ooking forts, which have long been
dismantled, but are still in a good state of preservation. At the
mainland end of the causeway leading from the city is the fort of San
Felipe, about 100 ft. above sea-level, adapted as a distributing
reservoir in the city's waterworks; and behind it are verdure-covered
hills rising to an elevation of 500 ft., forming a picturesque
background to the grey walls and red-tiled roofs of the city. The
streets are narrow, irregular and roughly paved, but are lighted by
electricity; tramway lines run between the principal points of the city
and suburbs. The houses are built with thick walls of stone and brick
round open courts, in the Moorish style, and their iron-barred doors and
windows give them the appearance of being a part of the fortifications.
Among the numerous churches, the largest and most imposing is the Jesuit
church of San Juan de Dios, with its double towers and celebrated marble
pulpit; an old monastery adjoins. Cartagena is an episcopal see, and its
cathedral dates from colonial times. The city was once the headquarters
of the Inquisition in South America, and the edifice which it occupied,
now private property, is an object of much interest. The water supply of
the city was formerly obtained from rainwater tanks on the walls or by
carriage from springs a few miles inland. But in 1906 an English company
received a concession to bring water by pipes from springs on the
Turbaco hills, 300 ft. above the sea.

The commercial importance of Cartagena declined greatly during the
period of civil disorders which followed the war for independence, but
in later years has revived. In the reign of Philip II. the Spaniards had
opened a canal ("El Dique") through some marshes and lagoons into a
small western outlet of the Magdalena, which gave access to that river
at Calamar, about 81 m. above the bar at its mouth; during Cartagena's
decline this was allowed to fill up; it was reopened in 1846 for a short
time and then was obstructed again by river floods; but in 1881 it was
reopened for steam navigation. Towards the end of the 19th century a
railway, 65 m. long, was built between Cartagena and Calamar. Imports
consist of cotton, linen and woollen fabrics, hardware, cutlery and
machinery, kerosene, glass and earthenware; and the exports of cattle,
sugar, tobacco, coffee, coco-nuts and fibre, dividivi and dye-woods,
vegetable ivory, rubber, hides and skins, medicinal forest products,
gold, s