A TOUR THROUGH SOUTH AMERICA
[Illustration: CARTAGENA]
A TOUR THROUGH
SOUTH AMERICA
:: BY A. S. FORREST ::
[Illustration]
WITH 145 ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR
LONDON: STANLEY PAUL & CO.
31 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C.
_First published in 1913_
THIS BOOK IS BY KIND PERMISSION
DEDICATED TO
SIR OWEN PHILIPPS, K.C.M.G.
TO WHOSE NAME NO TRAVELLER TO SOUTH AMERICA
NEEDS INTRODUCTION
THE AUTHOR FEELS THAT THIS SLIGHT TRIBUTE
IS DUE TO ONE WHO HAS DONE AND IS
STILL DOING MUCH TO LINK UP
THE OLD WORLD WITH THE VAST TERRITORIES
DEALT WITH IN THE ENSUING PAGES
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. EARLY ADVENTURERS AND DISCOVERIES 17
II. THE SIGHTING OF THE PACIFIC 26
III. THE BUCCANEERS 34
IV. ON THE WAY TO THE SOUTHERN CONTINENT 48
V. OF THE LABOURERS ON THE ISTHMUS 60
VI. CANAL PROJECTS: OLD AND NEW 72
VII. PANAMA 97
VIII. THE PANAMANIANS 104
IX. COLOMBIA AND CARTAGENA 117
X. ECUADOR 127
XI. “THE CITY OF THE KINGS” 131
XII. PERU--“THE COUNTRY OF MARVELS” 138
XIII. “THE GATEWAY TO AN IMPRISONED LAND” 149
XIV. “THE LAND OF NITRATES” 157
XV. ARGENTINA 167
XVI. THE CAMP 180
XVII. A LIVE INDUSTRY 197
XVIII. ON THE ROAD TO PARAGUAY 208
XIX. ASUNCION 226
XX. A SOUTH AMERICAN DICTATOR 240
XXI. MORE MODERN TIMES IN PARAGUAY 244
XXII. A GLANCE AT BRAZILIAN HISTORY 249
XXIII. “A CITY OF PARADISE” 263
XXIV. VIANNA 278
XXV. SOME EXCURSIONS FROM RIO 286
XXVI. SÃO PAULO 299
XXVII. A SOURCE OF LIGHT AND POWER 319
XXVIII. COFFEE 327
XXIX. THE FOREST 338
INDEX 351
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Cartagena _Frontispiece_
PAGE
An Old Map of the Isthmus 16
“Caribs” in Terra Firma 19
Gold Nose Ring 21
Ancient Gold Nose Ring 21
“A Dream in Living Bronze is She.”--A native of the Isthmus of
Darien 23
Ancient Indian Pottery found in the Graves on the Isthmus 24
Pottery from the Graves in Chirique 27
The Pacific, from a Peak in Darien 29
Huts near the Ancient City of Panama 31
The Pirate “L’Ollonois” 35
Sir Henry Morgan.--From an old print 37
Fort Lorenzo 39
Old Sentry Tower on the Chagres River 41
The Old Church Tower, Old Panama 46
The Ramparts, Fort Lorenzo 47
Old Wharves, Colon 49
A Family Party, Colon 51
A Camp at Balboa 53
The First Labour Camp, Gatum 56
The Old Church on the Island of Tobago, off Panama 58
A Labour Camp (Evening), Canal Zone 61
A Toilet on the Zone 65
A Street in the Old Quarters, Panama 69
Water-babies by a River-side 70
An Old Church and Buildings, Panama 73
A Stretch of the Chagres River 77
Interior of a Shack on the Isthmus 79
The Old Panama Railway Track 81
Jamaican Labourer on the Zone 84
Barbadian Labourer on the Zone 85
Map of Republic of Panama 89
The Church at Chagres 92
Outside a Church on Christmas Eve, Panama 98
The Flat Arch of St. Dominic 100
Old Houses on the Sea Wall, Panama 102
Panama from Ancon 105
A Bit of the Old Town 108
The Plaza, Panama 110
An Interior, Cartagena 112
In the Market, Panama 116
A Colombian Mother 118
A Colombian Village 122
On the Banks of the Magdalena River 124
Map of Peru and Bolivia 126
A Dwelling by a River-side, Ecuador 129
A Peruvian Girl 133
The Cathedral, Lima 135
A Milkmaid, Lima 136
The Arid Coast of Peru 139
A Llama in Gold, made by the Incas 141
Inca Portraiture on a piece of Old Pottery 143
A Reduced Human Head 145
An Inca Mask in Gold 147
Pre-Inca Monoliths in Bolivia 148
A Fruit-Stall at Mollendo 150
