. The earth and its inhabitants ... est, forcing itsway through the successive Andean chainsin stupendous gorges hundreds of yardsdeep. In the Sube defile the bed of theriver is contracted to 70 feet in width, witha volume of 6,400 cubic feet per second,rushing between rocky walls 2,730 feethigh. The Saravita or Suarez, rising midwaybetween the Eastern Cordillera and theMagdalena, has a still more savage aspectthan the Chicamocha, for it has to descendfrom the same altitude in a course less thanhalf as long. After traversing the marshyplateaux and the vast Lake of Fuquene,which looks like a pe
. The earth and its inhabitants ... est, forcing itsway through the successive Andean chainsin stupendous gorges hundreds of yardsdeep. In the Sube defile the bed of theriver is contracted to 70 feet in width, witha volume of 6,400 cubic feet per second,rushing between rocky walls 2,730 feethigh. The Saravita or Suarez, rising midwaybetween the Eastern Cordillera and theMagdalena, has a still more savage aspectthan the Chicamocha, for it has to descendfrom the same altitude in a course less thanhalf as long. After traversing the marshyplateaux and the vast Lake of Fuquene,which looks like a permanent inundation,the Saravita makes a sudden plunge of 70feet, and then in the space of 3 miles descends 2,300 feet in a narrow gorge,where it disappears altogether for a distance of over 200 yards. Other gorges,cascades, and rapids follow in quick succession, while every lateral torrent has itsnarrows, its caûons, cataracts, chasms, and underground channels. Below the junction of the two main branches the Sogamoso, here flowing. li Mile. THE EIO MAGDALENA. 153 1,900 yards below the neighbouring uplands, still preserves its wild character,rushing between its narrow rocky walls with a velocity that arrests all navigationexcept for a short distance of some 30 miles on its lower course. The Lake of Fuquene, whence the Saravita escapes, was certainly much largerat the period of the Conquest than at present. Piedrahita, who visited it in themiddle of the seventeenth century, gives it 10 by 3 leagues, whereas Roulinsrecent careful measurements show only 4| by 3 miles for the whole basin. Itslevel, now 8,400 feet, was formerly much higher, comprising the lacustrine basinof Ubate and all the intermediate plains, as is attested by the water-marks stillvisible along the flanks of the encircling hills. But the waters gradually subsided,revealing islands, peninsulas, isthmuses, and extensive plains, so that in 1780the inland sea had already been decomposed into two completely distinct b
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
