NEW GRANADA.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5338, 7 May 1878, Page 3

NEW GRANADA.

,!_At* a; meeting ; of. -the .United States Geographical Society on;December-17, Chief Justice; Daly, presiding;.Mf,. J.:,Bennettj--late! Unffed States,Consul;pt Botoga, gave.;an account ofhis journey up the Magdalena!/River, and sub- ; .sequent life, in-the-heart: of-the Ahde-. - The ]jllagdalena, Mr. Bennett explained, [takes- its . rise.in;the-Andes near the frontier of Ecuador, .j is about, ,900, miles long, and,- is - navigable 5 600 ■ .miles from the sea ,up- to, the rapids, and - also, rlljp mile? above the,-rapids. . He, incidentally -desfiribed’.iGartbagena, • -which he 'said: is' -the |m93t,,niagniftc.entTy.;walled 'city in-;America, ..and ,which .was;,founded ;in ; . 1533. The - walls, ,hpd,,atoqd ;I tUe test. >:of.i earthquake iwithout ..breaph, crapjc,,, or-,in while - several other parts- of tho ,city diad been; severely 'shaken. [Tho -rharboiy .about .seven-- miles long, 'is; thp "iaost beautlful -ou the. continent,; and, the -city .itself is .tfie, great entrepot, off South-America. The population, at-o.oeititoo' waa.about SOjOOO, .butat,present,Mr. Bennett says -it-is notnuore. tho.n.ao,QpO ! .,-,The,Magdalena he desoribes ias in plaoesitwb.or three miles-widp,-the currents .flowing lazily,in: some .parts of it,.'but being generally.,aa-. rapid .as ; the•;current of -'the' .Missisippi at jNew .Orleans. : It ifiows- for the most.part through’ one,of the richest and most .prolific of .countries. -Intheearlierpart of their journey, they found that the sugar-cane, corn, and tobacco,,[received some; cultivation, but that allithe.;tropical;-plants’ grew 'along.-its, i banks, almost -witbonti attention. The climate , was always ’ that of spring or summer, but it suffered, from ...all ilbe idisadvanfages of the .tropics. . .Their hoatinen;! for .instance, were ,obligecis,fiO.,pole,-the conveyance:.used!on- the river up stream for 32 days iu a temperature’of 120 deg, .For,their'compiete’d services theyre T ceived j 5 .dollars each,.oivless than; 50 cents a day^^Oftßfi,,during..the : .day -the, heat .wont.,up ' tb iSOdeg., while tire attaeffs from insects were unendurable?''-The!-people' wbfe of the quality ' which ” one "might’'expect to find in such si climate. bTotHihg.’ surprised-..jthem but an earthquakeV t would walk but to be shot without adhurtaufi,/hut’:work they would not if it could postponed. If a,new gar!meht■ bebaulii necessary,'fliey would;wash as. mucU goW from’the eartli as was required to' ipurohase it, but they Would ribtwa'ah' any more; -th’aff was'absbluteiy heceßsary!'/!-Mr.’,Bennett clescribed/gtaphioally the malarial districts at the foot of the rapids, the tumultuous, torrents bf the rapids themselves, the navigation'of the Uppef-Magdalena', upon which is the Sarita Anna silver'mine,[wbrke'd by ah English company, the glorious ; prospects which' he beheld in;the ascent of 'the' Andes to' the table land upon which' is the , ! oity'of Bogota, over 8000; feeti abpve-the' sea,* while ' the mbuhtains, in! turn towered above it 2500 feet., He spoke in; •the! highest! terms 'of - the politeness; , refinement,! and hospitality of the community; and said that the morhl tone Was !mueli J ’ superior to that existing in the cities of the States.' Nobody; lie j said, need want’ friends' in Bogota,' unless ho: • did net desorve thbrn. ll '' '• ;