most romantic and exciting history, being described at length in
“Thomson’s Seasons.” Again and again has it been sacked by the pirates,
as it was formerly the shipping-point for the product of the gold and
silver mines for which the mountains south of it have been so famous.
Tons and tons of gold and silver have been sent thence to Spain. In the
times of the viceroys the mines were worked under the direction of the
Government. One-fifth of the net product went to the King, another fifth
to the Church, while the miner was permitted to keep the remainder. The
old records show that the share of the King was several millions a year
for two hundred years or more, and that indicates how enormous the
profit must have been; for the miners and officials were no more honest
in those days than now, and it is not entirely certain that the share to
which his Majesty was entitled always reached him.
The fortifications of Carthagena surpass in extent and solidity those of
any city in the New World, and are still in good condition, although not
occupied, having been constructed without regard to expense and for all
time. The massive walls of the city are to all appearance impregnable,
and the ancient subterranean passages leading outward to the foot of the
adjacent mountains are still visible. The entrance to the magnificent
harbor is studded with ancient fortifications, which, though now unused
for more than half a century, seem almost as good as new. Formerly the
city was connected by ship-channel with the river Magdalena, at a point
many leagues above the delta, and was, therefore, in easy communication
with the fertile valleys and plateaux of the interior--the gate of
commerce in time of peace, and secure alike from protracted siege or
successful assault in time of war.
The decline of Carthagena seems to have commenced with the present
century, and to have steadily continued to within the past fifteen
years, when the commerce of the country began to revive. In the mean
time the ship-canal connecting the port with the great fluvial highway
of the interior having fallen into disuse, became filled up and
overgrown with tropical jungle; so that the few foreign trading-vessels
visiting the coast sought harborage farther up, at a place called
Barranquilla, near the mouth of the Magdalena. Barranquilla has become
the chief city of commercial importance within the United States of
Colombia, and is the residence of many of the principal merchants of the
republic. It is a growing city, and from a few houses twenty years ago
it now has a population of upwards of twenty-five thousand. Situated as
it is, so near the outlet of the Magdalena River, it is destined to
increase in size and commerce, and to become to Colombia what New York
is to the United States--the great commercial emporium of the republic;
Aspinwall and Panama, free ports, being more a highway of nations than a
part of this country. To this end Barranquilla has many things in its
favor. The custom-house is located there. All the river steamers and
sailing-vessels on the Magdalena, conveying from the vast back-lying
interior to the coast the multitudinous products of the country, start
from and return to this place.
But Barranquilla has its drawbacks. As soon as it secured a little
commerce a large bar began to form at the mouth of the river, and has
grown until it has become a sand-spit which prevents the entrance of
steamers. Then a new town, called Sabanilla, was started on the spit,
which is connected with Barranquilla by a railway fourteen miles long,
owned and operated by a German company. But the harbor of Sabanilla,
though now the principal one of the republic, is neither convenient nor
safe. It is shallow, full of shifting sand-bars, and exposed to furious
wind-storms; while the new port of Barranquilla is quite inaccessible
from the delta, by reason of its treacherous sand-bars. So with the
opening of the ancient _dique_, or ship-channel, between Carthagena and
Calamar, or the construction of a railway between the first-named point
and Barranquilla (both of which enterprises are being agitated),
Carthagena may regain her ancient prestige and become the chief port of
the republic.
