EL BENI, THE BOLIVIAN EL DORADO
Every year exploring expeditions go to the Beni, penetrate its forests,
find new tributaries to its rivers, examine its _sierras_,
and bring back wonderful stories of gold mines and precious stones
in abundance, of rich pasture lands and agricultural valleys, of
great forests of hardwood, medicinal plants, and tropical fruits,
and crowning all, of unlimited treasures in rubber, one of the most
important articles in the world of commerce.
[Illustration: THE RUBBER GATHERER AT WORK, EL BENI.]
From the southwestern border of the department of El Beni, where it
is separated from La Paz and Cochabamba by the foothills of the Royal
Range, to the eastern and northern limits, where it is divided from
Brazil by the Guaporé River and from the Territorio de Colonias by the
Beni, the climate and products of this fertile zone vary greatly. This
fact accounts for the conflicting stories which are heard regarding
the country. Explorers and prospectors who travel in the western and
southern part of the department, in the region of Rurrenabaque, Santa
Ana, and Trinidad are generally enthusiastic about the climate and
great fertility of the soil for the purposes of agriculture, while
those who make the rubber forests their chief destination frequently
complain that the climate is unhealthy and the country an undesirable
place to live in. In reality, the Beni, as it is popularly called,
includes all kinds of climate and every description of natural
conditions. It covers an area of two hundred and sixty-five thousand
square kilomètres, and is divided into four provinces: Cercado, of
which the department capital, Trinidad, is the chief city; Yacuma, with
its capital, Santa Ana, near the junction of the Yacuma River with the
Mamoré; Iténez, of which the capital is Magdalena, on the San Miguel,
or Itonamas, River, a few leagues south of its junction with the
Guaporé; and Vaca Diez, with its capital, Riberalta, at the confluence
of the Madre de Dios and Beni Rivers, near the extreme northern limit
of the department. Each of these provinces has its distinguishing
features.
[Illustration: MISSION OF COVENDO ON THE BENI RIVER.]
[Illustration: THE ACRE DELEGATION LEAVING TRINIDAD, EL BENI.]
In every department of Bolivia the province in which the capital is
situated is called Cercado, equivalent to “environs,” and, as a rule,
it is the most populous of the provincial divisions. The Cercado of
the Beni is sometimes called the province of Mojos, the name by which
the whole department was known when it constituted a dependency of
the Audiencia of Charcas. When Gonzalo Pizarro and his followers made
explorations in this region soon after the conquest, they found it
inhabited by Indians of the Mojos tribes, and the founder of Trinidad,
Don Pedro de Zúñiga y Velasco, brother of the Count of Nieva, chose the
site for the town on the spot where prehistoric ruins marked the former
existence of a palace, which, the Indians explained, had once been
the residence of “the Great Mojo.” As the town was founded on Trinity
Sunday, in the year 1562, it was given the name of Santisima Trinidad,
though, when El Beni was created a department in 1842, its capital
was named simply Trinidad. The principal means of transportation in
this, as in all the other provinces of the Beni, is by river boats,
and travellers who wish to go to Trinidad find the best route by way
of Cochabamba. A very interesting book, written to describe a journey
made to the Acre territory in 1900 by a military commission under the
command of the present president of the republic, General Montes, then
colonel of the army and minister of war, gives an excellent idea of
this region of the Beni. The author, Don José Aguirre Achá, was one of
the officers of the commission, and his vivid picture of the territory
and its people has the double merit of being accurate and entertaining.
After leaving the city of Cochabamba, the usual route lies through the
Yungas, or Yuracarés, to the north as far as the river San Antonio, a
branch of the Chaparé, which is navigable for small canoes only; larger
craft do not ascend the Chaparé beyond the river port of Santa Rosa,
on the boundary between the departments of Cochabamba and El Beni. The
small canoes which are used on the San Antonio and other streams of
this vicinity are generally the property of the Yuracaré Indians, who
carry passengers down the river or across to the opposite bank. They
are summoned by the discharge of a gun, which brings the Indian quickly
to the spot. The Yuracaré boatman wears a single short garment which
is called a _tipoy_, though, unlike the Paraguayan dress of that
name, it is not white in color, and is very heavy, being made of a kind
of fibrous bark. It covers the body and shoulders only, leaving the
arms and legs bare. From the port of Santa Rosa, the canoes which the
Yuracarés use in descending the river Chaparé to the Mamoré are longer
and heavier than those of other small rivers in the Beni, and measure
from forty to fifty feet in length and five feet in width. They are
made of the trunks of trees, which are hollowed by burning them out.
