Sterile as the Llanos appear during the dry season, numerous
cattle-farms exist, scattered widely over large portions. The Llaneros,
as the inhabitants are called--descendants of the white settlers, with
an admixture of Indians and blacks--are a hardy, bold race, living
almost entirely on horseback, engaged in watching over their herds, and
in battling with the spotted jaguar, the savage cayman, the huge boa and
anaconda, and occasionally the fierce natives of the surrounding
deserts. Often, too, they have to struggle for their lives against the
sudden inroads of the vast inundations which sweep off their herds and
frail habitations. Armed with their unerring lasso and garrocha, or
sharp lance, blunderbuss and sword, they fear no foes. These lances,
formed of the tough stem of a small palm, are weapons of no slight
importance to them. They are sharpened to a point at one end, and
hardened in the fire, or sometimes have an iron head. Round the point a
number of loose metal rings are secured, which when shaken produce a
loud rattling sound.
See a band of these hardy horsemen in chase of the wild cattle which
roam at large over the plains. In bands of six or ten, they form a
circle of fifteen miles or so in circumference--bivouacking during the
previous night at their respective stations. At early dawn they mount
their horses; and now, shouting and shrieking, with their lasso coiled
before them on their saddle, and their garrocha in their hand, whirled
round and round, they advance, closing in towards the centre of the
circle, and driving before them all the animals they meet. The animals,
terrified by the cries and whirling spears, dash madly forward,--some
endeavouring to break away from the circle, when they are speedily
turned back by the sharp goads of the horsemen. Not only the cattle,
but wild boars, deer, and other quadrupeds, starting up from the ground
where they have been resting, dash on amid the confused herd. And now
perhaps several thousand head of cattle are collected within the circle
formed by a hundred or more horsemen. If a fierce bull, turning round,
ventures to encounter them, they shake their rattling spears in his
ears, and quickly again turn him.
When a bull is overtaken, the Llanero thrusts the point of his spear
into the animal's shoulder, and, leaning forward with the whole weight
of his body upon the shaft, overthrows the savage creature, who rolls
headlong on the plain, where he is quickly secured. Sometimes a fiercer
bull than ordinary charges the horsemen, who fly on either side; but
wheeling round speedily, with their lassos whirling round their heads,
the noose is thrown over the animal's horns, and the well-trained steeds
assisting their riders, he is speedily brought to the ground. A hole
being then pierced in the thick cartilage of the nostrils, a thong is
passed through it, the other end being fastened to the horse's tail. A
jerk quickly brings the bull to his feet, and he is led off a captive.
A still bolder manoeuvre is accomplished by the expert horseman.
Galloping after the bull, the rider seizes the animal's tail, giving it
a turn round his own wrist, and then again urges forward his horse till
both are at full speed, when, suddenly turning in an oblique direction,
by a powerful jerk--from the impetuosity imparted by their rapid speed--
the bull is brought to the ground. Here, too, the horse, knowing what
is about to be done, starts forward at the proper moment, and assists in
accomplishing the work. Sometimes the daring Llanero will throw himself
from his seat, still holding on to the tail of the bull, and seldom
fails ultimately to overthrow it.
The whole scene is one of the wildest confusion. Clouds of dust rise
from the dry plain, trampled on by the hoofs of numberless animals. The
bulls, driven to fury, tear up the earth, and with deep, savage
bellowings rush at their fellows as well as at their foes, unable to
distinguish one from the other--often piercing the former with their
sharp horns. The uproar is increased by the yells and shouts of the
Llaneros galloping in all directions over the ground, rattling their
garrochas, waving their ponchos, and whirling their lassos. Yet further
to increase the turmoil and uproar, flocks of cranes and herons,
startled by the hoofs of the horses and shouts of the riders as they
rush onward, rise from the stunted frees of a neighbouring marsh, with
loud cries and clashing of wings, into the air, hovering above the heads
of the actors in such numbers as almost to darken the sky as they circle
round and round.
