VENEZUELA: CAPITAL, STATES, TERRITORIES, CHIEF CITIES
THE CAPITAL
=Caracas=, the capital of the Republic, founded in 1567, is a very
attractive city with a delightful climate. Only occasionally does the
temperature go below 60° or above 80°. Eight miles in a straight line
from its port, La Guaira, from which it is 23 miles by rail, the city
is at an altitude of 3036 feet on the south side of the outer Coast
Cordillera. The city is in the usual Spanish American style, with
beautiful plazas and promenades. Exceptionally, the streets, which are
at right angles, are numbered instead of named, but the old names are
in general use. Notable buildings are the Capitol covering more than
two acres, the Miraflores Palace, the Cathedral, University, National
Pantheon, Masonic Temple, called the best in South America, a beautiful
theatre, etc. A fine view is had from the hill Calvario, 200 feet
above, the slopes of which are arranged as a public garden. Caracas is
up to date in modern conveniences, water supply, street cars, etc.,
and has a good and cheap cab service. The city is near the west end
of a rich valley 12 miles long and 3 wide, which slopes towards the
southeast. The Guaire River below the city flows into the Rio Tuy.
INDIVIDUAL STATES
The COASTAL STATES follow with the Island State, and Lara, which is
neither coast, llano, nor mountain, though having some hills. The coast
line extends over 1800 miles.
=Zulia=, the large State (23,000 square miles) occupying the northwest
corner of the Republic, has Colombia on the west and northwest, the
Gulf of Venezuela northeast, Falcón, Lara, and Trujillo east, and
Mérida with a little of Táchira south. This State, of which Maracaibo
is the capital, is one of the wealthiest in the Republic, though still
sparsely inhabited. The Maracaibo Plain, the most conspicuous and
important section occupying the greater portion of the State, lies
between the two great branches of the East Cordillera. The lake itself
is a sheet of water about 150 miles long and half as wide, the water
sweet in the southern half of the lake, but brackish towards the north.
The precipitation in this district amounts to 70 inches annually. Thus
an enormous amount of fresh water from the Cordillera is continually
entering the lake through its various affluents; of these the Catatumbo
with its tributary Zulia, and the Escalante, are navigable for
steamboats. The lake has a depth of 30 feet and is served by several
lines of steamers as well as by sailing craft. A few small towns on the
lake receive agricultural products from their vicinity; along the shore
cacao is cultivated with great profit. There is a fine goat farming
district; fishing is carried on; there are many settlements of Indians
inhabiting huts on piles in the lake in the ancient fashion. North of
the city, Maracaibo, are _salinas_ or salt deposits, from which several
thousand tons are taken annually. Southwest of Maracaibo, a peculiar
tree is found in the forest, the _arbol de vaca_, or _palo de leche_,
the sap of which, though slightly thicker, may be used in every way as
cow’s milk. In the forests are valuable timber, useful creepers, and
trees which furnish various gums or resins. Around the lake are found
outcrops of coal, also petroleum and asphalt.
[Illustration: COLOMBIA, VENEZUELA, GUIANA, ECUADOR, NORTH BRAZIL]
The capital city, Maracaibo, is a busy place, and prosperous. With
some good buildings, and other ordinary requirements, it is in need
of better paving, a suitable drainage system, and a good water
supply, in order to lower its high death rate and to measure up to its
favorable location, although this may be called hot.
=Falcón=, east of Zulia, extends along the coast of the Gulf of
Venezuela (also called Maracaibo) past the Paraguana Peninsula, which
it includes, and around to the east, so far that the next coast State,
Yaracuy, is on the south together with the State of Lara farther west;
these three States include the Segovian Highlands; the first two, coast
lands also. This section is the oldest part of Venezuela except for the
town of Cumaná.
An immensely profitable industry here followed is the raising of
goats, which feed on the cactus plains. The extensive coal deposits
and _salinas_ count for little in comparison. The northern part of
the State is rather barren, but the highlands at the south are forest
clad, with fertile valleys raising a variety of agricultural products,
chiefly for home consumption. There is one considerable river, the
Tocuyo, several hundred miles long, which rises in the mountains of
Lara, flows north, then east through Yaracuy and Falcón to the sea.
