Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 3, Anatomy-Astronomy

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ANDES.
Andes.
hundred miles beyond the Blue Ridge, in the higher dis-
trict of Virginia. The divided rock is a pure limestone,
leaving a chasm about 90 feet wide, of which the walls are
230 feet high, sprinkled with verdant bushes, and enamelled
with gay flowers, among which the aquUegia is conspicuous.
This bridge, viewed from a little distance below, has all the
appearance of a Gothic arch ; and is of such solidity, that
loaded waggons used formerly to pass along it, till a more
convenient line of road was formed.
In some places the natives of Peru connect the clefts of
their mountains by pendulous bridges thrown fearlessly
across, and suspended from both sides of a gap. They are
composed of ropes made of the tough fibres of the agave,
hanging in a gently sloping curve, and covered with reeds
or canes, with occasionally a narrow border of basket-work.
The intrepid Indian, regardless of the horrors of the un¬
fathomed abyss which yawns from below, commits himself
to his frail and floating arch, and swiftly glides along its
bending curvature, till he gains the opposite bank.
The Andes likewise give rise to waterfalls of immense
height and amazing force. The cataract of Tequendama,
considered in all its circumstances, rivals any other in the
known world. I he basin which feeds its streams is the
vast plain of Bogota, 7465 feet above the level of the sea,
encircled completely with lofty mountains, except where
the water, aided probably by the concussion of an earth¬
quake, has cut for itself a narrow passage. 4 he river
Funcha, swelled by numerous feeders, gradually contracts
its channel to the breadth of about 40 feet, and then ga¬
thering augmented force, dashes at two bounds from a per¬
pendicular height of near 600 feet into a dark gulf. Owing
to the excessive rapidity and depth of its current, it must
discharge a prodigious volume of water, which quite stuns
the ear by the roar of its crash; while it raises enormous
clouds of thick spray and vapour, that continually bedew,
and perhaps quicken, the vegetation of the adjacent grounds’.
Every thing conspires to exalt the beauty and grandeur of
the scenery. “ Independent of the height and mass of the
column of water,” says Humboldt, “ the figure of the land¬
scape, and the aspect of the rocks, it is the luxuriant form
of the trees and herbaceous plants, their distribution into
thickets, the contrast of those craggy precipices, and the
freshness of vegetation, which stamp a peculiar character on
these great scenes of nature.” The transition from a tem¬
perate to a warm climate is rapid and surprising. The plain
of Bogota bears rich crops of wheat, then succeed oaks and
elms, intermingled with aralias, bigonias, and the yellow-
bark trees ; but immediately below the cataract a few palms
appear, as if to mark the advance to a sultry soil.
A lively idea of the character and grand features of the
Andes may be conceived from the account which the cele¬
brated Humboldt has given of his journey across that ma¬
jestic chain. Our reader’s will be glad to peruse it in the
author’s own words.
“ The mountain of Quindiu, in the latitude of 4° 36', is
considered as the most difficult passage in the Cordilleras of
the Andes. It is a thick uninhabited forest, which, in the
finest season, cannot be traversed in less than ten or twelve
days. Not even a hut is to be seen, nor can any means of
subsistence be found. Travellers, at all times of the year,
urnish themselves with a month’s provision, since it often
lappens that, by the melting of the snows, and the sudden
swell of the torrents, they find themselves so circumstanced
that they can descend neither on the side of Cartago nor
that of Ibague. The highest point of the road, the Garito
e raramo, is 11,500 feet above the level of the sea. As
the foot of the mountain, towards the banks of the Cauca,
is only 3150 feet, the climate there is generally mild and
temperate. The pathway, which forms the passage of the
131
SlelranT,’ In 7? ’? ? 15 ““ ln bre“*1'> and has the Aata.
to die skv ’ Tn lera p ac<;s\of a gallery dug and left open ^ ,,—
Other f-Eo* i • IS parj t^le Andes, as almost in every
other, the rock is covered with a thick stratum of clay. The
streamlets which flow down the mountains have hollowed
are Ml olmnTth ^ ifP' A0"Sthese crevices, which
are full of mud, the traveller is forced to grope his passage
the darkness of which is increased by the thick vegetation
that covers the opening above. The oxen, which Ire the
beasts of burden commonly used in this country, can
scarcely force their way through these galleries, some of
which are more than a mile in length ; and if perchance the
traveller meet them in one of these passages, he finds no
means of avoiding them but by turning back and climbinff
the earthen wall winch borders the crevice, and keeping
himself suspended by laying hold of the roots which pene-
tiate to this depth from the surface of the ground.
“We traversed the mountain of Quindiu in the month
of October 1801, on foot, followed by twelve oxen, which
carried our collections and instruments, amidst a deluge of
rain, to which we were exposed during the last three or
four days, in our descent on the western side of the Cor¬
dilleras. The road passes through a country full of bogs,
and covered with bamboos. Our shoes were so torn by the
prickles which shoot out from the roots of these gigantic
gramina, that we were forced, like all other travellers who
dislike being carried on men’s backs, to go barefooted.
This circumstance, the continual humidity, the length of
the passage, the muscular force required to tread in a thick
and muddy clay, the necessity of fording deep torrents of
icy water, render this journey extremely fatiguing; but,
however painful, it is accompanied by none of those dangers
with which the credulity of the people alarms travellers.
The road is narrow, but the places where it skirts the pre-
cipices are very rare.
“ When travellers reach Ibague, and prepare to cross the
forests of Quindiu, they pluck, in the neighbouring moun¬
tains, several hundred leaves of the vijao, a plant of the
family of the bananas, which forms a genus approaching to
the Thalia, and which must not be confounded with the
Heliconia Bibai. These leaves, which. are membranous
and silky, like those of the Musa, are of an oval form, two
feet long and 16 inches broad. Their lower surface is a
silvery white, and covered with a farinaceous substance,
which falls off in scales. This peculiar varnish enables
them to resist the rain during a long time. In gathering
these leaves, an incision is made in the middle rib, which is
the continuation of the foot stalk; and this serves as a hook
to suspend them when the movable roof is formed. On
taking it down, they are spread out, and carefully rolled up
in a cylindrical bundle. It requires about an hundredweight
of leaves to cover a hut large enough to hold six or eight
persons. When the travellers reach a spot in the midst of
the forests where the ground is dry, and where they propose
to pass the night, the cargueros lop a few branches from the
trees, with which they make a tent. In a few minutes this
slight timber-work is divided into squares, by the stalks of
some climbing plant, or the threads of the agave placed
in parallel lines 12 or 13 inches from each other. The
vijao leaves meanwhile have been unrolled, and are now
spread over the above work, so as to cover it like the tiles
of a house. I hese huts, thus hastily built, are cool and
and commodious. If, during the night, the traveller feels
the rain, he points out the spot where it enters, and a leaf is
sufficient to obviate the inconvenience. We passed several
days in the valley of Boquia, under one of those leafy tents,
which was perfectly dry amidst violent and incessant rains.”
For further information relative to the structure of the
Andes, see the various sketches given by Humboldt, and