The Jesuit Church on the Site of the Inca “Temple of the Sun” 152
A Bolivian Woman 153
Sailing on Lake Titicaca 154
Balsas on Lake Titicaca 155
A Chilian Farmer 158
An Araucanian Family 159
An Araucanian Indian 161
Araucanian Girls 163
On the Guano Deposits 165
Map of Argentine 169
The Lemon-shaped Dome of the Capital 171
Desolation 173
Landscape near Mendoza 175
The Bridge of the Inca 176
Crossing the Hills 177
A Glimpse of Aconcagua 178
Travellers by a River-side 179
Chasing Rheas 181
A “Pulperia” 184
Morning: Going to Work 186
Evening 187
Pegging out Hides 189
An “Estancia” 191
Gaucho Preparing a Meal 193
A Gaucho 195
The Lonely Camp 196
A Prize Hereford Bull 199
Colon 201
The Village of Frey Bentos 204
On the Parana 208
Frey Bentos 209
A Paraguayan Lady 211
Shepherds and Cowboys, Corrientes 215
Igeasu Falls on the Alto Parana 217
Old Houses in Corrientes 218
A “Posada,” Corrientes 219
Sharp’s Map of South America 221
Travellers on the Steamer 223
The Custom-house, Asuncion 227
The Dome of the Oratoire de Lopez 230
A Street in Asuncion 233
Paraguayan Savages 235
Crossing the Paraguay 238
A Paraguayan Gentleman 245
Map of Brazil 250
Beauties at Pernambuco 252
Near Rio 253
The Railway up to Corcovada 256
Coming down from Corcovada 257
The Church of the Candeliera, Rio 259
The Falls of Tombos in the State of Rio 262
Entrance to Rio Harbour 264
The Summit of Corcovada, Rio 266
“The Silent Bay” 267
A Suburban Street, Rio 269
Avenida Beira-Mar, Rio 271
The Sugar-Loaf by Night, Rio 273
A Bit of Rio Harbour 274
The Gavea, Rio 275
The Botanical Gardens 277
End of Santa Cruz 279
An Old Church near Rio 280
The Shore, Santa Cruz 281
Santa Cruz 282
Santa Cruz 283
Santa Cruz 285
At the Back of the Organ Mountains 287
A Road amongst the Hills, Petropolis 288
The Square of Tiradentes, Ouro Preto 289
Near the San Francisco River 290
Above the Falls at Tombos.--The Carangola River about 4300 miles
from Rio 291
Waterfall near Matilde, on the Line to Victoria Espirito Santo 292
The Rapids at Pirapora, on San Francisco River 293
Old Houses, Bahia 294
The Baras de Aquino.--The curious winding track of the Leopoldina
Railway 296
The Railway over the Confluence of the Paquequr and Parahyba Rivers 297
The Road to São Paulo from Rio 301
The Approach to Santos 303
Government Buildings in the Largo de Palacio 305
The National Museum at Ypiranga 307
The Theatre of S. Paulo 309
The Penteado Technical College 311
The Villa Penteado 312
Officers of the São Paulo Army 314
A Waterfall near São Paulo 315
The Wharves of Santos 316
The Docks of Santos 317
The Power Station 321
The Falls of Parnahyba 325
A Fazenda 329
A Coffee Fazendiero 331
Colonists’ Houses at Martino Prado 333
The Prado Mansion House, São Paulo 336
Harvey 341
Sebastian 347
FOREWORD
The artist or the writer who visits South America to-day finds it as a
diamond of a hundred facets, and his main difficulty is to select those
points upon which to concentrate his gaze. So vast is the subject, so
full of romance, glamour, pulsating life, and world possibilities that
not one book but many must be written upon it before the reader can form
the barest idea of the well-nigh illimitable nature of the theme. Hence
an author who offers any contribution to so vast a study has no need to
excuse himself for his apparent temerity, provided he sets on record
some new point of view or chronicles his impressions of paths not too
well known.
