west bank, at the spot where the rivers meet. Fine rising woodlands to the S.W., and the mountains to the N., add greatly to the grandeur and majesty of the scene. ""*

In the latter part of its course, the Magdalena divides the provinces of Cartagena and Santa Marta, giving its name to the department which comprises those two provinces together with that of Rio Hacha, so named from the river which forms its eastern boundary. The provinces of Rio Hacha and Santa Marta, which are separated by no natural boundary, comprise together a tract of country about two degrees in longitude, and one and a half in latitude, intersected by the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. Between this lofty ridge and the sea, extend fertile and for the most part unoccupied lands, which it is thought would present eligible situations for foreign settlers. Brazil-wood abounds in Rio Hacha, and might be rendered a very profitable article of commerce. "Another tract of country scarcely less advantageous," says Col Hall," lies between the Ocana and Santa Marta mountains, to the north and south, and the towns of El Valle and Chiriguana to the east and west. It communicates with the Magdalena by a series of small lakes; with the interior, by the Ocana mountains; and with the sea-coast by Santa Marta and Rio Hacha.† It contains a length of about thirty

* "Letters from Colombia," p. 195.

The

+ Col Hall gives the following itinerary of the route from Rio Hacha to Santa Marta: From Rio Hacha

leagues, with an indefinite breadth towards the mountains, consisting of alternate woods and savannas, watered by abundant streams. The climate, though warm, is healthy, and untroubled by the insects which swarm near the great rivers. Between Chiriguana and the Indian village of the Cienaga, on the sea-coast near Santa Marta, is a third tract of almost uninhabited country, extending about seventy leagues from north to south, nearly covered with superb forests, and abounding with lands of excellent quality, especially on the rivers which descend from the snow mountains into the Cienaga or lake. The river Magdalena forms its western boundary. The

few villages and farms scattered over it, though not numerous enough to impede fresh settlements, are sufficient to afford them such aid as their infant state necessarily requires.

"The province of Cartagena contains excellent lands, especially on the banks of the Magdalena. There is, however, one spot which peculiarly claims attention: this is the port of Savanilla, at the mouth of the Magdalena. The lands here are finely timbered, and the temperature is refreshed by strong breezes; but the principal advantage consists in its being the natural port of the Magdalena, in which capacity there is little doubt it will one day become the emporium of the whole trade of the interior, though it is closed at present by order of the Government, for the purpose of favouring Santa Marta, which would be abandoned, should the commerce be

The greater part of the road is level, through thick forests, broken by occasional savannas. Mountain roads branch off from Fonseca and Valencia de Jesus.

left to its natural channel; the communication between the latter and the river being troublesome and circuitous, through the canals which unite with the Cienaga, whereas Savanilla is the mouth of the river itself. Its chief defect as a port is, the shallowness of the river immediately above it, which is caused by the number of mouths through which the Magdalena discharges itself into the ocean. Even flat boats have, in the dry season, some difficulty in ascending from Savanilla to Barranquilla. It is probable, this defect might be remedied, by closing up the mouth called Boca Vieja; but the country is not, at present, ripe for such an undertaking." While the Author of Letters from Colombia was at Bogota, the project of building a town at Savanilla, and making it a free port, was before the Congress; but " strong interest was opposed to the measure. If carried into effect, he says, it will most materially injure both Santa Marta and Cartagena, but it will prove at the same time a general benefit to the interior. The main trade had lately been carried on from Santa Marta, on account of the facilities it afforded to the contraband trade; but, since the Colombian Government has organised its custom-house system, the people of the interior are less inclined to go there, and it is thought that Cartagena will eventually become the preferable port.

SANTA MARTA.

Captain Charles Stuart Cochrane, who visited Colombia in 1823-4, landed at Santa Marta:-he thus describes the port. "The bay is small, and best adapted to the reception of merchant vessels of light draught of water, which are moored head and stern close in shore, with one anchor from the stern to the beach. Larger ships are much exposed to N.E. winds, by which they have sometimes been blown out

through the passage between the castle and the island of the Moro. The castle is admirably situated for the defence of the bay, being on the summit of an almost perpendicular insulated rock, above the angle at which a ship's guns could have much effect: it commands the town and the entrance to the harbour. Its importance seems, however, not to have been duly appreciated by the natives, as they have only a few guns mounted; and they abandoned it when attacked by the Indians a few months before my arrival, although it might have defended the town as long as its provisions and water lasted. There is a small battery on the level of the sea, in front of the town, mounted with five guns another formerly existed at the N.W. extremity of the bay, but is now dismantled. The appearance of the town, as seen from a vessel standing into the bay, is neat and pretty, the houses being white-washed and, in general, covered with red tiles. To the eastward is a range of hills, steep and of conical form. The wind rushes with great violence through the intervals between them into the bay, and thus contributes to its insecurity. The town presented the most deplorable scenes of ruin. The Indians, who had kept possession of the place for three weeks, until General Montilla came down and retook it, had committed every species of wanton mischief, and had literally torn the place to pieces. The population, which formerly amounted to 8,000, is now reduced to a few hundreds, and the once flourishing commerce of the place has been annihilated."*

* Cochrane's Travels, vol. i. pp. 55-9. The Author of Letters from Colombia, who was at Santa Marta in July 1823 (a few months later), states the population at between 4 and 5,000 souls. The causes of its decline which he assigns are, the desolation produced by the war, and the number of families banished for their adherence to the Spanish cause. "Now," he adds; "there are not above a dozen merchants of any note in the place, and the business carried on is comparatively tri

The city of Santa Marta was founded in 1525, and was made an episcopal city four years afterward. The bishopric was suppressed by Paul IV. in 1562, but re-established by his successor in 1577. The

place was repeatedly sacked by foreign pirates during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The last time, Alcedo says, was in 1672, by an English and a French privateer, when the town was completely pillaged, they then had the wickedness to carry off the bishop. Latterly, however, it had risen into considerable importance as a commercial city, enjoying almost the exclusive importation of manufactures for the capital. The town contains some good houses. The cathedral is a very conspicuous object in the approach both by land and sea, but neither its architecture nor its internal decoration is deserving of notice. The Franciscans and the Dominicans had each a convent here. This city has one advantage over Cartagena, in being supplied with an abundance of sweet water from the River Gaira, which flows near the city. Alcedo states, that it enjoys a salubrious temperature, less hot than that of Cartagena; but the Author of Letters from Colombia, who was there in the month of July, complains of the excessive heat of the place, which, he says, is seldom below 90°, and prevents your stirring about by day. "The only recreations," he states, "are bathing morning and evening, and walking either on the beach or in extensive labyrinths of wood at the back of the town, which are cool and agreeable, but harbour a great variety and abundance of snakes. They extend for some miles in an easterly direction, and are terminated by mountains of a great elevation, which gradually rise till they attain the height of 16,419 feet above the level of the sea, the elevation of the

fling." This looks, however, as if the state of things were improving.