Five Indians are usually employed in rowing one of these boats, while a
pilot stands at the stern to direct its course. Señor Aguirre Achá says
that one of these primitive canoes will carry more than five thousand
pounds of cargo. Larger boats, called _batelones_, are sometimes
used for heavy cargo, and are very common on the rivers of eastern
Beni. They carry four times as much as the canoes just mentioned, and
measure about twenty-five feet long by eight feet wide and about three
feet in average depth. They are of more complicated construction also,
and have a space protected by an awning. The scenery of this region is
intensely tropical, the rivers being bordered to the water’s edge by
palm trees and ferns. At the junction of the Chaparé with the Chimoré,
a navigable river at the headwaters of which is situated a port that
will soon be connected by railway with the city of Cochabamba, the
river takes the name of Mamorécillo, or little Mamoré, and from this
point the traffic steadily increases, canoes, _batelones_, and
other craft passing one another in rapid succession. The _balsa_
is frequently seen, as well as the _callapo_, which is made by
joining two or three _balsas_ together. Alligators abound in these
waters, and parrots of brilliant plumage are seen everywhere. Fish of
great variety and infinite abundance are found here, and many species
of small game afford entertainment for sportsmen. The Rio Grande enters
the Mamoré, or rather the Mamorécillo, a few leagues below Trinidad,
deepening and widening the latter for a considerable distance.
[Illustration: CALLAPOS CARRYING PASSENGERS AND CARGO ON THE
BENI RIVER.]
[Illustration: INDIAN CARRIERS CUTTING A PATH THROUGH THE
FOREST, EL BENI.]
[Illustration: A CAMP IN THE RUBBER FOREST, EL BENI.]
The city of Trinidad, the capital of the Beni, is situated a few miles
distant from the main current of the Mamoré, near a small tributary,
the Ibary. The city has about five thousand inhabitants, though its
population varies at different seasons of the year, depending chiefly
on transient passengers to and from the rubber regions. It is the
great highway for all traffic from Cochabamba and Santa Cruz to the
Madeira River ports. The many small steamboats which ply up and down
the Mamoré call at Trapiche, which is an _aduanilla_ and the port
of Trinidad, the town itself being situated two leagues from the river.
As the chief interest of its citizens, as well as transient visitors,
is centred in the rubber country, little attention has hitherto been
paid to public improvements or to the beautifying of the town, though
a spirit of enterprise has recently developed in its people which
promises well for future progress.
The province of Yacuma has the magnificent climate of the Yungas in its
southern extremity, the heat gradually becoming more excessive toward
the north where its rich rubber lands adjoin those of the neighboring
province of Vaca Diez. Through the port of Rurrenabaque, in Yacuma, on
the Beni River, large shipments of cacao, cocoa, tobacco, and other
products are made annually, the Beni being one of the most favored
regions in the world for the cultivation of cacao. The chocolate made
from the cacao of the Beni requires no foreign flavor, such as vanilla
and cinnamon, which are frequently used in its manufacture from cacao
of an inferior quality. It is equal to the best in the world. Cacao
trees in the Beni require little cultivation, they bear within four
years after planting and are most prolific when ten or twelve years
old. They yield two crops annually, the best districts producing from
thirty to forty pounds of cacao per tree. With greater attention
this industry would provide a very important source of revenue to
Bolivia, which is exporting the article in increasing quantities
every year. Another industry of promising future is tobacco growing,
which is extremely profitable in this department. Several varieties
are cultivated, such as “Havana,” “black Havana,” “Criollo,” “lettuce
leaf,” and “ox tongue,” but the production is insignificant compared
with the possibilities for development. The annual yield of all tobacco
plantations of Bolivia is estimated at three million five hundred
thousand pounds, the Beni supplying only a small share of the output,
but the exportation does not exceed fifty thousand pounds.
[Illustration: CARRYING PROVISIONS TO THE RUBBER CAMP, EL
BENI.]
The greatest industry of the Beni is rubber gathering, which is carried
on in every province, chiefly along the courses of the Beni River
and its tributaries. All through the upper Beni the trees are found,
and new companies are constantly being organized for the purpose of
further exploring this region and getting possession of valuable
rubber-producing districts. A special law governs the acquirement of
rubber lands in Bolivia, rubber trees being the property of the state.
Everybody, foreign and native alike, has the right to exploit the
uncultivated _bosques_ in which these valuable trees are found,
the discoverer of trees having the preferred right to ownership,
providing that he presents his petition for the concession before
the competent authority within one hundred and eighty days after the
discovery. The Delegado Nacional of the Territorio de Colonias and the
prefects of the departments have authority to adjudicate as much as
five hundred _estradas_, or paths, to each individual,--the rubber
properties being divided into paths to which the trees on each side
for a certain distance belong,--and one thousand _estradas_ to a
legally organized company. Petitions for a larger concession can only
be granted by Congress. Every concessionary must pay the sum of fifteen
bolivianos for each _estrada_, at the rate of one boliviano
annually for fifteen years, in order to establish his claim to the
property, under penalty of losing all rights, though the total payment
may be made before the expiration of the fifteen years if preferred.
The _estrada_ is comprised in a group of from one hundred to one
hundred and fifty rubber trees. The roads which lead to the rubber
properties are free to the public, as well as navigation on the rivers
and the use of the _bosques_ on the river banks. The work-man in
the rubber forests is not merely a laborer for hire, but exercises the
privileges of an explorer and contractor, who, when he finds new trees,
marks them as his own and contracts for the sale of them or for their
exploitation. In addition to the high price he gets for his daily labor
and for his discoveries, usually receiving all amounts in gold, his
employer provides him with food and other necessaries at a reasonable
price. The improvidence of rubber gatherers is proverbial, however, and
many of them spend their money before it is earned.