Even if he fails in either or both these aims his work is justified if
it contains individual conceptions of the myriad wonders which the
continent discloses to the seeing eye. For this far-reaching stretch of
earth is the last to be really explored and civilised by Western man.
Compared with many portions of it, the forests of Central Africa, the
plateaus of Middle Asia, and the deserts of Australia, are as open
books. It is only South America to-day, or, to be more correct, a great
part of it that is “a field enclosed, a fountain sealed.”
Consequently any contribution which aims at familiarising stay-at-home
folk with the marvellous cities, the impressive scenery, the rich
products, and the limitless resources of this mighty territory has
surely a title to consideration.
The present writer claims to be neither an explorer nor a political
theorist, nor, although profoundly impressed with the magnificence of
South America’s destiny, has he attempted to forecast the lines along
which that destiny will shape itself.
His aim has been far less ambitious, much more simple. Whatever he saw
in the country or amongst the people that interested him he has
endeavoured to transcribe with interest for the benefit of others. Even
so he submits that the ensuing pages will give the general reader a fair
conspectus of the rise and development of South America from those
far-off days when it was discovered, subjugated, and colonised by
Spanish and Portuguese conquistadores to the present day, where a dozen
independent Republics have their seats of government in cities where
once the flags of the conquerors waved.
The history of each State has been lightly touched upon and space has
been devoted to a consideration of the men of light and leading who have
helped to direct the fortunes of the continent from the earliest
beginnings of its modern history. The romantic adventures of Pizarro are
told in one chapter; in another the exploits of the sinister Dr. Francia
of Paraguay are recorded; and the reader will not set down the book
until he has learned what General O’Higgins and Lord Cochrane did for
the independence of Chili, and how San Martin, the Galahad of South
America, laid as though on a rock the foundations of that thriving State
now known as the Argentine Republic. Moreover, the part played by Simon
Bolivar in liberating the northern half of the continent from the
Spanish yoke is, the writer trusts, set forth with a due sense of
proportion.
Mighty men these, and more or less so because their dramas were enacted
on a remote stage of the world-theatre.
But, like the age of chivalry, the days of romance have passed and the
author has deemed it a necessary part of his scheme to deal with more
prosaic matters, things which impress the work-a-day world quite as much
as the sanguinary progresses of Spanish conquerors and the marvellous
civilisation of the Peruvian Incas. Something will be found in the book
concerning many of the resources of the country.
The imminent opening to universal traffic of the Panama Canal arrests
the attention of the entire civilised world. It has been the lot of the
author to spend a longer time on the Zone than is generally done by
persons not connected with the undertaking. Consequently he has had
abundant opportunities of studying, at first hand, not only its
constructive arts but also the character of the people living on the
isthmus.
His impressions are embodied in the early chapters of the volume.
The completion of this great waterway will make much of this enchanted
land as easy of access to us moderns as it was difficult to those old
Spanish mariners who dreamed that they were voyaging to an actual El
Dorado or to the fabled land of Ophir.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
A TOUR THROUGH SOUTH AMERICA
CHAPTER I
_Early Adventurers and Discoveries_
The history of the Isthmus of Panama, which was the point of departure
for the whole of those notable conquests which placed nearly all South
America under the heel of Spain, began with its discovery by Alonzo de
Ojeda in 1499.
The great name of Columbus figures prominently in this period, for in
the course of his fourth voyage he spent much time in sailing backwards
and forwards from east to west along the coast of Terra Firma in a vain
search for a passage through which his ships might pass to the land of
the Grand Khan.