Sabanilla is a most desolate place, nothing but sand, filth, and
poverty; and were it not for the sea-breeze that constantly sweeps
across the barren peninsula upon which it stands, the inhabitants could
not survive. No one lives there except a colony of _cargadors_, boatmen,
and roustabouts, who swarm, like so many animals, in filthy huts built
of palm-leaves, and a few saloon-keepers, who give them wine in exchange
for the money they earn. The men and women are almost naked, and the
children entirely so. Perhaps the reason for the nastiness of the place
is because there is no fresh water; but the inhabitants ought not to be
excused on this account, as the beach furnishes as fine bathing as can
be found in the world, and is at their very doors. All the fresh water
used has to be brought in canoes from a point eight miles up the river,
and is sold by the dipperful: but only a moderate quantity is necessary
for consumption. Most of the inhabitants are Canary Islanders, who
monopolize the boating business along this coast; but sprinkled among
them are many Italians, and nearly every nation on earth is represented,
even China. The only laundry is run by a Chinaman, and another is cook
at a place that is used as a substitute for a hotel. The boatmen are
drunken, quarrelsome, desperate wretches; murder is frequent among them,
and fighting the chief amusement.
[Illustration: COLOMBIAN MILITARY MEN.]
Barranquilla is the most modern town in Colombia except Aspinwall, which
it resembles somewhat. It has some fine houses and quite a large foreign
colony, many of its merchants being Germans, who live in good style, and
enjoy many comforts at an enormous cost; for flour is twenty-five
dollars a barrel and meat twenty-five cents a pound, beer twenty-five
cents a glass, and everything else in proportion. There is nothing in
plenty but fruits and flies. The town is the capital of the State of
Sabanilla, and has a considerable military garrison, which is important
in keeping down insurrections. During the revolution of 1885
Barranquilla was the headquarters of the insurrectionary army, and,
commanding the only outlet from the interior, is naturally a place of
consequence, from a military as well as from a commercial standpoint.
The great valley of the Magdalena, extending from the Caribbean coast to
the equatorial line, is one of inexhaustible resources. Its width varies
from one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles before gradually sloping
to a point in the northern borders of the equator. At the mouth of the
river Cauca this valley branches off into another of less general width
but of greater elevation, and consequently possesses a more equable and
temperate climate. The river Cauca is itself navigable by a
light-draught steamer as far as Cali, a point less than eighty miles
from the port of Buenaventura on the Pacific coast. The lower valley of
the Magdalena is one vast alluvial plain, a large portion of which is
subject to periodical overflow. In fact, during the rainy season the
greater portion of it is usually under water. This, however, might be
prevented, and the fertile lands reclaimed, by a system of dikes far
less expensive than those of the lower Mississippi. But in a country
where population is sparse, and Nature lavish in her bounties, such
enterprises are not usually undertaken.
The distance from Barranquilla to Honda, the head of navigation on the
Magdalena, is seven hundred and eighty miles, following the course of
the river, but in a direct line is only about one-third of that
distance. The journey by boat requires from ten to thirty days,
according to the condition of the river. In the rainy season the banks
are full, and the current so strong that the little steamers cannot make
much progress; but if the moon is bright enough to show the course, they
are kept in motion night and day. In the dry season the river is
shallow, and the boats have to tie up at dark, and remain so till
daylight. Then, on nearly every voyage they run aground, and often stick
for a day or two, sometimes a week, before they can be got off.
The boats are similar to those used upon the Ohio and other rivers, with
a paddle-wheel behind, and draw only a foot or two of water even when
heavily laden, so that they can go over the bars. There are two
steamboat companies, both with United States capital; one is managed by
a Mr. Joy, and the other by a Mr. Cisneros, a naturalized Italian.
During the revolution all the boats were seized by the insurgents. Their
sides were covered with corrugated iron, so as to make them
bullet-proof, a small cannon or two mounted upon the decks, and the
cabins filled with sharp-shooters. So prepared, they were used as
gun-boats, and were quite effective. Many of them were destroyed, so
that transportation facilities upon the Magdalena are not so good as
they were.
[Illustration: ON THE MAGDALENA.]
The first two hundred miles is a continuous swamp; the next three
hundred miles is a vast plain, which is under water about two months in
the year, during the floods that follow the rainy season, but at other
times is covered with cattle, which are driven into the mountains before
the floods come.
