. Around and about South America. us Magdalena gradually narrowed until, opposite Honda, itwas less than two hundred feet in width; but here wererapids almost as swift and violent as those below NiagaraFalls. The small steamers, which once a month go fifty milesfarther up the river, do not pass through these rapids, but tie up some distance above. Honda is situated upon thesteep bank of the western side of the river. Its streets arenarrow, crooked, and roughly paved. The houses are mostlybut one story in height; when blocks of them occur, upon astreet leading up the hills, they ar
. Around and about South America. us Magdalena gradually narrowed until, opposite Honda, itwas less than two hundred feet in width; but here wererapids almost as swift and violent as those below NiagaraFalls. The small steamers, which once a month go fifty milesfarther up the river, do not pass through these rapids, but tie up some distance above. Honda is situated upon thesteep bank of the western side of the river. Its streets arenarrow, crooked, and roughly paved. The houses are mostlybut one story in height; when blocks of them occur, upon astreet leading up the hills, they are built in terraces. Therailway goes on from Honda, about one mile to a settlementcalled Arranca Plumas, whence you must cross in a flat-bot-tomed boat and go on by land to Bogota. Formerly a rail-way was undertaken from here toward Bogota, but, after ashort distance, it was abandoned. Another, and a popularroute to the capital, if you succeed in making connections atHonda, is to take a smaller steamer, up the river, fifty miles,. TEE ANDES AGAIX. 437 to a place called Jirardot. Thence a railway is in course ofconstruction to Bogota, about twenty miles of its track hav-ing been already built and in running order. On December12th I left on mule-back for Bogota, wTith a mounted guide,and an extra mule for my baggage, first following the leftbank of the Magdalena to Arranca Plumas. Here we crossedthe river by means of a pedulum-boat—a large barge attached,by a wire cable, to a pulley running upon another cable ex-tending across the river. The passage is made simply by theforce of the central current and its back water, which is suf-ficient to carry the boat from side to side without any steer-ing. The mount of a Colombian gentleman is but littledifferent from that of other South Americans. Mules arepreferred for steep mountain travel, though horses are ingreater favor for plain, valley, and city use. Here, in Colom-bia, the men wear wide-brimmed, steeple-crowned strawhats, blue
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