In remote times, when the sun alone gave the earth light, and the people of the plain of Bogota were savage barbarians, an old man, totally unlike the natives, suddenly appeared amongst them from the east, with a white beard and flowing garments. This was Bochica. He instructed them in agriculture, &c., and with him came a woman, who, as well as himself, had three names, one of which was Chia; she was very beautiful, very malevolent, and overturned every thing Bochica attempted; by her magic she swelled the rivers and overflowed the plain, so that the people, with the exception of a few, who escaped to the mountains, perished in the waters. Bochica, exasperated at her conduct, drove Chia from the earth, and she became the moon. He then, by the mighty force of his arm, broke a passage through the rocks, and constituted the fall of the Tequendama, by which means the lake formed by Chia was drained; and the plain of Bogota rendered more fertile and beautiful than it had been before. The appearance of the plain of Bogota at this moment justifies the tradition of its having been formerly a lake; low summits appear here and there like islets; and the whole plain is rendered marshy by the numerous streams which cross it in every direction. In the kingdom of New Granada there are two mints, one in Popayan and the other in Santa Fé. The coinage of the capital is greater than that of Popayan; the total coined produce of the gold mines in 1801, was 455,000_l._; whilst wrought gold and ingots were exported to the amount of 52,000_l._; making the value of the gold found during that year 507,000_l._ This gold is not found by digging, although many mines with auriferous veins exist, but by washing the alluvious grounds, and is chiefly collected by negroes. The provinces governed by the viceroy of New Granada have been already enumerated. The most northerly of these are the three which are distinguished by the name of Tierra Firme, or Terra Firma, we shall therefore commence the provincial descriptions with them. TIERRA FIRME. _PROVINCE OF VERAGUA._ The northernmost of the provinces, which are governed by intendants, nominated by the viceroy of New Granada, under the general designation of Tierra Firme, is the province of Veragua, situated to the south of the kingdom of Guatimala, in North America. This, from its geographical situation, has been already described in the first part; it will therefore be unnecessary to repeat any observations on its history or statistics; our attention must consequently be turned to the province of Panama, on the south, or rather east of the Canatagua mountains. _PROVINCE OF PANAMA._