[6] Prehistoric America, p. 460, London, 1885. [↑]
[7] It is saying more than the facts will warrant to assert, as does Ameghino, that “En Nueva Granada las inscripciones geroglificas se encuentran a cada paso”—that hieroglyphic inscriptions are found everywhere. Cf. his La Antiguedad del Hombre, Vol. I, p. 92. [↑]
[8] Los Chibchas antes de la Conquista Española, p. 176, Bogotá, 1895. Cf. also El Dorado, Estudio Historico, Etnografico y arqueologico de los Chibchas, Habitantes de la Antigua Cundinamarca y de Algunas Otras Tribus, por el Doctor Liborio Zerda, Bogotá, 1883, and Nouvelle Géographic Universelle, par Elisée Reclus, Tom. XVIII, pp. 292 et seq., Paris, 1893. [↑]
[9] Chap. I, New York, 1877. [↑]
[10] Compare Fiske, op. cit., Vol. I, Chap. I. [↑]
[11] Crossing a mountain range like the Oriental Cordilleras, is not, as is so frequently imagined, a gradual and uninterrupted ascent to the summit, and then a similar continuous descent to its base. Far from it. It is literally an ever-recurring journey “up the hill and down the dale,” from the foothills on one side of the range to the foothills on the other. The accompanying diagram from Karsten’s Géologie de l’Ancienne Colombie Bolivarienne, gives a good idea of the eastern range of the Andes along our route from the Meta to the Magdalena. [↑]
[12] Commonly called “chaps.” [↑]
[13] Notwithstanding the statements, frequently made by travelers, about their mules climbing roads inclined at angles varying from 30° to 45°, it can safely be affirmed that the maximum angle is but little, if any more than 20°, as actual measurement will show. When the inclination becomes greater than this the mule will always take a zigzag course, so as to reduce the grade as much as possible. [↑]
[14] “Heavy, tortuous and dark.”—Ovid. [↑]
[15] I do not pretend to deny that drunkenness exists in Colombia. Even Colombian writers would be the last to do this, for they are fully aware of the extent of the ravages of the drink evil. They will tell you frankly that the inhabitants of certain parts of the country are addicted to intoxication, or, as one of them expresses it, that they are “muy amigos de embriagarse”—fond of getting drunk. And no one, I think, will deny that the prevalence of the drink habit is one of the country’s greatest curses. A good old padre, learned and patriotic, wrote a book some decades ago, in which he contended that Colombia, by reason of its favored geographical position and its wonderful natural resources, should rank among the richest and most prosperous countries of the New World. And it would be, he insisted, were it not for three drawbacks. These, in his estimation, were borracheria, holgozaneria and politiqueria, to-wit, drunkenness, indolence, and the habit, so universally prevalent, of its people dabbling in questionable politics. We have no equivalent in English for the expressive word, politiqueria, although we should have frequent use for it if it existed. It means, literally, the methods and occupation of a politicaster—an individual who is as much of a drawback to the best interests of our own country as is the politicastro to Colombia.