Humbolt's travels and discoveries in South America . ical powershe swelled the current of the Funza, and inun-dated the valley, so that most of the inhabitantsperished, a few only having found refuge in theneighbouring mountains. The aged visitor then drovahis consort from the earth, and she became the next broke the rocks that enclosed the valley onthe Tequendama side, and by these means drainedoff the waters; then he introduced the worship ofthe sun, appointed two chiefs, and finally withdrewto a valley, where he lived in the exercise of themost austere penitence during 2000 years. T
Humbolt's travels and discoveries in South America . ical powershe swelled the current of the Funza, and inun-dated the valley, so that most of the inhabitantsperished, a few only having found refuge in theneighbouring mountains. The aged visitor then drovahis consort from the earth, and she became the next broke the rocks that enclosed the valley onthe Tequendama side, and by these means drainedoff the waters; then he introduced the worship ofthe sun, appointed two chiefs, and finally withdrewto a valley, where he lived in the exercise of themost austere penitence during 2000 years. This fall and its scenery present a remarkablecombination of attractions. Humboldt observes thatthe impression which cataracts leave on the mind ofan observer, depend on the concurrence of a varietyof circumstances. The volume of water must be pro-portioned to the height of the fall, and the sceneryaround must wear a wild and romantic aspect. ThePissevache and the Staubbach, in Switzerland, arelofty, the latter, indeed, exceeding 800 feet in height;. Cataract of Tequendama. TUE CATARACT. 247 but their masses of water are inconsiderable. Thefalls of the St. Lawrence at Niagara, and those of theRhine at Schaffhausen, furnish enormous Yolumes ofwater; but even the former does not exceed 160 feetin height, while the latter scarcely reaches 60 height of the fall of Tequendama (which forms adouble bound), is 574 feet! Cataracts which are surrounded by hills only, pro-duce far less effect than the falls of water whichrush into the deep and narrow valleys of the Alps,of the Pyrenees, and above all, of the Cordilleras ofthe Andes. Independent of the height and mass ofthe column of water, the figure of the landscape,and the aspect of the rocks, it is the luxuriant formof the trees and herbaceous plants, their distributioninto groups, or into scattered thickets, the contrastof those craggy precipices, and the freshness of ve-getation, which stamp a peculiar character on thesegreat
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