[Illustration: VIEW NEAR SUAPI CENTRAL, UPPER BENI.]
[Illustration: NAVIGATION ON THE UPPER BENI.]
The rubber trees of the Upper Beni average eight feet in height and
two feet in diameter, though trees are occasionally met with which
tower up to a hundred feet high and are more than three feet thick.
A distinctive feature of these rubber trees is that they have no
branches except at the top, and the bright green of their leaves,
with the reddish color which the new leaves show, makes the trees
easily distinguishable at a distance, especially when they appear in
groups. The moisture by which the tree is sustained and which is so
necessary for the production of its _latex_, as the rubber sap
is called, is received in part from the soil, but chiefly from the
atmosphere, the tree drinking in through its trunk and branches the
humidity which is permanently conserved in the air by the deep shade
of the _bosque_. Señor E. Gonzales, of one of the large rubber
companies of Bolivia, has made many interesting observations regarding
this fact in the rubber forests of his company, which extend over a
territory of about four million acres at Suapi Central, in the Upper
Beni. According to his statement the rubber trees, whatever their size
and the locality in which they are found, when tapped for the first
time give only a few drops of _latex_, the flow increasing little
by little with repeated incisions, and being at first so very dense
that it is coagulated by contact with the air, even when the trees are
tapped at the height of the rainy season. If the production of the new
trees growing in distinct regions is compared, as, for instance, in the
dry part of Suapi Central and in the more humid section of San Miguel,
it is found that a greater quantity of _latex_ is taken from
the trees in the moist atmosphere than in the dry. However great the
amount of rainfall may be, little moisture is retained in the ground
because of the impenetrable character of the soil, which is of chalky
composition. Furthermore, on the steep slopes of the _quebradas_
in the Upper Beni the water from rainfalls does not remain long enough
to sink into the ground, but is immediately carried down innumerable
streams, every crevice being converted into a river course during the
rainy season. In the Lower Beni, on the other hand, the trees remain
submerged in water for months at a time, the land, which is composed
of mud to a depth of several mètres, retaining an enormous amount of
moisture. The quantity of _latex_ produced bears no relation to
the period of rainfall, but only to the density of moisture of the
atmosphere. The average amount of _latex_ collected by tapping is
the same on the plains along a river course as on the _cumbres_,
or summits, of the hills. After a rubber tree is cut down, its leaves
remain fresh for about fifteen days, little by little losing their
color from that time until they finally die and drop off. The life of
the trunk of the tree seems concentrated in the upper part, to such an
extent that if tapped in the middle it yields no _latex_, only
the extreme branches containing a thick sap. Even when the tree has
apparently succumbed, and the insects are already destroying it, two
days’ rain will work a wonderful change, the renewed moisture of the
atmosphere causing the _latex_ to issue in a cream color from all
the incisions and from the holes bored by the insects. An examination
of rubber trees which are completely exposed to the sun, not surrounded
by other trees or entwined by ivy, shows that, in spite of heavy
rains and repeated tappings at different heights, only a few drops of
yellowish _latex_ is secured, and this of such thick consistency
that it coagulates immediately.
[Illustration: RUBBER TREES, EL BENI.]
The first tapping is done in the months of October, November, December,
January, and February. The trees then rest during March, the second
tapping season including the months of April, May, June, and July,
after which the trees rest again during August and September. The
process of treating the _latex_ by smoking it, twirling it around
a stick until it solidifies in the form of a ball about fifteen inches
in diameter, which is called a _bolacha_, is very well known.
In the Lower Beni the seasons for collecting rubber are shorter than
in regions higher up the river courses, because of heavier rains and
floods.
There are vast tracts of rubber lands in the Beni which have never
been explored, and the present annual output of Bolivian rubber, which
amounts to nearly three thousand tons, will be greatly increased as
new rubber districts are developed. The value of the rubber exported
annually averages about half a million pounds sterling. But, although
this industry absorbs the chief attention of all who live in the Beni,
and attracts new investments constantly, yet it has not entirely
prevented the development of other forest industries. Considerable
capital is employed in the exploitation of hardwoods, medicinal plants,
and spices. From all the provinces, through the ports of Trinidad,
Santa Ana, Magdalena, and Riberalta, large quantities of mahogany,
rosewood, ebony, cedar, logwood, gum, cork, and other products of the
tropical forests are shipped down the Madeira River and via the Amazon
to foreign markets. There are few countries in the world possessing a
greater variety of commercial products.
[Illustration: GRAN CRUZ HACIENDA AT THE CONFLUENCE OF THE
MAMORÉ AND BENI RIVERS.]
[Illustration: COAT OF ARMS OF EL BENI.]
[Illustration: RIVER BOAT, OR CALLAPO, ON THE MADRE DE DIOS,
TERRITORIO DE COLONIAS.]