Description
Coloured etching by C. Empson, 1836.
"One of the outlets or mouths of the river Magdalena is called El Cienega, and comprises a succession of small lagoons or lakes, which afford a more easy access from the open sea to the main stream of the river, than by approaching its junction with the ocean in a direct course. These lagoons have no perceptible current, and so completely are they belted by dense masses of foliage, that you see no openings: in fact, there is but just room for the boat to be forced onwards by pressing the encroaching vegetation towards the undefined bank. These natural canals are frequently so narrow, that trees falling across them impede the navigation until they are cleared away, which is occasionally attended with great difficulty: sometimes the boat sticks fast in the mud, and the boatmen are obliged to lighten it by leaping into the water, and lifting the barge over these impediments; a dangerous operation, for, if they escape the noxious reptiles, it is impossible to avoid the poisoned feculence of those turbid waters, which, like stucco, cleaves to their skin, and is not easily removed. The sultriness of the inclosed parts of the river; the tormenting insects which abound;- the dread of snakes; and the horror inspired by that huge monster, the cayman, or crocodile, makes this portion of the voyage hazardous and tedious. But the cause, which, above all others, renders these lakes dangerous, is the pestiferous effluvia emanating from the black slimy mud, which is brought to the surface at every plunge of the pole that propels the boat. This unwholesome vapour occasions sickness and giddiness, which is further augmented by the quivering appearance of the atmosphere, produced by the rapid exhalation, a phenomenon common to all marshy districts in tropical regions. But the perceptible action of the unsteady medium through which objects are seen in this particular locality, produces a remarkably unpleasant sensation, depriving those, who are strangers to this peculiarity, of all confidence in their own vision; and among the many optical illusions produced by this state of the atmosphere, that species of phantasmagoria which the French call the Mirage, is not unfrequent. The lagoons are the very regions of the mosquito, against which plagues there is no remedy: you may fight with them until you are exhausted, and, after all, they will bite and sting you at their pleasure: there is no protection from them: thick garments cannot be endured; smearing the skin with fat does no good; essential oils are useless; you cannot brush them away; smoking answers no purpose, for they have been seen to settle upon and sting the lips from which the "noxious weed" was sending forth an unregarded cloud. The sketch represents the first habitable spot after leaving the lagoons and gaining the more wholesome air and clear water of the Great River. A large open shed has been constructed at this point for the convenience of voyagers, and receives no permanent occupant." (Empson. loc. cit.)
Inscription: El Cienega First narrative CE
Image Licence
CC BY 4.0
Image Credit
image courtesy of Wellcome Library, London
Location
Magdalena River, Bolivar, Colombia
Country
Colombia
Medium
Print
Tags
Category
Buildings & Architecture
TWW Comment
"The whole of his wanderings seem to have been restricted to an area that extended from the coast to beyond Bogotá, and perhaps some hundred miles each side of the River Magdalena, and followed what had, from the various other accounts, already become a recognised tourist route."
See: https://www.ph.ucla.edu/epi/snow/HistAnaesthSoc_and_SectAnaesthRoyalSocMed_6March1993.pdf
Unable to locate river El Cienega, La Cienaga is the Spanish word for swamp. Plenty of swamps and lagoons in this region of Colombia. At this time Cartagena was the main port for Colombia, connected to the river Magdalena by canals and rivers. Empson's journey from Cartagena to Honda (Port for Bogata ) was 600 miles and took five months.
