On the following morning, we repeated our visit to the bridge, and reviewed the whole more leisurely. Although the awe of the preceding evening had subsided, our admiration was undiminished. The same Great Being which had ruptured the mountain asunder and opened a fearful fissure, had thrown down the loose fragments, and so lodged them as to contribute to the convenience as well as to arouse the astonishment and wonder of all who crossed. The natives of the country have destroyed much of the effect by the rude logs which they have laid upon the rocks across the chasm. It is also remarkable, that this fissure could not be passed elsewhere for many leagues in either direction. How will the Natural Bridge of Pandi compare with that of Rockbridge County in Virginia? The beauty of this must sink before the awful and grand sublimity of the other. In that you would look in vain for the {253} well turned arch of this, while the latter is deficient in the almost unfathomable abyss and in the surrounding scenery and in the roaring waters of that of Pandi. I should have observed, that no means exist of reaching the bottom--nor is it desirable, as the bridge in itself, seen from below, cannot be imposing. The birds which occupy the ledges and caverns formed by the ruptured rock, are called "_Pajaros del Puente_"--Birds of the Bridge--and are not known elsewhere. They are birds of night, and sally out only after it is dark into the neighboring dense forests, in search of the fruit with which they maintain themselves. If perchance the light of day overtake them before they regain their dark abodes, it is so noxious to them that they cannot survive it. Thus say the natives--and that this is shown by their being many times found dead in the paths of the mountains. They are equal in size to a pheasant--their color is a reddish brown, and their beaks square and very hard. LINES On the Statue of Washington in the Capitol. It is our WASHINGTON that you behold, Whom Nature fashioned in her grandest mould, To be the leader of a noble band, The friends of freedom, and their native land: A perfect hero, free from all excess; Above Napoleon, though he dazzled less: Not quite so great for what he did, 'tis true, But greater far for what he did not do: And, nought he ought not, all he ought, to be, He made his country, and he left her, free. EPIGRAM. "A party, you tell me," says Dick, not invited, But who would not believe such a beau could be slighted; "A party at Modeley's?--can't possibly be; For how could he have such a thing _without me_?" FALL OF TEQUENDÁMA, IN COLOMBIA, SOUTH AMERICA.