FOURTH TOUR ABROAD
Yucatan--Honduras--Costa
Rica--Panama--Equador--Peru--Chile--Argentina--Brazil--Teneriffe.
October 1909 saw me on board the steamer _Lusitania_, bound for New York
and another long trip somewhere. What a leviathan! What luxury! Think of
the Spanish dons who crossed the same ocean in mere cobble boats of
fifty tons, and our equally intrepid discoverers and explorers. What
methods did they adopt to counteract the discomfort of _mal de mer_?
Which reminds me that on this same _Lusitania_ was the Viscomte D----,
Portuguese Ambassador or Minister to the United States of America, who
confidentially told me that he at one time was the worst of sailors, but
since adopting a certain belt which supports the diaphragm the idea of
sea-sickness never even suggests itself to him. For the public benefit
it may be said that this belt is manufactured by the Anti Mal de Mer
Belt Co., National Drug and Chemical Co., St Gabriel Street, Montreal,
Canada. Bad sailors take note! On this steamer were also, as honoured
guests, Jim Jeffries, the redoubtable, going to his doom; "Tay Pay"
O'Connor; and Kessler, the "freak" Savoy Hotel dinner-giver; also, by
the way, a certain London Jew financier, who gave me a commission to go
to and report on the Quito railroad.
When travelling west from New York in the fall one is filled with
admiration for the wonderful colour of the maple and other trees. Europe
has nothing at all comparable. This wonderful display is alone worth
crossing the Atlantic to see.
I found that the past summer had been a record hot one for Texas. The
thermometer went to 115° in the shade. Eggs were cooked (fried, it is to
be supposed) on the side-walk, and popcorn popped in the stalks. In
November I sailed from New Orleans for Yucatan to visit at Merida a
Mexican friend, who turned out to be the King of Yucatan, as he was
popularly called, he being an immense landed proprietor and practically
monopolist of the henequin industry. Henequin, or Sisal hemp, is the
fibre of _Agave Sisalensis_, a plant very like the _Agave Americana_,
from which pulque is extracted. Thence round the corner, so to speak, to
British Honduras, where we called in at Belize, whose trade is in
mahogany and chicklee gum, combined with a deal of quiet smuggling done
with the Central American States. Quite near Belize, among the
innumerable islands and reefs, was the stronghold of the celebrated
pirate Wallace (Scotchman). Many man-o'-war birds and pelicans were in
the harbour. From Belize to Porto Barrios, the eastern terminus of the
Guatemala railway. Here we are close to the scene of that wonderful and
mysterious Central American prehistoric civilization, which has left for
our antiquarians and learned men a life-work to decipher the still dumb
symbols carved on its stupendous ruins. In Guatemala, and near this
railway, are Copan and Quiriguá, and probably other still undiscovered
dead cities. Some of these Guatemala structures show a quite
extraordinary resemblance to those at Angkor in Cambodia. Mitla and
Palenque are in Mexico and are equally remarkable. The latter is still
difficult to get to. Here again (Palenque) the temple shows a strange
similarity to that at Boro Budoer in Java. Was it Stamford Raffles who
said that, as far as the expenditure of human labour and skill goes, the
pyramids of Egypt sink into insignificance when compared with this
sculptured temple of Boro Budoer. Chichen-Itza, Labna, Sayil and Uxmal
are all in Yucatan and approached from Merida. How many more of such
very wonderful ruins are still hidden in the dense jungle of these
countries it will be many years yet before we may know. Some I have seen
myself, and it is still my hope very soon to visit others.