The banks along the river were formerly occupied with profitable
plantations, which were worked by negro slaves, as neither the Spaniards
nor the native Indians could endure the climate and the mosquitoes. But
when the emancipation of the slaves took place, in 1824, the plantations
were abandoned, and have since been so overgrown with tropical
vegetation that no traces of their former cultivation exist. The
negroes, who have descended from the former slaves, have relapsed into a
condition of semi-barbarism, and while they still occupy the old
estancias, lead a lazy, shiftless, degraded life, subsisting upon fish
and the fruits which grow everywhere in wonderful profusion. Nature
provides for them, and no amount of wages can tempt them to work. A few
small villages have sprung up along the river, which are trading
stations, and furnish some freight for the steamers in the shape of
fruit, poultry, eggs, cocoa-nuts, and similar articles, which are
attended to by the women of the country.
The river itself is a great natural curiosity. It flows almost directly
northward, and drains an enormous area of mountains which are constantly
covered with snow. The current is as swift as that of the Mississippi,
which it resembles, and the water, always muddy, is so full of sediment
that one can hear it striking the sides of the boat. The water will not
mix with that of the sea, and for fifty miles into the ocean it can be
distinguished. In some places it is seven or eight miles wide, at others
it is scarcely more than a hundred yards, where it has cut its way
through the rolling earth. The channel, which has never been cleared, is
full of treacherous bars and snags, which are continually shifting, and
make it necessary to tie up the steamer every night, except in times of
high water during the rainy season. The mosquitoes are monumental in
size, and at some seasons of the year, when the winds are strong and
blow them from the jungles, it is almost impossible to endure them. The
officers and deck hands of the boat all wear thick veils over their
faces, and heavy buckskin gloves, awake or asleep; and the passengers,
unless similarly protected, are subject to the most intense torment.
Often the swarms are so thick that they obscure the sky, and the sound
of humming is so loud that it resembles the murmur of an approaching
storm.
[Illustration: COLOMBIAN ’GATORS.]
Some ludicrous stories are told about adventures with the mosquitoes. I
have been solemnly assured that oftentimes when they have attacked a
boat and driven its captain and crew below, they have broken the windows
of the cabin by plunging in swarms against them, and have attempted to
burst in the doors. Although this may be somewhat of an exaggeration, it
is nevertheless true that frequently horses and cattle, after the most
frightful sufferings, have died from mosquito bites on board the
vessels. Not long ago a herd of valuable cattle were being taken from
the United States to a ranch up the Magdalena River, and became so
desperate under the attacks of the mosquitoes that they broke from their
stalls, jumped into the water, and were all drowned. Passengers
intending to make the voyage always provide themselves with protection
in the shape of mosquito-bars, head-nets, and thick gloves, and when on
deck are compelled to tie their sleeves around their wrists and their
pantaloons around their ankles.
The alligators are so numerous along the banks that the same
story-tellers assert that you could step from the back of one to
another, and thus walk for miles without touching ground. They are
playful creatures, and not at all timid, but bask quietly in the sun
until disturbed, when they plunge into the river. The steamboats are
always followed by schools of them, and the passengers amuse themselves
by firing at them from the deck. No attempt has been made to kill them
for profit, but if some enterprising hunters should go to the Magdalena
country and make a business of curing and shipping alligator hides, they
would find it a profitable venture.
Once or twice a day the steamboats stop for freight or fuel, which is
supplied them by the settlers, and brought on board by naked negroes.
The town of Honda, at the head of navigation, is a place of considerable
importance, and at intervals for the last quarter of a century American
companies have undertaken the construction of a railroad from it to
Bogota--a distance of seventy miles through mountains. About ten leagues
of track have been built, but those in charge have been compelled again
and again to abandon it because of the revolutions and the impossibility
of securing labor. The natives cannot be induced to work, and no wages
that the company can pay will induce immigration. But the enterprise is
being slowly extended, with the encouragement of the Government in the
shape of a concession of money and lands, and ultimately the
perseverance which conquers all things will succeed. There is also a
liberal concession from the Government to another syndicate of New York
capitalists for the construction of a railway into the Cauca valley,
where are supposed to be the richest goldmines in the world, from which
the hundreds of millions taken away by the Spaniards came.
