The earth and its inhabitants .. . - stagnant water. The Loba branch, on the contrary, whichreceives the Cauca, and a little lower down the San Jorge on its left bank, nowcarries nearly all the united waters of the whole b isin. The line of navigationhas thus been changed, and while the towns on the east branch are decaying, 154 SOUTU AMERICA—THE ANDES REGIONS. those on the [joba have become riverine ports, threatened, however, to be sub-merged by the rising waters. TuK Caica and MAf:nAi,i;xA Cauca, the Rio de Santa Marta of the first settlers, rises in the sameuplands as the ^lagdul
The earth and its inhabitants .. . - stagnant water. The Loba branch, on the contrary, whichreceives the Cauca, and a little lower down the San Jorge on its left bank, nowcarries nearly all the united waters of the whole b isin. The line of navigationhas thus been changed, and while the towns on the east branch are decaying, 154 SOUTU AMERICA—THE ANDES REGIONS. those on the [joba have become riverine ports, threatened, however, to be sub-merged by the rising waters. TuK Caica and MAf:nAi,i;xA Cauca, the Rio de Santa Marta of the first settlers, rises in the sameuplands as the ^lagdulena, and follows a parallel valley with corresponding stageson its course to the plains. Rushing iu a rugged tissure between the iurace andSotara volcanoes, it descends a total vertical height of 8,200 feet in a course of60 miles, thus reaching the bed of the old lake which stretched south and north Fijf. 58.—Inland Dklta ok tre 1 : 1,900,0( 744-0, 41 Mika. between the Western and Central Cordilleras. Here its tranquil stream isnavigable for steamers, although these reaches possess little economic importance,being suspended, so to saj, above the lower plains and separated from thera by along series of rapids and swirling waters. Below the town of Cartago the Cauca glides with great rapidity down a steepincline, without, however, forming any falls, despite the misguiding expression,Salto de Virginia, applied to the incline. Here begins the unnavigable sectionwhich, in the space of 386 miles, has a total fall of 2,660 feet without a singlecascade, but with many rapids, eddies, foaming waters, reefs, and gorges. Atcertain points the stream is narrowed to about 100 feet between sedimentary rocky THE RIO CAUCA. 155 walls, across which bridges of trailing plants have been thrown, Indian of these, on the route between Medellin and Antioquia, is no less than 750feet long from bank to bank. Beyond the last escarptcient
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