With many affluents, the two of importance are the Carora and the
Baragua on the left. The Rio Tocuyo comes down through a long valley,
while many short rivers rising on the outer range descend rapidly to
the sea. The situation is excellent for the cultivation of _cocuiza_
and other aloes from which sacks and hammocks are now being made. Other
industries are soap making and cigarettes; in some sections excellent
tobacco is raised.
Coro, the capital of Falcón, the second oldest town in the Republic,
contains the first cathedral in the new world. Located on the plains at
the base of the Paraguana Peninsula, it is 8 miles from its seaport La
Vela and 200 miles west of Caracas.
The important port Tucacas is at the mouth of the Tocuyo River.
The Dutch island, Curaçao, lies not far off the coast, with which it
has close connection; some smuggling is said to be carried on.
=Yaracuy=, a small State with a very short coastal strip, is between
Falcón on the north and Carabobo southeast, with Lara southwest. It is
noted for its copper mines at Aroa.
Besides the capital, San Felipe, where a cloth factory has lately been
organized, the chief towns are Nirgua, population 3000, at the south,
amid fertile plains with varied agricultural products, and Yaritagua 20
miles west, where good tobacco is raised, as well as sugar and coffee
which grow everywhere.
=Lara=, an interior State, borders on Falcón, Yaracuy, Cojedas,
Portuguesa, Trujillo, finishing with Zulia on the west. Besides the
usual agricultural products, there is fibre from aloes, employed in
manufacturing sacks, hammocks, and bridles, for which Barquisimeto is
noted. The fertile hills and slopes, many now undeveloped, the virgin
forests of valuable timber, with areas where petroleum is indicated,
will receive attention now that better transportation is afforded.
Barquisimeto, the capital, 2000 feet above the sea, and 90 miles from
Puerto Cabello, is the most important city of this section, a centre of
traffic for the northern Andes region as well as for the State of Lara.
* * * * *
East of the Segovia Highlands are the States belonging to the _Centro_,
the section near and including the Federal District. These are
Carabobo, Aragua, and Miranda.
=Carabobo=, east of Yaracuy, has a considerable coast line, with
Aragua east, and Guárico and Cojedes south. Carabobo, like the states
following, is traversed by the Maritime Andes, having fertile valleys
between the two ranges. At the south are grassy plains pasturing large
herds of cattle. There is virgin territory with forest products of wild
rubber, timber, and dye woods; to the east the country is more thickly
settled. The state has many agricultural and pastoral products, with
marble quarries in the hills. Near Guacara 200,000 plants of sisal hemp
are cultivated, here harvested in three years (usually in four), and
said to be superior to the best in Mexico.
Valencia, the capital, is a pleasant city, well situated in a beautiful
and fertile valley, much of which is occupied by Lake Valencia 30
miles long, with a steamboat service. Having an altitude of 1600 feet
the city has a mild climate and enterprising inhabitants. The state
contains the best port in the Republic, Puerto Cabello, linked by rail
with the capital, which has another railway connecting it with Caracas.
A small seaport, Ocumare de la Costa, is celebrated for the excellence
of the cacao grown in the vicinity.
=Aragua= stretches from the coast down to the southeast between
Carabobo and Miranda, with Guárico south. In the state is the east
end of Lake Valencia, near which is the important town of Maracay,
population 6000, in the midst of rich grazing land with pará grass;
a splendid farming and stock raising country, its dairies produce a
famous cream cheese. Goats, and excellent swine for the tropics are
also raised. 15 miles south of Maracay stands Villa de Cura, in the
main pass across the inner range to the llanos. Here are many big
ranches, the altitude being less than 2000 feet.
La Victoria,[4] the capital, on the Aragua River and also on the
Valencia-Caracas Railway, is 19 miles east of Maracay and 53 miles from
Caracas. It is a prosperous town with small factories of various kinds.
[4] Very recently Maracay has been made the capital.
=The Federal District= comprises a long stretch of coast land with
the port, La Guaira, as well as a fertile valley with fine gardens of
luscious fruits, and coffee and sugar plantations. Some of the coffee
trees are said to yield as much as 20 pounds annually, which seems a
large story; it is probably two.
