ens and statuary, have been preserved; on these face the principal
public buildings and churches. In Plaza Bolivar is a statue of Bolivar
by Pietro Tenerani (1789-1869), a pupil of Canova, and in Plaza
Santander is one of General Francisco de Paula Santander (1792-1840).
Facing on Plaza de la Constitucion are the capitol and cathedral. The
streets are narrow and straight, but as a rule they are clean and well
paved. Owing to the prevalence of earthquakes, private houses are
usually of one storey only, and are built of sun-dried bricks,
white-washed. But few of the public buildings are imposing in
appearance, though good taste in style and decoration are often shown.

The city occupies an area of about 2-1/2 X 1-1/2 m. It has street cars,
electric light and telephones. Short lines of railway connect it with
Facatativa (24 m.) on the road to Honda, and with Zipaquira, where
extensive salt mines are worked. A line of railway was also under
construction in 1906 to Jirardot, at the head of navigation on the upper
Magdalena. Bogota is an archiepiscopal see, founded in 1561, and is one
of the strongholds of medieval clericalism in South America. It has a
cathedral, rebuilt in 1814, and some 30 other churches, together with
many old conventual buildings now used for secular purposes, their
religious communities having been dissolved by Mosquera and their
revenues devoted in great measure to education. The capitol, which is
occupied by the executive and legislative departments, is an elegant and
spacious building, erected since 1875. The interest which Bogota has
always taken in education, and because of which she has been called the
"Athens of South America," is shown in the number and character of her
institutions of learning--a university, three endowed colleges, a school
of chemistry and mineralogy, a national academy, a military school, a
public library with some 50,000 volumes, a national observatory, a
natural history museum and a botanic garden. The city also possesses a
well-equipped mint, little used in recent years. The plain surrounding
the city is very fertile, and pastures cattle and produces cereals,
vegetables and fruit in abundance. It was the centre of Chibcha
civilization before the Spanish conquest and sustained a large
population. The climate is mild and temperate, the average annual
temperature being about 58 deg. and the rainfall about 43-1/2 in. The
geographical location of the city is unfavourable to any