Caquetá, the adjoining Comisaría, is similar in character, the higher portion a good cattle country. The animals with other products could easily be shipped down stream to Manaos, where they would command high prices. The lower section is a good rubber district; cinnamon, cacao, tagua, hides, oils, balsams, sarsaparilla, varnishes, and feathers are other products of the region.
Vaupés, the next Comisaría shares the characteristics of the low, untrodden, rainy, forest region and of the more open and agreeable lands higher up, a promising territory for the rather distant future. In the Vaupés section the rivers are of black water, near which are no mosquitoes, therefore a more healthful region. Along the rivers of white water, which are in the majority, mosquitoes are a terrible pest. The distinction generally prevails in the countries of the north coast.
North of the Amazon region is that of the llanos belonging to the Orinoco Basin. There is hardly a real watershed between the two; in a number of places channels, especially in the rainy season, connect different tributaries, besides the well known Casiquiare connection between the Orinoco and, by way of the Rio Negro, the Amazon.
The Meta Intendencia, formerly separated from Vaupés by the Guaviare, the most southern tributary of the Orinoco in Colombia, extends to the Meta River on the north. This section with some country farther north is similar to the llanos of Venezuela, chiefly grass lands of inferior quality, with patches of forest. It supports some cattle and might a great many more, although much of the pasture land is very wet in the long rainy season, and so dry in the short dry season that in many districts the grass practically disappears. The Meta River in its lower part has Venezuela on the north; higher at the northwest is the Casanare region (similar) of the Department of Boyacá. Near the Meta River are more towns, a few cattle centres, richer soil, with easier outlet to Venezuela, to which the few exports chiefly go. The forests of the section teem with deer and other animals, the rivers are full of alligators; the only entrance to Casanare safe from tribes of wild Indians is the Cravo highway from Sogamoso, an ancient town in Boyacá, where Chibcha priests once dwelt in palaces roofed with gold.
The Vichada Comisaría, so recently organized as not to appear on any map (1921), is along the Vichada River between Vaupés and Meta.
Arauca, a small Comisaría, is a part of the region north of the Meta River between Boyacá and Venezuela.
Arauca, the capital, on the river Arauca is called but three days by water (generally seven) from Ciudad Bolívar, the eastern port of Venezuela on the Orinoco.
Boyacá, west and north, except for the Casanare Province, is a Department chiefly in the tierra fria of the East Cordillera. The population is mostly Indian and mestizo, the agriculture is mainly of temperate character: wheat, barley, maize, alfalfa, potatoes. Mining is actively carried on: gold, silver, copper, iron, quicksilver, marble, have been denounced, and 157 emerald claims. Asphalt is worked; there are salt works at Chita, an old Indian town, population 11,000.
Tunja, the capital, is called a fine old city with three public libraries.
Santander del Norte, north of Santander, is also traversed by the East Cordillera. The mean temperatures vary greatly: 46° on several paramos, and 81° in the valleys of the Catatumbo and Zulia. Gold, silver, copper, lead, coal are mined. Rio de Oro, tributary to the Catatumbo, has rich auriferous deposits, and what is now of greater importance, it passes through a district rich in petroleum. The varied crops are the chief source of wealth: wheat and potatoes, coffee and cacao.