=Miranda=, south of the Federal District, has a long strip of coast
land farther east. Anzoátegui is southeast, Guárico south, and Aragua
west.
Ocumare del Tuy, the capital, about south of Caracas, is on the Rio
Tuy, into which the Guaire flows at Santa Teresa. The broad Tuy valley,
here and easterly towards the coast, is full of sugar cane and cacao.
To Guapo farther east come hides and other animal products from the
llanos as well as rich agricultural produce from the vicinity. Rio
Chico, a town near the coast, is a flourishing manufacturing place.
=Anzoátegui=, east both of Miranda and Guárico, is a very large
State with a moderate coast line, but with a deep and wider interior
extending down to the Orinoco and Bolívar; the coast State of Sucre and
a long stretch of Monagas are on the east. In Anzoátegui the llanos
come up to the sea, though the mountains begin again in Sucre.
Barcelona, the capital, is quite a town by the sea, three miles up the
Neveri River, but it makes use of the port, Guanta, 12 miles distant.
Coal mines are near, owned and operated by Venezuelans, of which
fact they are proud, as many of the industries are in the hands of
foreigners. Coffee and animal products are exported.
=Sucre=, occupying the northeast corner of the Republic, is the last
State on the Caribbean; having the sea west, north, and east, and the
States of Monagas and Anzoátegui south. Here again we find the double
range of the Caribbean Hills extending across the State.
Cumaná, the capital, dating from 1513, is the oldest European
settlement on the continent; it was the birthplace of the celebrated
patriot, Antonio José de Sucre. The city is on the south side and at
the entrance of the Gulf of Cariaco, an arm of the sea 50 miles long
and 6-7 wide, which extends east and west, separated from the sea by
the narrow peninsula, Araya. In colonial days rich and prosperous, the
town, population 12,000, has now less than half as many inhabitants;
twice it has been destroyed by earthquakes. The neighborhood is famous
for its fine fruits, especially grapes, pineapples, and mangoes. The
usual products are brought from the interior for export. The waters of
the eastern, the inner end of the gulf, are covered with a variety of
wild fowls, caught by the peasants for their plumage; formerly killed
by drowning, the men diving with them under water. Slaughter of birds
for their egrets is now prohibited, other methods for taking the plumes
being practicable. On the west end of the peninsula are extensive
salinas, exporting 6000 tons of salt yearly; on the south are oil
springs.
In this State is the port Carúpano, a city of 11,000, half way between
the peninsulas, Araya and Paria, each a long point of land, the latter
together with the Island of Trinidad forming the broad Gulf of Paria.
Between the Paria Peninsula and Trinidad, celebrated for its pitch lake
100 acres in area, is the Bocas del Drago (Dragon’s Mouths) named by
Columbus, through which ships from the north or south pass to the Port
of Spain, Trinidad, and to other points on the Gulf, though for some
the way is nearer through the Serpent’s Mouth, the southern entrance
to the Gulf. Near the extremity of the finely wooded, mountainous
Peninsula of Paria is Cristóbal Colon, the most easterly port of
Venezuela, opposite the Orinoco Delta. Castro attempted to make this a
rival of the Port of Spain, but the roadstead is so poor that the money
was expended to little purpose. In Sucre a little north of the San Juan
River and near Guanoco is the great Bermudez Asphalt Lake ten times the
size of the better known Trinidad.
=Nueva Esparta=, the Island State, comprises the larger Margarita, 20
miles off shore, the smaller Cubagua, Coche half way between, and other
smaller islands. Once famous for its pearl fisheries which are still in
operation, the present production of ordinary fish, and from Coche of
salt is of equal importance.
La Asunción, the capital, founded in 1524, is in a valley at the east
end of Margarita, with a port, Pampatar, at which some European liners
call.
LLANO STATES
=Monagas=, south of Sucre and east of Anzoátegui, is a large State,
having at the east a small shore on the Gulf of Paria with the
Delta-Amacuro Territory below; on the south is the State of Bolívar.