Among the wild animals of Yucatan and Honduras are the jaguar (_Felis
onça_) with spots, ocellated or eyed; and the panther (_Felis
concolor_) called puma in Arizona; the vaca de aqua or manatee, shaped
like a small whale but with two paddles; the howling monkey, largest in
America, and the spider monkey; the iguana, largest land lizard known to
history, and alligators. Alligators are confined to the Western
Hemisphere; crocodiles were supposed to be peculiar to the East, but
lately a true crocodile (_Crocodilus Americanus_) has been identified in
Florida. The alligator covers its eggs with a heap of rubbish for warmth
and so leaves them; the African crocodile, on the contrary, buries them
in the sand and then sits over them. The cardinal bird and the ocellated
turkey must not be forgotten. Here may be found the leaf-cutting ants,
which store the leaf particles in order to grow a fungus on, and which
they are very particular shall be neither too damp nor too dry. Also
another ant, the _Polyergus Rufescens_, a pure slave-hunter, absolutely
dependent on its slaves for all the comforts of life and being even fed
by them.
In Honduras there are many Caribs, still a strong race of Indians,
having a strict and severe criminal law of their own. They are employed
mostly as mahogany cutters, and are energetic, intelligent and
thoroughly reliable workmen. Puerto Cortez in Honduras has the finest
harbour on the whole Atlantic coast of Central America.
Note.--St Thomas is supposed to have visited and civilized the Central
American Indians, as Quetzalcohuatl did in Mexico.
On leaving New Orleans it had been my intention to enter Nicaragua and
report to a certain New Orleans newspaper on the conditions in that most
distressful country; said paper having commissioned me to do so.
Entrance to the State could only be made from Guatemala, but that
country's consul in New Orleans refused to issue the necessary passport.
Had I gone as an Englishman, and not as an American, there might have
been no difficulty. As said before, Central American States have a dread
and suspicion of Yankees. This was at the time that two Yankee
revolutionists had been shot by the President of Nicaragua.
The next place of call was Limon, the port of Costa Rica. Every foot of
land on these coasts, suitable for the growth of bananas, has been
bought up by the great American Fruit Co., a company of enormous
resources and great enterprise. Limon is a delightful little town from
whence the railway runs to San José, the capital, which stands some 4000
feet above sea-level. Costa Rica is a peace-loving little state,
prosperous, and enjoying a delightful climate. Much coffee and cocoa is
grown, shaded by the Bois immortel or madre de Cacao. The live-stock
industry is also a large one, and the animals seen on the high grassy
plains are well grown and apparently well bred enough. I visited
Cartago, a city which soon afterwards was destroyed by an earthquake.
On the railroad trip up to and back from the capital we passed through
lovely and romantic scenery, high hills, deep ravines and virgin
tropical forest. The rainy season was at its height, and how it rained!
The river was a raging torrent, and from the railway "cut" alongside
continuous land-slides of loose gravelly soil were threatening the track
with demolition. Indeed, at some points this had actually occurred, and
the train several times had to be stopped to allow the gangs of workmen
to clear the way. A bad slide, had it hit the train, would have pushed
the whole thing into the deep and turbulent river. All the passengers
were much alarmed, and I stood on the car platform ready to jump, though
the jump would necessarily have been into the seething water.
November 27th.--Colon once more! Went on to Panama. The Chagres River
was in the highest state of flood known in twenty years.
November 30th.--Sailed on steamship _Chile_ with about thirty
passengers, all Spanish Americans, bound for Equador, Peru or Chile.
December 3rd.--Reached the Equator, and I donned warmer clothes. We saw
whales, sharks, porpoises, rays and thrashers. Entered the Guayaquil
River. Here was where Pizarro first landed and obtained a footing. The
steamer anchored in quarantine a mile below the city. Yellow fever was
raging as usual, and the Quito railroad was blocked by the
revolutionists, so my projected visit again for the second time fell
through. Guayaquil has the highest permanent death-rate of all cities.
The state produces much cocoa and mangrove wood. The town is the centre
of the Panama hat trade, which hats are made of the sheaths of the
unexpanded leaves of the jaraca palm, or of the long sheaths protecting
the flower-cone of the hat palm (_taquilla_); and they can only be made
in a favourable damp atmosphere. Here on the mangrove roots and
submerged branches enormous quantities of oysters may be found. Oysters
on trees at last! Belonging to Equador State are the Galapagos Islands,
500 miles westward. Of course we did not visit them, but they are
remarkable for their giant tortoises and their wild cattle, donkeys and
dogs. It is said that these dogs do not bark, having forgotten how to;
but they develop the power after contact with domestic ones. The
Guayaquil River swarms with alligators, but luckily the alligator never
attacks man.