From Honda to Bogota the journey must be made on mule-back, and it
requires four days to cover the seventy miles. Recently there has been a
line of stagecoaches established between Bogota and the town of
Agrialarge, which shortens the time a day, and the distance by saddle
thirty miles. In describing the journey Mr. Scruggs, recently United
States Minister to Colombia, says:
[Illustration: VEGETABLE IVORY PLANT.]
“After perfecting all necessary arrangements the day previous, the
traveller rises at six, takes a light breakfast of chocolate and bread,
and hopes to be on the way by seven. But people here take life easily.
Servants and guides and muleteers make no note of time, and it is quite
useless to try to hurry them, so that if he gets fairly under way by
noon he is fortunate. Just beyond the deep, broad valley of the
Magdalena are the snow-capped mountains of Tolima. They seem
marvellously near, and yet they are more than one hundred miles distant,
so very clear and transparent is the pure ethereal atmosphere of this
elevated region. In the opposite direction is the dish-shaped valley of
Guaduas, fringed with luxuriant foliage of the coffee plantations and
the virgin forests of emerald green. In the centre of this valley
reposes the parochial village, with its church steeples reaching upward
as if in feeble imitation of the adjacent mountain-peaks.
“The valley is watered by the Rio Negro; justly so named, for its waters
are as black as ink, so rendered by their passage through the coal and
mineral deposits along the foothills of the Sierra. Near by are a noted
sulphur spring and the extinct volcano which Humboldt describes as
likely, one day, to break out afresh and destroy this beautiful valley.
Though quite hot, the atmosphere is singularly dry and sanitary, and the
place is often resorted to by invalids from Bogota and the more elevated
regions.
“Up to this point our journey has been alternating between deep valleys
and dizzy mountain-peaks. We cross one only to encounter another. Such
is the Camino Real, or ‘Royal Highway,’ the only available route between
the Colombian capital and the outside world. Within the past few years
it has been much improved, it is true, and at great expense to the
Government; but it is still little else than a mere mule trail, not wide
enough in many places for two mules to walk abreast, and so tortuous and
precipitous as to be impassable except on the backs of animals trained
to the road. When we reflect that this is the overland highway of an
immense commerce, and that it has been in constant use since the Spanish
conquest, we naturally marvel that it is no better. It seems to have
been constructed without any previous survey whatever, and without the
least regard for
[Illustration: EN ROUTE TO BOGOTA.]
comfort or convenience, making short curves where curves are quite
unnecessary, or going straight over some mountain spur or peak, when the
ascent might have been rendered less difficult by easy curves. But, to
the observant traveller, the inconveniences and hardships of the journey
are, in some measure, compensated by the varied and captivating scenery.
He passes through a variety of climates within a few hours’ ride. At one
time he is ascending a dizzy steep by a sort of rustic stairway hewn
into the rock-ribbed mountain, where the air reminds him of a chilly
November morning; a few hours later he is descending to the region of
the plantain and the banana, where the summer never ends, and the rank
crops of fruits and flowers chase each other in unbroken circle from
January to December. On the bleak crests of the paramos he encounters
neither tree nor shrub, where a few blades of sedge and the flitting of
a few sparrows give the only evidences of vegetable or animal life;
while in the deep valley just below, the dense groves of palm and
cottonwood are alive with birds of rich and varied plumage, and the air
seems loaded with floral perfumes until the senses fairly ache with
their sweetness.