But it was not ordained that the great navigator should add this laurel
to his crown, albeit his enterprise made the way easier for those who
were to follow.
Baffled by contrary winds and other adverse factors he had eventually to
retire from what in his chagrin he termed “the Coast of Contradictions”
and return to Spain, never to sail from its ports again.
The reports of Columbus as to the plentifulness of gold in the region of
the isthmus sent many other adventurous mariners and captains to the
Spanish Main, and soon the history of the time resolved itself into
intrigues, jealousies, and savage conflicts between the Indians and the
intruders, the latter enduring all kinds of privations in the hope of
reaching that rumoured land which overflowed with gold. Dramatic
developments began to ensue under an expedition which set out from
Hispaniola under the leadership of Enciso, a wealthy notary. On board
the ship in which he embarked was a mysterious barrel sent from a farm
situated on the seashore, and no sooner was the vessel well out to sea
than there emerged from this cask a tall muscular man in the prime of
life. Vasco Nuñez de Balboa, who had devised this means of escaping from
his creditors, proved in the end to be a valuable addition to the
expedition, though the commander’s first impulse and threat was to
maroon the stowaway on the first uninhabited island they might come
across. They landed at Cartagena and were menaced by the natives, who
hovered around them, doubtless remembering previous invasions and the
outrages they had suffered. By pacific measures, however, the newcomers
conciliated the Indians, at whose hands they then received valuable
assistance and supplies of such provisions as the country had to offer.
Balboa soon assumed a prominence in the discussions and deliberations of
the expedition. He recommended strongly the attractions of an Indian
village which he had come across when sailing some years before with
Bastides. It lay upon the banks of a river called Darien, and the
country all around was not only fertile, but abounded in gold, whilst
the natives, although warlike, never made use of the dreaded poisoned
arrow. With such enthusiasm did Balboa urge the claims of this region
that Enciso determined to follow his advice, and they set sail thither
and arrived and founded the town or city of Santa Maria de la Antigua
del Darien. The natives of the existing village they put to the sword,
having robbed them of all the golden ornaments they wore and the food
supplies collected in their huts.
Enciso immediately entered upon his duties as alcalde and lieutenant of
the absent Governor Ojeda, but discontent soon broke out amongst the
men, who, hoping for rich gains, had begun to get alarmed at the
attitude Enciso took with regard to the golden treasure they had
captured. Balboa’s chance had now come, and, taking advantage of this
discontent, he sought to gather around him a faction strong enough to
dethrone Enciso from his position of command, recollecting doubtless the
latter’s threat to maroon him and availing himself of this opportunity
for revenge. The legal aspect of the case aided in upsetting the
pretensions of Enciso to rule on a territory which lay on the west side
of the Gulf of Darien, for by the royal command it was clearly under the
jurisdiction of Nicuesa, a rival adventurer.
[Illustration: “CARIBS” IN TERRA FIRMA.]
The deposition of Enciso was accomplished, and Balboa and one Tzemudio
were appointed alcaldes by the colony with a cavalier named Valdivia as
Regidor. This arrangement, however, was not satisfactory, the general
opinion being that the sole authority should be vested in one
individual, and it was while the dispute concerning this matter was
going on that two ships arrived commanded by Colmenares who, with
provisions, was in search of Nicuesa. This man claimed that Nicuesa was
the legitimate governor of the province, and that, in his absence, he,
Colmenares, was the proper person to command. Balboa could hardly
controvert this, and his authority having been acknowledged, Colmenares
set out along the coast in pursuance of his search for the missing
governor, whom he found at Nombre de Dios.
There ensued a long duel between Balboa and Nicuesa for the supreme
authority, and eventually the former won, Nicuesa being placed on a
wretched vessel and driven out to sea, nothing further ever being heard
of him or his crew.
The rival claims of Enciso and Balboa for the vacant governorship of the
community led to its division into two factions, and the high favour in
which Balboa was held by the majority was such that, unable with all his
eloquence to prevail against him, the erudite and skilful Enciso was
put into prison and his property confiscated, after a trial which had
but the merest semblance of legality, on a charge of having usurped the
office of alcalde in a territory which did not come under his
jurisdiction.
