=Chocó=, the next coast region to Antioquia, is in striking contrast to Caldas. An Intendencia bordering on Panamá and the Pacific as well as on the Caribbean, it is rich in possibilities for mining, and for agricultural and forest products; but the excessive rainfall and great heat, unpleasant throughout the district, make the lowlands swampy and unhealthful, and the whole region unattractive to settlement. Less than one-tenth of the population is white; negroes form the great majority of the rest, and there are some Indians. Of the latter, there are three principal tribes in the Atrato Basin and four near the rest of the Caribbean Coast. The Atrato Basin with that of the San Juan forms one of the richest mining sections in Colombia, important for the rare platinum, most of the tributaries carrying this metal with gold. The San Juan Basin is probably the richer in platinum. Rubber, cacao, hides, and timber are other exports. The region will be developed some time. Quibdó, the capital, is a busy trading centre, which within the last ten years has increased in population fourfold in spite of the disagreeable climate. =El Valle=, the Department on the south, again is a striking contrast. Although including a strip of coast with the chief Pacific port, Buenaventura, the name of the Department indicates the part deemed of the greatest importance; and the one that is The Valley among so many we must expect to have especial merits. With an altitude of 3000 feet and upwards, it is a beautiful garden spot between the West and Central Cordilleras, where plantains grow two feet long, a bunch of bananas weighs 200 pounds, the cacao without cultivation commands a higher price than that of Ecuador, where its culture is a specialty; and sugar plantations are said to yield for several generations without replanting or fertilizing. At greater altitudes grow the products of temperate climes. Such a region must some day receive intensive culture, although now the leading industry is cattle raising; since the upper classes are indolent, it is said, the negro laborers also. Yet a brilliant future is sure to come. The mining outlook is good. Many claims for gold mines have been filed, some for platinum and for silver, one each for emery, talc, copper, iron. There is a large deposit of coal and of rich crystal. The rivers possess auriferous alluvium. Cali, the capital, is an old, but progressive and important commercial city, with a fine climate, altitude 4000 feet, mean temperature 77°. It has fine old buildings and new ones, poor hotels, banks, automobiles, etc. Other busy cities farther north, are Palmira, 27,000 population, and Cartago, 21,000.