We sailed south down the coast, calling at many ports. From Guayaquil
south to Valparaiso, a distance of 2000 miles, we enjoyed bright, clear
weather, a pleasant, sometimes an even too low temperature, and
peaceful seas, a condition which the captain assured me was constant,
the low temperature being due to the South Polar or Humboldt current.
The absolute barren condition of this whole coast is also indirectly due
to this current, the temperature of the sea being so much below that of
the land that evaporation and condensation do not take place. After
passing some guano islands on December 9th we landed at Callao, the port
of Lima. Went on to Lima, a city founded by Pizarro, and once a very
gay, luxurious and licentious capital. It is celebrated for its handsome
churches. Its streets are narrow and the whole population seemingly
devoted to peddling lottery tickets. There are many Chinamen amongst its
150,000 inhabitants. The Roman Catholics control the country, which is
absolutely priest-ridden, Reformed or other churches not being permitted
in Peru. A revolution was attempted only a few days ago, the President
having been seized and dragged out of his office to be shot. The
military, however, rescued him and the revolution was over in
twenty-four hours. Peru's resources, outside of the very rich mining
districts, will eventually be found in the Montaña country, on the lower
eastern slopes of the Andes. Her people are backward, and, at least in
Cuzco and Arequipa, I should say the dirtiest in the world. There is as
yet little or no tourist traffic on this coast; and there will not be
much till better steamers are put on and hotels improved. In Lima,
however, the Hotel Maury is quite good, though purely Spanish. It never
rains on this coast, yet Lima is foggy and cold.
I took a trip up to Oroya over the wonderful Meiggs railway. M. Meiggs
was an American, who had to leave his country on account of certain
irregularities. We reached a height of 16,000 feet, the country being
absolutely barren and devoid of vegetation, but very grand and imposing.
December 16th.--Sailed from Callao for Mollendo, calling at Pisco. Here,
close to the harbour, are wonderful guano islands, on two of which were
dense solid masses of birds covering what seemed to be hundreds of acres
of ground. How many millions or billions must there have been! And yet,
it being the evening, millions more were flighting home to the islands.
With glasses they could be seen in continuous files coming from all
directions. These birds are principally cormorants and pelicans. There
are also very many seals, and we saw some whales. These islands
presented one of the most marvellous sights I ever saw. And what
enormous, still undeveloped, fisheries there must be here to support
this bird-life. To-day we also passed a field of "Red Sea," confervæ or
infusoria. We were favoured for once with a grand view of the Andean
peaks, which are seldom well seen from the coast, being wrapped in
haze and clouds.
[Illustration: LLAMAS AS PACK ANIMALS.]
[Illustration: DRIFTING SAND DUNE. (One of thousands.)]
Arrived at Mollendo, port of Arequipa and Bolivia, I at once took train
and rose rapidly to an elevation of 8000 feet, arriving in the evening
at Arequipa. The whole country is desolate in the extreme. On the high
plains we passed through an immense field of moving sand-hills, all of
crescent shape, the sand being white and of a very fine grain. On
approaching Arequipa the sunset effect on the bright and vari-hued rock
strata and scoriæ, backed by the grand Volcan Misti, 19,000 feet high,
made a marvellously beautiful picture, the most beautiful of its kind
ever seen by me, and showing how wonderfully coloured landscapes may be
without the presence of vegetation of any kind. Hotels in Arequipa are
very primitive, and after a glance at the market and its filthy people
you will confine your table fare to eggs and English biscuits as I did.
Arequipa has been thrice destroyed by earthquakes and is indeed
considered the quakiest spot on earth. Priests, monks, ragged soldiers
and churches almost compose the town; yet it has a very beautiful Plaza
de Armas, where in the evenings Arequipa fashion promenades to the music
of a quite good band. I seemed to be the only tourist here.