When at length, through the intercession of his friends, he regained his
liberty he received permission to return to Spain. Balboa took the
precaution of sending in the same vessel one of his most intimate
followers, to prevent the deposed Enciso from gaining too much sympathy
at court, and to answer the charges which would doubtless be preferred
by him. Further, Balboa sent a handsome present in gold to the royal
treasurer of Hispaniola to impress him with the richness of the new
country and obtain what he knew to be a powerful influence with the
King.
After the departure of the _caravel_ with his predecessor on board,
Balboa set about organising an expedition into the interior, to discover
and obtain as much of the precious metal as he could, for he wisely
foresaw that if he provided the royal treasury at home with an abundance
of the much-coveted gold, any irregularities in his late proceedings
would be overlooked by the avaricious Ferdinand.
He sent Pizarro and a band on one such errand into a province called
Coyba, but on their setting out they were assailed by the Indians of
Darien led by their native lord or cacique, Zemaco, and after a fierce
encounter the Spaniards were forced to retreat. Balboa despatched two
vessels to Nombre de Dios to bring away the remnant of Nicuesa’s
followers who had been left there. While coasting the shores of the
isthmus these vessels picked up two Spaniards, painted like the Indians
with whom they had been living. These men had been well treated by
Careta the cacique of Coyba and repaid his kindness by instigating their
countrymen to attack this friendly native and rob him of his wealth and
treasure. They carried back to Balboa the news of their discovery at
Careta, and he, pleased with the intelligence, set out with a strongly
armed force to carry out this base design. On his arrival the
unsuspecting chief received him with all the hospitality his savage
customs could supply, but even this was not sufficient to deter Balboa
from using strategy to overcome resistance and plunder the village,
making captives of Careta, his wives and children and many of his
people, and taking them back as prisoners to Santa Maria.
The poor outraged chieftain pleaded with his captor to be released,
offering to become his ally and show him the realms where gold and
riches abounded, and as a pledge of his good faith to give his daughter
as a wife to the Spanish Governor, who, seeing all the advantages that
would accrue from the friendship of the natives, and not unmoved by the
youth and beauty of the proffered wife, accepted the alliance. After
impressing his new allies with the power of the Spanish armaments, and
astonishing them with the sight of the war horses which were strange to
them, he allowed them to depart loaded with presents, but leaving the
chief’s daughter, who willingly remained as the so-called wife of the
future discoverer of the Pacific.
[Illustration: GOLD NOSE RING.]
[Illustration: ANCIENT GOLD NOSE RING.]
Balboa, with eighty men, once more made his way to Coyba and assisted
Careta in invading the territories of one of his enemies, who were
compelled to retreat and take shelter in the mountain fastnesses.
Continuing their invasion, the combined forces ravaged the lands, sacked
villages, putting the inhabitants to the sword and securing much booty.
They then visited the province of another cacique, Comagre by name, who
was indeed one of the most formidable in the whole country, having at
his command three thousand fighting men, and living in what was for
these parts a very palace, built of stone and wood and containing many
apartments. There was in this palace a great hall in which the chieftain
preserved the bodies of his ancestors, dried by fire and wrapped in
mantles of cotton richly wrought and interwoven with pearls and jewels
of gold. Among the sons of this cacique was one who was of a lofty and
generous spirit and superior sagacity. He it was who struck the scales
and scattered the gold which the Spaniards were weighing out and
quarrelling over. Disdainful and disgusted at their sordid spirit, he
asked them why they quarrelled over such a trifle, and said that, from
the lofty hills in front of them, he would show them a mighty sea
navigated by people who had vessels almost as large as their own, adding
that on the shores of this great sea dwelt kings who ate and drank out
of golden vessels, and ruled over lands in which gold was as plentiful
as iron was amongst the Spaniards.
Imagine the eagerness with which Balboa plied this youthful Indian with
questions regarding the means of arriving at such opulent regions, and
how his imagination must have been stirred at the intimation of the sea
he was shortly to discover.