The object of the hunt is to separate the cattle of the different
owners, and to drive them into their respective corrals or majadas.
Tame cattle are employed to assist in the operation, and are stationed
at various places round the circle. The horsemen, dashing in among the
mass of excited animals, fearless of the points of their sharp horns,
drive out with their lances those they recognise as their own property--
known by the notches on their ears--goading them with their lances. The
animals, now separated with wonderful skill, are, with their calves,
urged towards the groups of their well-trained kindred, who lead them on
towards the destined corral. Often, however, suspecting treachery, they
turn round and attempt to escape, rushing with mad fury towards the
horsemen--many of whose steeds are thus pierced by their horns, and the
riders, overthrown, with difficulty escaping.
Thus they at length reach the entrance of the corral, which is in the
shape of a funnel, composed of stout posts strengthened by thick
rafters. Here the most desperate struggle often ensues; but the bulls
are met by an array of the rattling garrochas; and though some may
escape at the last, the great mass are, by the skill of the Llaneros, at
length secured within the corral,--many of the cattle receiving
desperate wounds.
These farms of the Llanos, built in the roughest and most primitive
style, are surrounded by fences, intended not only to resist the rush of
a herd of cattle, but the attack of human foes. The inclosures are
formed of huge trunks of trees, driven close together into the ground.
It would seem difficult to account for the way in which they are brought
across the plain. This is done, however, during the inundation of the
savannahs, when they are transported to the spot on rafts made of
lighter wood,--the timbers themselves being composed of a species of
acacia of extreme hardness, and from their nature capable of resisting
the effects of alternation of climate for many years. Many of these
corrals are sufficiently spacious to contain three thousand head of
cattle.
When the animal is to be caught for slaughter, the horsemen go in chase,
the one securing it by his lasso over its head and dragging it along,
while the other urges it on with his garrocha till it reaches the
slaughter-post. The first then secures the animal by a few turns of the
lasso round it, while a matador strikes his dagger into the vertebras at
the back of the head, when the animal drops as if struck by an electric
spark.
These wild horsemen, when crossing a river, hesitate not to plunge in,
in spite of the alligators which may be swarming on every side. While
their clothes are carried across in a hide-formed canoe, put together at
the moment, they dash into the stream without clothes or saddles, and
then slipping from the backs of their horses, support themselves on the
animals' haunches with one hand, while they guide them by means of the
halter with the other--their companions on the shore shouting, yelling,
and shaking their ponchos, to drive the rest of the herd into the water.
The caymans, alarmed by the uproar, keep at a distance; but the savage
little caribes frequently attack them, and many thus fall.
Besides cattle, horses, and mules, vast numbers of hogs range over the
plain,--the descendants of those introduced by the early settlers, and
which are now, from their ferocity, and the formidable size of their
tusks, considered foes worthy of the lances of the bold horsemen. These
lances, generally used in hunting, have played no insignificant part in
the hands of the Llaneros, as well as in those of some of the fierce
tribes of the desert, during the civil wars which so long disturbed the
country.
A profusion of fruits in a state of nature grow in the woods and plains.
Among them are several species of wild guavas. Some are of exquisite
flavour and aroma. One sort bears in rich profusion a number of
brilliant scarlet, highly perfumed, and acidulous fruits. There are
various kinds of custard apples, the inside a sweet and highly aromatic
pulp filled with small seeds. Also the madrona, which resembles the
lemon in shape and colour, and filled with a pulp enveloping several
large nuts, the flavour not unlike strawberries. The tree which
produces these fruits attains a height of sixty feet, and has a dense
foliage of a brilliant green.
On a vine grows the monkey cacao bean, which these animals eagerly
devour.
There are many leguminous trees, some bearing pods ten inches long,
filled with rows of black beans enveloped in a snow-white and agreeably
sweet pulp. Here also is the algarobo, or locust-tree of the New World;
bearing pods filled with beans surrounded by a sweet farinaceous
substance, of a highly nutritious quality.
Indeed, Venezuela is behind no other region of the world in the variety
and quality of its natural productions.