Amid the majestic and varied scenery of the Cordilleras of South
America, that of their valleys most forcibly strikes the imagination of
foreign travelers. The enormous hight of these mountains is not
discoverable but at a considerable distance, and while the spectator is
on one of those plains which extend from the sea-coasts to the foot of
the central chain. The flats, or table-lands, which surround the
snow-clad summits of the mountains, are themselves, for the greater
part, of an elevation of from seven to nine thousand feet, or nearly a
mile and three-quarters, above the level of the sea. This circumstance
diminishes, to a certain degree, the impression of greatness produced by
the colossal masses of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, Pichincha, &c., when seen
from the flats of Riobamba, or from those of Quito. It is not, however,
with the valleys as with the mountains: deeper and narrower than those
of the Alps and the Pyrenees, the valleys of the Cordilleras present
situations still more wild than these, and more adapted to fill the soul
with admiration and with terror. Fissures and chasms present themselves,
having their bottoms and sides ornamented with a vigorous vegetation,
and of such a depth, that Vesuvius and the Puy-de-Dome might be placed
within several of them, and not show their summits above the edge of the
neighboring mountains. In passing along the back of the Andes, from
Pasto to Villa d’Ibarra, and in descending the Loxa toward the banks of
the river Amazon, the traveler reaches the celebrated fissures of Chota
and Cutaco, the former of which is nearly a mile, and the latter upward
of three-quarters of a mile, in perpendicular depth. To give a more
complete idea of the grandeur of these geological phenomena, it should
be observed, that the bottoms of these fissures are by one-fourth only,
less elevated above the level of the sea, than the passages of St.
Gothard and Mount Cenis.
The valley of Icononzo, or of Pandi, is less remarkable for its
dimensions, than for the extraordinary form of its rocks, which appear
as if shaped by the hand of man. Their naked and barren summits form the
most picturesque contrasts with the tufts of trees and herbaceous
vegetables which cover the edges of the fissure. The little torrent
which has worked itself a passage through the valley of Icononzo, bears
the name of Rio de la Summa Paz. It descends from the eastern chain of
the Andes, which, with the republic of New Grenada, separates the basin
of the river of Magdelena from the vast plains of the Meta, Guaviare and
Oronoco. This torrent, confined within a bed almost inaccessible, could
not have been crossed without many difficulties, had not Nature herself
formed TWO BRIDGES OF ROCKS, which are justly regarded in the country as
among the objects most worthy of the attention of travelers. These
NATURAL BRIDGES are on the route from Bogota to Popayan and Quito.
Icononzo is the name of an ancient village of Muyscas Indians, situated
on the south side of the valley, and of which scarcely any vestige now
remains, except a few scattered huts. The nearest inhabited place to
this remarkable spot is the little village of Pandi, or Mercadillo,
distant about a mile. The road from Bogota to Fusagasuga, and thence to
Pandi, is one of the most difficult and least beaten to be met with in
the Andes. None but those who passionately love the beauties of Nature,
would fail to prefer the usual road which leads from the flat of Bogota
to the banks of the Magdelena, to the perilous descent from the Paramo
de San-Fortunato, and the mountains of Fusagasuga, toward the natural
bridges of Icononzo.
The deep chasm through which the torrent of Summa Paz precipitates
itself, occupies the center of the valley of Icononzo. Near the first
natural bridge, it maintains, for a length of nearly four-fifths of a
mile, a direction from east to west. The river forms two fine cascades,
the one at the spot where it enters the chasm on the west of Doa, and
the other at that where it leaves it, in descending toward Melgar. It is
possible that this chasm, which resembles, but on an enormous scale, the
gallery of a mine, may have been the result of an earthquake, and that,
at its formation, the compact bed of quartz, composing the superior
stratum of rock, had resisted the force which tore asunder these
mountains. The uninterrupted continuation of this quartzose bed would
thus form the bridge, which affords a passage from one part of the
valley to the other. This surprising natural arch is forty-eight feet in
length, forty in width, and eight feet in thickness at the center. By
experiments carefully made on the fall of bodies, its hight above the
level of the water of the torrent, has been ascertained to be about
three hundred and twenty feet. The depth of the torrent at the mean
hight of the water, may be estimated at twenty feet. The Indians of the
valley of Icononzo, for the security of travelers, have formed a fence
of reeds, which extends to the road leading to this first natural
bridge.
At the distance of sixty feet below is another, to which the traveler is
conducted by a path descending along the edge of the chasm. Three
enormous masses of rock have fallen into such positions as enable them
reciprocally to support each other. The one in the center forms the key
of the vault, an accident which may have conveyed to the natives of this
spot an idea of arched masonry, which was unknown to the people of the
new world, as well as to the ancient inhabitants of Egypt. It is
uncertain whether these portions of rock have been projected from a
distance, or are merely the fragments of an arch which has been
destroyed on the spot, but which was originally similar to the upper
natural bridge. This last supposition is rendered probable by an
analogous accident, observable in the Coliseum at Rome, where there are
seen, in a wall half-fallen, several stones which were arrested in their
descent, because in falling they happened to form an arch. In the midst
of this second natural bridge is an aperture of about twenty-five feet
in every direction, through which the eye reaches the bottom of the
abyss. The torrent appears to run into a dark cavern, whence a mournful
sound proceeds, formed by the cries of an infinity of nocturnal birds
which inhabit the chasm, and which at first sight may be taken for those
bats of a monstrous size, so well known in the equinoctial regions. They
can only be perceived by the help of lighted brands, thrown into the
chasm to illuminate its sides; and thousands of them may thus be
distinguished, skimming along the surface of the water. Their plumage is
uniformly of a brown gray color; and M. Humboldt, from whose account
these particulars are extracted, was assured by the Indians, that these
hitherto undescribed birds are of the size of a chicken, with the eyes
of an owl, and a curved beak. On account of the depth of the valley, it
was impossible to obtain a near view of them.
The elevation of the bridges of Icononzo, these surprising productions
of nature, above the level of the ocean, is two thousand seven hundred
feet, somewhat more than half a mile. In concluding his description of
them, M. Humboldt has noticed several other natural bridges, among which
is that in Virginia, noticed more particularly below. He considers this,
as well as the bridge of earth, called Rumichaca, which is on the
declivity of the porphyritic mountains of Chumban, in South America;
together with the bridge of Madre de Dios, named Dantcu, near Totonilco,
in Mexico; and the perforated rock near Grandola, in the province of
Alemtejo, in Portugal, as geological phenomena, which have some
resemblance to the natural bridges of Icononzo; but he doubts whether,
in any other part of the world, there has yet been discovered an
accidental arrangement so extraordinary as that of three masses of rock,
which, reciprocally sustaining each other, form a natural arch.