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COLOMBIA 64 COLOMBIA mountains in the W., and vast plains in the E. scarcely above the level of the sea. The Andes spread out in three great ranges, from the extensive plateau of Pasto in the S. W.; forming valleys running from N. to S. parallel to the three chains. Of the sections outside the main Cordilleras, the principal are the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in the N., and the low Baudo range, along the N. W. coast. From the Central Cor- miles), on the Pacific coast; the Atrato and Zulia (150 miles), flowing N.; the Arauca (600), which, as well as the Meta (700) and Guaviare (850), feeds the Orinoco; and the Caqueta (1,350), the Putumayo (1,100), and the Napo (750), tributaries of the Amazon. The lakes are unimportant. Climate and Productions. — Colombia possesses all the climates of the world; perpetual snows cover the summits of CATHEDRAL AT COLOGNE dillera the principal rivers, the Mag- dalena and the Cauca, flow into the Ca- ribbean Sea, besides several affluents of the Amazon in the E., and the Patia, which forces its way to the Pacific, through a gorge between cliffs, 10,000 to 12,000 feet high, and forms the only notable break in the long wall of the Western Cordillera from Darien to Patagonia. The Eastern Cordillera con- sists of a series of extensive tablelands, cool and healthy, where the white race flourishes as vigorously as in Europe. E. from this Cordillera stretch vast llanos or plains, through which flow the Meta, the Guaviare, and other tributaries of the Orinoco. Besides these, the chief rivers are the San Juan (navigable 150 the Cordilleras, while the valleys abound in the rich vegetation of the tropics. The mean temperature ranges from 32° to 82°, according to the elevation. The rainy season falls from November to April, except among the low-lying for- ests of the S. E., where the rain-fall is distributed throughout the year, and in the Choco coast district of the N. W., where, shut in from the N. E. winds, the heavy atmosphere hangs motionless, and mists and torrents of rain alternate. The hot region, extending to an eleva- tion of about 3,200 feet, produces in abundance, rice, cacao, sugar-cane, ba- nanas, yams, tobacco, indigo, cotton caoutchouc, vegetable ivory, and many medical plants; and the forests, with