The difficulties to be overcome, the fierce resistance which he was
assured would be offered to his advance through the country he must
traverse, only stimulated his ambition to be the first to sail upon the
unknown sea. Henceforward all his plans were laid with the one idea of
reaching it, and he sent off envoys in great haste to Hispaniola laden
with much of the treasure he had already obtained, hoping thus to arouse
the interest of his King to such a pitch that he should be furnished
with a sufficient force of arms and men to enable him to accomplish a
mighty discovery. As some time would elapse before an answer to his
request could reach him, Balboa with his followers made incursions into
the country round their settlement, exploring the river and its
tributaries, but always meeting with a steady opposition from the
natives.
Of the hundreds of adventures they must here have met with history
records but few, and although they discovered much booty and captured
many slaves, they also lost much in their endeavours to transport it to
their capital.
Many of the natives lived in huts built like nests in the branches of
the trees and reached by ladders, which the inmates drew up at night or
when suddenly attacked. These arboreal homes, built of light woodwork
and thatched with leaves, were many of them large enough to hold
good-sized families, and when other means of overcoming these
nest-dwellers failed, the Spaniards would compel them to descend by
threatening to fell the trees or set fire to them. And this all for
gold. Gold was the object of their search, and no cruelty was too great
for them to inflict on any who kept them from their booty. One golden
temple, whose renown had reached them, was for many years to come the
object of a restless enterprise on the part of the Spaniards. Hundreds
of lives were lost in search of it, but never was its whereabouts
discovered, clans and tribes joining in confederacy to resist the
advances of their enemies.
[Illustration: “A DREAM IN LIVING BRONZE IS SHE.”
A native of the Isthmus of Darien.]
Balboa at last constructed a fortress round the town to resist the
attacks of and guard against surprise by his wily enemies. Weary of
waiting for the reinforcements he had sent for, his followers grew
impatient, and anxious and distressed at the non-arrival of help, he
determined to go in person back to Spain and urge his claims for
assistance to accomplish what he now looked upon as his mission. His
followers, however, dissuaded him from leaving them in what was still a
dangerous position, for they relied upon their leader to counsel and
protect them. Other envoys were found and despatched with letters full
of enthusiastic accounts of the wealth of the country, a portion of the
gold obtained being also sent, each man giving some of his private hoard
to swell the general amount. Surely the King on receiving this evidence
of the wealth and resources of his new possessions would not fail to
furnish means of extending and developing them.
It was while awaiting the issue of this second mission that the weary
and discontented colony of adventurers grew troublesome, and it required
all the resourceful ingenuity and sagacity of Balboa to prevent civil
war from breaking out. Order had hardly been re-established when two
ships arrived from Hispaniola with supplies and men and a commission for
Balboa, which although not from the source of royal power itself at
least gave a semblance of legal status to his governorship, coming as it
did from the hands of the King’s treasurer, Miguel de Pasamonte, to whom
the present sent had proved acceptable.
[Illustration: ANCIENT INDIAN POTTERY FOUND IN THE GRAVES ON THE
ISTHMUS.]
These were the events which led up to the great discovery, and Balboa
was just congratulating himself on the security of his position and the
hopefulness of his prospects when he received news from the colleague he
had sent home that Enciso had succeeded in arousing the King’s
resentment and indignation against Balboa, who was shortly to be
summoned back to Spain to answer most serious charges on account of his
harsh treatment of Nicuesa. The only comfort left to Balboa was the fact
that the information he now received was private and that no definite
order had yet reached him from the King. Desperate as he felt the
enterprise to be without reinforcements, he yet determined to risk all
upon the venture of crossing the isthmus before the King’s commands
could reach him. Choosing one hundred and ninety of the most reckless
and daring of the wild adventurers that composed his colony, and arming
them in such a manner as he thought fitting for the occasion, taking
with him several of the Darien Indians whom he won to his side by
kindness, and a number of dogs, amongst them his famous hound Leonico,
he set out on this perilous undertaking.
[Illustration]