On the 20th I took train to Juliaca, rising to 15,000 feet; thence two
days to Cuzco, the celebrated southern capital of the Incas, whose
history I will not here touch on. Not only are there abandoned Inca
remains, but also in high Peru and Bolivia remains of structures
erected, as it is now supposed, 5000 years ago. The pottery recently
found would suggest this, it being as gracefully moulded and decorated
as that of Egypt of the same period; authority even declaring it to be
undistinguishable from the latter, and they also testify to evidence of
an extremely high and cultivated civilization, not barbaric in any
sense, in these remote periods. Indeed, the civilization of the country
at that far-off time must have been quite as advanced as in the Nile
Valley. Cyclopean walls and other remains show a marvellous skill in
construction; individual blocks of granite-stone, measuring as much as
fifteen to twenty feet in diameter, being placed in these walls with
such skill that even to-day a pen-knife blade cannot be inserted between
them. No mortar was used, but the blocks are keyed together in a
peculiar way. How this stone was so skilfully cut and transported we
cannot imagine; even with iron and all our modern appliances it is
doubtful if we could produce such exactitude.
[Illustration: PERUVIAN RUINS.
(Note dimensions of stones and locking system)]
At Puna one gets a good view of Lake Titicaca, still a large lake, but
once of much greater dimensions. Sailing over and among the high peaks
it was here my good fortune to view for the first time that majestic
bird, the condor, which, it is declared, has never been seen to flap its
wings. Thus in the South Seas I had been privileged to see the
albatross, and here the condor. Lucky, indeed, to have viewed these
monarchs of the air, free in their proper element, in all their pride,
grace and beauty. How often, as a boy, or even as a man, has one
anticipated "some day" seeing these noble birds in their native haunts!
Also many llamas and alpacas, the former very handsome animals. The
vicuñas and guanacos are the wild representatives of this family, and
are also very abundant. In Arequipa I suffered somewhat from "nevada,"
due to electric conditions, and distinct from "saroche." Saroche never
affected me.
December 27th.--Sailed for Valparaiso, calling at Iquique, Antofagasta
and Coquimbo. The coast country is so desolate and arid that at some of
these purely nitrate towns school-children's knowledge of trees and
other plants is derived solely from painted representations on boardings
erected for the purpose. This may seem libellous, but is not so.
We arrived at Valparaiso on New Year's Day. The city showed few signs of
its late disaster. The harbour is poor, and the place has few
attractions. Society was attending a race meeting at Viño del Mar. Went
on to Santiago, the capital, 1500 feet elevation, population claimed
300,000; our route lying through rich, well-cultivated valleys. The
climate and general appearance of the country are much like those of
California, the temperature being quite hot at mid-day but cool always
in the shade, the nights being chilly. This was midsummer. Santiago has
some handsome buildings and a very attractive Plaza Mayor; the hotels
are poor. The Chilians are an active, intelligent, wide-awake people;
are great fighters and free from the religious trammels of Peru. From
here I took train to Los Andes; then by narrow gauge line, the grade
being 7 per cent. on the cog track, through barren rough gorges to the
Cumbre, or summit, 13,000 feet high. The most commanding peak that we
saw was Aconcagua, over 23,000 feet high, and the highest mountain in
the Western Hemisphere. At Lago del Inca, at the entrance to the
incompleted tunnel, we left the train and took mules or carts to the
summit, where is an immense, surprising and commanding figure of the
Christ. On the Argentina side we again took train to Mendoza, an
important town and centre of the fruit and wine country. Thence a
straight run over the immense level pampas, now pastures grazed by
innumerable cattle, sheep and horses, to Buenos Ayres. Many rheas
(ostriches) were seen from the train. These birds, the hens, lay in each
other's nests, and the male incubates--perhaps to save the time of the
hens; which reminds one of the cuckoo, who mates often, and whose stay
is so limited that she has no time to incubate. Yet she does not lay in
nests, but on the ground, and the eggs are deposited by the male in the
nests of birds whose eggs they most resemble, and only one in each.
