Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 6.djvu/178

152 and glass and oil paintings ; the Minorite church, com menced in the same year as the cathedral, contains the tomb of Duns Scotus. Besides these may be mentioned the Pantaleon church, a 12th century structure, with a monu ment to Theophania, wife of Otto II., ; St Cunibert, in the Byzantine-Moorish style, completed in 1248 ; St Maria itn Capitol, the oldest church in Cologne, dedicated in 1049 by Pope Leo IX., noted for its crypt, organ, and paintings ; St Cecilia, St Ursula, and St George. Other public buildings are the Giirzenich, the former meeting-place of the diets of the German empire, built between 1441 and 1474, the great hall of which is capable of accommodating 3000 persons ; the Rathhaus, which dates from the 13th century ; the Tempelhaus, built partly in the 12th century ; the Museum Wallraf-llichartz, in which is a collection of paintings by old Italian and Dutch masters, together with some works by modern artists ; the Zeughaus or arsenal, situated on Roman foundations ; the Government buildings, erected by Bircher in 1830 ; the archbishop s palace, three gymnasia, several normal and commercial schools and literary and scientific institutions, and three theatres. The university, founded in 1388, was suppressed by the French during their occupation of the country. The walls which surround the city are about seven miles in circuit. Outside the walls, to the north side, are the Zoological and the Botanical Gardens. Cologne has a considerable trade in corn, wines, hides, and rape-seed with Holland, Belgium, and other countries ; and steamers ply regularly between the city and the ports on the Rhine. The principal manufactures are cotton yam and stuffs, hosiery, woollens, silks, tobacco, sugar, soap, wax-lights, starch, malt, dyes, white-lead, porcelain, carpets, brandy and spirits, eau-de- cologne, and leathern and metal wares. In 1815 the population of Cologne was 47,000 ; in 1871 it amounted to 129,233, or, if that of Deutz be included, about 141,000.

1em  COLOMBIA, or, according to the official title, the Republic of the United States of Colombia, is a modern confederation in South America, consisting&quot;; of the nine states of Antioquia, Bolivar, Boyacd, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Magdalena, Panama, Santander, and Tolima, and comprising a considerable portion of the territory of the old Spanish vice-royalty of New Granada. It is bounded on the N. by the Caribbean Sea, on the E. by Venezuela, on the S. by Ecuador and Brazil, and on the W. by the Pacific. It thus extends from 12 20 N. to 2 30 S. lat., and from 65 50 to 83 5 W. long., its total area being roundly estimated at 500,000 square miles, or more than double that of Spain and Portugal. About four-fifths lies to the north of the equator.

On the Atlantic it possesses a coast lino of upwards of 1000 miles, richly furnished with bays and natural harbours. Proceeding westward from Calabozo Creek, in the Gulf of Maracaibo, the first inlet of real importance which we discover is the Baliia Honda, which is well protected from the strong winds of the east and north, but is rendered unsuitable for the establishment of a port by its lack of drinkable water. Passing by the Bay of El Portete, we next reach the ports of lliohacha and Dibulla, of which the former is of considerable commercial importance as a centre of exportation, though it is greatly surpassed by that of Santa Marta, which is the next to break the coast-line. Santa Marta is situated at the side of the Cienega Lagoon, which stretches 25 miles from south to north, with a breadth of 11 from east to west, has communication with the lakes of Pajaral and Cuatro Bocas, and, though rather shallow, can be navigated by flat-bottomed steamboats. At the mouth of the Magdalena lies the port of Barranquilla, and a short distance to the west that of Sabanilla, one of the most active along the whole coast. After these comes the splendid Bay of Carthagena, known for centuries to all navigators of the Caribbean ; and still further to the west the coast is broken by the port of Zapote, the Bay of Zispata, the Gulf of Morrosquillo, and finally by the noble Gulf of Darien, with the estuary of the Atrato and the ports of Turbo, Guacuba, Candelaria, &c. Along the isthmus are the Mandinga Creek ; the Bay of Portobello, so famous in the history of Spanish America ; the modern port of Colon, or Aspinwall, at the entrance of Navy Bay ; and the now decadent port of Chagres. The coast-line of the Pacific is hardly so important as that of the Atlantic, except along the isthmus, where it forms the great Bay of Panama, with the subordinate inlets of Parita Bay on tho west and the Gulf of San Miguel on the east. Along the remainder of the line are Cupica, San Francisco, Solano, Palmar, and Charambira (the last obstructed by a bar), the large Bay of Malaga, protected by the Isla de Palmas, with the harbours of Guapi and Izcuande, the Bay of Pasa Caballos, the harbour of Tumaco, and in the Island of Gorgona the fine harbour of Trinidad.

The western part of Colombia is one of the most mountainous districts in the world ; its eastern extension belongs to the great plains of the Orinoco and the Amazon. The mountains are all more or less directly portions of the system of the Andes. Entering at the south from the territory of Ecuador, they form an extensive plateau from which a large number of rivers take their rise. The portion known as the paramo of Cruz Verde has, according to Stein- heil, an elevation of 10,975 old Paris feet, or about 11,695 English feet. From this table-land the system breaks up into three ranges, which stretch north through nearly the whole length of the country, with a general parallelism of direction least maintained by the eastern portion. Of these ranges the loftiest at first is the Central, or the Cordillera of Quindiu, which contains the snow peaks of Huila, Ruiz, and Tolima, the culminating peak of the Ancles north of the equator ; but in 5 5 N. lat., where this range sinks clown, the Eastern rises to the snow limit, and is the most elevated of the three Cordilleras. The Eastern Cordillera, or the Cordillera de la Suma Paz, runs north-east to the paramos of Pamplona, from which it sends out a branch to meet the massif of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta. In its passage through the state of Santander it attains in the Alto de el Viejo an altitude of 12,965 feet, in Alto de el Trio of 9965, and in tho Boca del Monte of 12,735. The Sierra Nevada is said to reach a height of 23,779 feet, and it is certainly covered with perpetual snow oyer a large part of its summit. The 