The mother chain of the Andes is rich beyond description in metallic productions, and furnishes several sorts of the precious stones; but with all this profusion of treasure, it contains within its bosom the materials of destruction; earthquakes of the most tremendous nature swallow whole cities, the activity of the internal fires frequently destroys entire mountains, and leaves sheets of water in their place, by which provinces are devastated, and thousands of the animal creation destroyed. Forty volcanoes have been counted from Cotopaxi to the shores of the Straits of Magellan, that discharge lava, enormous rocks, showers of ashes, great quantities of water, liquid mud, sulphur, or devastating blasts of heated air from their craters. The most striking features of the southern Andes are these volcanic cones, whose flanks, beset with frightful crevices of immeasurable depth, are crossed by the fearless natives, by means of pendulous bridges, formed of the fibres of equinoctial plants. Over these frail and tremulous passages, the natives carry the traveller in a chair attached to their backs, and bending forward the body, they move with a swift and equal step; but when they reach the centre, the oscillation of the bridge is so great, that were they to stop, inevitable destruction must ensue; the native and his burden would be dashed to the bottom of a precipice to whose profound depth the eye can hardly reach. These bridges are, from the nature of their materials, frequently out of repair, presenting to the shuddering European, who visits these countries, frightful chasms, over which the Indians step with undaunted confidence. Volcanoes and crevices are not the only surprising circumstances which attract the notice of the adventurous traveller; cataracts of magnificent forms are every where observed, that of _Tequendama_, near the city of Santa Fé, dashing a volume of water from the plains of Bogota, through an opening in the Cordillera, to the depth of six hundred feet, into a dark and unfathomable gulf. In these mountains, the largest rivers in the world derive their sources; the La Plata, the Maranon, and the Orinoco; of which, as well as of some of the peculiar scenery of the Andes, we shall treat more at large in the local descriptions of the governments and provinces of South America, resuming the subject of the present section, we shall describe the capital of the kingdom of New Granada. _Capital._--The metropolis of the viceroyalty of Santa Fé, or New Granada, is the city of _Santa Fé de Bogota_, in north latitude 4° 6ʹ, and west longitude 78° 30ʹ, near the river Funza, or Pati. It was founded in 1538 by Ximenes de Quesada when he conquered the tribes who then inhabited this country.