By-the-by, whilst in Santiago a quite severe quake occurred, but there
were few casualties, only two people being killed. It was at night, and
my bedroom being on the third floor of the only three-storey building in
town, I continued to lie in bed, not indeed knowing what to do, and
resigning myself to fate. I distinctly do not want to live in quaking
countries!
The sensation produced on one by an earthquake is peculiar and different
from all others. One is not so much alarmed as overawed; one feels so
helpless, so insignificant; you know you can do nothing. What may happen
next at any moment is beyond your ken; only when you realize that the
disturbance has actually shaken these immense mountain masses and these
boundless plains do you appreciate the forces that have caused it. The
Krakatoa outbreak raised the water in our Thames four inches. A great
Peruvian earthquake sent a tidal wave into the Red Sea.
Buenos Ayres is a city of some 1,200,000 people, half Italians (the
working and go-ahead half) and half Spanish Americans. But there is
also a very mixed population. There are many fine buildings and palatial
residences, but the business streets are ridiculously narrow, save and
except the Avenida de Mayo, which is one of the handsomest streets in
the world. The new boulevards, the parks and race-tracks all deserve
admiration. The hotels are not quite good enough--not even the palatial
"Plaza." Prices, and indeed the cost of living, are quite as great as in
New York. It was too hot to remain long, so I crossed to Montevideo,
went all over the town; but beyond seeing (not meeting, alas!) one of
the most beautiful girls I ever saw in my life, there was not much to
interest. So, on the White Star Liner _Athenic_, I hastened to England.
It may be remarked here that though Buenos Ayres and Santiago claim, and
offer, wonderful displays of horsed carriages in their parks, if one
watches them critically he will seldom see a really smart turn-out. The
coachman's badly-made boots, or a strap out of place, or a buckle
wanting, or blacking needed, all detract from the desirable London
standard.
January 24th.--We entered beautiful Rio harbour. In the town the
temperature was unbearable. The city is in the same transformation
condition as Buenos Ayres; the streets are narrow, except the very
handsome new Avenida Central. The esplanade on the bay is quite
unequalled anywhere else. Surely a great future awaits Rio! A trip up
Corcovada, a needle-like peak, some 2000 feet high, overlooking the bay,
should not be missed. We sailed again for Teneriffe to coal, which gave
us an opportunity to admire the grand peak and get some idea of the
nature of the country. Thence home.
Perhaps a short note on the great historical personages of Central and
South America may be of interest. Among these the greatest was Simon
Bolivar, who with Miranda, the Apostle of Liberty, freed the Northern
States of South America from Spanish dominion. It was Bolivar who in
1826 summoned the first International Peace Congress at Panama. San
Martin, an equally great man, born in Argentina, freed the southern half
of the Continent. Lopez, president in 1862 of Paraguay, has secured
notoriety for having had the worst character in all American history.
Petion, almost a pure negro, deserves also a prominent place. He was
born in 1770, was a great, good and able man, and freed Haiti; he also
assisted and advised Bolivar. May I also remind you here that Peru is
the home of the Peruvian bark tree (cinchona) and the equally valuable
coca plant, which gives us cocaine. Paraguay is the country of the
yerba-mate, universally drunk there, supplanting tea, coffee, cocoa and
coca. Like coca it has very stimulating qualities. El Dorado, the
much-sought-for and fabulous, was vouched for by Juan Martinez, the
chief of liars, who located it somewhere up the Orinoco River.
The Spaniards, and also the Portuguese, were wonderful colonizers and
administrators. Just think what enormous territories their civilization
influenced, and influenced for good. Certainly the torch of the
Inquisition accompanied them; but even under that dreadful blight their
colonies prospered and the conquered races became Iberianized, such was
their masters' power of impressing their language, religion and manners
on even barbarous tribes.