“This plain is the traditional elysium of the ancient Chibchas, and
their imperial capital was near the site of the present capital of
Colombia; and perhaps around no one spot on the American continent
cluster so many legends of the aborigines, or quite so many improbable
stories illustrative of the ancient civilization. Here one can almost
imagine himself in the north temperate zone, and in a country inhabited
by a race wholly different from the people heretofore seen in the
republic. Agriculture and the useful arts seem at least a century ahead
of those on the coast and in the torrid valleys of the great rivers. The
ox-cart and plantation-wagon have supplanted the traditional pack-mule
and ground-sled; the neat iron spade and patent plough have taken the
place of wooden shovels and clumsy forked sticks; the enclosures are of
substantial stone or adobe, and the spacious farmhouse, or quinta, has
an air of palatial elegance compared with the mud and bamboo hut of the
Magdalena. The people have a clear, ruddy complexion, at least compared
with those heretofore seen in the country, and their dialect is a near
approach to the rich and sonorous Castilian, once so liquid and
harmonious in poetry and song, so majestic and persuasive on the forum.
None of these agricultural implements, and none of these commodious
coaches and omnibuses, were manufactured here nor elsewhere in Colombia.
They have all been imported from the United States or England. They were
brought to Honda by the river steamers, packed in small sections, and
thence lugged over the mountains piece by piece.
“One peon will carry a wheel, another an axle, a third a coupling-pole
or single-tree, and the screws and bolts are packed in small boxes on
cargo mules. The upper part or body of the vehicle is likewise taken to
pieces and packed in sections. One man will sometimes be a month in
carrying a wagon-wheel from Honda to the plain. His method is to carry
it some fifty or a hundred paces and then rest, making sometimes less
than two miles a day.
[Illustration: SABANA OF BOGOTA.]
“When the vehicle finally reaches the plain, the pieces are collected
and put together by some smithy who may have learned the art from an
American or English mechanic. One scarcely knows which ought to be the
greatest marvel, the failure to manufacture all these things in a
country where woods and coal and iron ore are so abundant, or the
obstacles that are overcome in their successful importation from foreign
countries.
“At the time of the Spanish conquest, in 1537, the inhabitants of this
region were the Chibchas, who, according to Quesada, numbered about
three-quarters of a million. Their form of government was essentially
patriarchal, and their habits were those of an agricultural people given
to the arts of peaceful industry. Their religion contained much to
remind us of the ancient Buddhists. It imposed none of those revolting
sacrifices of human victims which marked the rituals of the Aztecs. They
had their divine Mediata in Bohica, or Deity of Mercy. Their Chibchacum
corresponded to the Buddhist god of Agriculture. Their god of Science,
as represented by earthen images which I have examined, was almost
identical with the Buddhist god of Wisdom, as represented by the images
in some of the Chinese temples. They had also a traditional Spirit of
Evil, corresponding to Neawatha of the ancient Mexicans and to the Satan
of the Hebrews. And connected with their flood myth was a character
corresponding to the Hebrew Noah, the Greek Ducalaine, and the Mexican
Cojcoj.
“The capital of the Chibchan empire was Bocata, of which Bogota is
manifestly a mere corruption. It was situated near the site of the
present Colombian capital. But their most ancient political capital was
Mangueta, near the site of the present village of Funza, on the opposite
side of the plain. Near the site of the present grand cathedral, in the
heart of the present city of Bogota, was a temple consecrated to the god
of Agriculture. Here the Emperor and his cacique, accompanied by the
chief men of the country, were wont to assemble twice a year and offer
oblations to the deity who was supposed to preside over the harvests--a
ceremony not unlike the ‘moon feasts’ celebrated to-day in many of the
interior districts of China.
“The altitude of the plain above the sea-level is 8750 feet, and its
mean temperature is about 59° Fahrenheit. The atmosphere is thin, pure,
and exhilarating, but it is perhaps not conducive either to longevity or
great mental activity. A man, for instance, accustomed to eight hours’
daily mental labor in New York or Washington will here find it
impossible to apply himself closely for more than five hours each day.
If he exceeds that limit ominous symptoms of nervous prostration will be
almost sure to follow.”
[Illustration: SANTA FÉ DE BOGOTA.]