Suarez, which run into the Magdalena and the Casanare ; the Apure, and a multitude of smaller streams, which, in Europe, would be considered important rivers, that discharge their waters by the channel of the Meta into the Orinoco.
Europeans, accustomed to behold the constant suc cession of seasons, can scarcely believe that, in the midst of the torrid zone, which they suppose to be visited with the eternal ardours of a burning sun, all the fruits of our climate can be produced in their fullest perfection at all periods. The succession of flowers, of fruits, and of pastures, is constant ; and, within the same horizon, they may be seen budding, flowering, and bearing ripened and unripened fruits at the same time. Even the same tree may be seen in flower, with green and with ripe fruits, without any sensible declension in its vegetative faculties being perceived to arise from this constant reproduc tion. Although vegetation is constant through the whole of the new kingdom, there is a considerable difference arising from the influence of climate, which is created by the various bendings and aspects of the mountains, by the height of the station, the winds which prevail, and other local circumstances. We may experience the temperatures of all the cli mates of the world within the compass of a few their various productions may all be ted within the same limited space.
The parts of the country which are on the sea coast experience great heat, but much tempered by the sea breezes in the day, and by the land winds at night, which latter,•blowmg from the cold and often snowy mountains, convey a coolness that is both re freshing to the senses, and salutary to the constitu tion. In the wet or warm season, at Carthagena, Santa Marta, and Maracaybo, Fahrenheit's thermo meter varies from 85 to 90, and seldom rises higher than 94 ; and the degree of heat is nearly the same every where at the foot of the Cordilleras. In as cending the mountains, the thermometer gradually descends to the lowest point of congelation. A little
below this point of congelation, nature seems to have lavished her bounties, by bestowing extensive plains of perpetual verdure, watered with innumerable rivu lets, which descend from the snowy mountains most copiously at the warmest seasons, when they are most needed, and most beneficial.
The breadth of the Cordilleras is generally about 160 miles, and in no part much less than 100. There is, consequently, a sufficient portion of that moderate elevation and temperature which best comports with ' the subsistence and health of man. These positions are called by the inhabitants cold lands, to distinguish them from the tropical climates which are at the foot of the Cordilleras. The temperature varies but little. In a course of observations made daily for two years, at Santa Fe de Bogota, the thermometer never descended below 59, and never ascended more than three degrees above that point, in an apart-. meet, the windows of which were always open. The greatest depression was in the months of June, July, and August, and the greatest elevation in January, February, and March. The city of Santa Fe is about 8700 feet above the level of the sea. The districts of Tunja, Pamplona, Merida, and Timana, are at nearly the same height ; whilst Popayan is about two thousand feet lower. These are by far the most po pulous portions of New Granada, and what we re mark of their productions will apply equally to all, with the exception of those parts which are at the foot of the mountains, in what is properly denomi nated by the inhabitants the hot countries.
From the equality of temperature, and from the abundant means of irrigation which the melted snow from• the mountains produces, the vegetative power continues in equal operation during the whole year. As the leaves fall from the trees, new ones are con stantly shooting forth, so that a superficial observer would suppose no change took place. The meadows are covered with an unvarying verdure, composed of grasses of great variety, and of odoriferous plants, which produce most rapid improvement in the cattle sent from the lower countries to be fattened on them.