Maturín, the capital, population 16,000, a cheerful, healthful place
with the remarkably low death rate of 12 per 1000, is on the Rio
Guarapiche, which flows into the Gulf. This, the most eastern state of
the llanos, has probably the pleasantest part around Maturín, where the
grassy plain is well supplied with streams having deep cut channels
and well wooded banks. The climate too is agreeable. The State, well
watered and wooded, its forests near the northern hills, is chiefly a
cattle country; the owners live mostly in small towns or villages near
the streams, but some in single, primitive cottages or huts. A hammock
must be carried by the traveler, though food may be procured.
=Anzoátegui=, a coast State as well as a llano, has already been
described.
=Guárico=, a very large State west of Anzoátegui and north of Bolívar
and Apure, is south of Miranda and Aragua, and has Cojedes and Zamora
west.
Calabozo, population 10,000, the capital and chief city, 125 miles
southwest of Caracas, is a hot place, but in a good grazing country.
The neighborhood is noted for electric eels.
=Cojedes=, a smaller State west of Guárico, borders on Carabobo,
Yaracuy, Lara, Portuguesa, and Zamora.
San Carlos, the capital, is said to be less flourishing than formerly.
=Portuguesa=, southwest of Cojedes, borders also on Lara, Trujillo, and
Zamora.
Near Guanare, the capital, coffee and cacao are cultivated as well as
the cattle industry.
=Zamora=, also west of Guárico, borders north, west, and south on
Cojedes, Portuguesa, the mountain States of Mérida and Táchira, and
Apure.
Barinas, the capital, is not very prosperous. Formerly there was here a
flourishing tobacco district.
=Apure=, farther south than the other llano States, is west of Bolívar;
with Guárico, Cojedes, Zamora, on the north, and a bit of Táchira at
the west; it has Colombia for a long distance on its southern boundary.
San Fernando, the capital, with a mean annual temperature of 91°, and
Calabozo, are distinguished as the two hottest places in the country.
THE ANDINE STATES
These have been called attractive and interesting, but lacking good
means of locomotion have been little visited. Residents, perhaps
returning from Europe, have been obliged to ride several days on
muleback to reach their homes. Clean, pleasant towns, fine climate and
scenery, mineral wealth, rich forest lands on the upper slopes of the
mountains, people hospitable and energetic, characterize the three
States, but with poor facilities for travel progress was impossible.
Improvement has now begun in this direction, as the need is realized.
=Táchira=, the most southern of these States, has Zulia and Mérida
north, Zamora and Apure east, and Colombia south and west.
San Cristóbal, the capital, at an altitude of 3000 feet is a
considerable commercial town. With roads from the llanos, by which
cattle are brought, and others, to San Antonio on the Colombian
frontier, to Uracá, terminus of the Táchira Railway from Encontrados,
and to Mérida, it is evidently quite a centre of trade.
=Mérida=, preëminently the Mountain State, borders on Zulia, Trujillo,
Zamora, and Táchira. Here are elevated plains, deep valleys, bleak
paramos or high passes, one reaching 14,500 feet, and loftier snowclad
mountains; the last are east of the capital, Mérida.
Mérida, situated on a plateau a mile above the sea, has another and
lower range of mountains on the west. These mountain States have the
variety of products found in some States of Colombia: tropical and
temperate fruits, with coffee, cacao, cotton, wheat, wool, etc.; in
Mérida, gold and silver also.
=Trujillo=, with lower mountains, borders on Zulia, Lara, Portuguesa,
Zamora, and Mérida. The fertile valleys produce the finest cacao,
there are large sugar estates; wheat grows higher, cattle and goats
find suitable pasturage. Northwest are forests largely unexplored; oil
springs give promise of future wealth.
Trujillo, the capital, is a busy town with roads in several directions;
it is 19 miles from the railway station at Motatán. Other towns of some
importance are Valera, Bocono, and Carache.
* * * * *
The GUAYANA HIGHLANDS have a single State and one territory.
=Bolívar=, a great State, with an area of 90,000 square miles, twice
the size of Pennsylvania, has the Delta on the northeast; north across
the Orinoco, it has a bit of Monagas, a long stretch of Anzoátegui, and
a smaller extent of Guárico, to the point where the Apure enters the
Orinoco and the latter river turns east. There, west of the Orinoco, is
the State of Apure down to the entrance of the Meta River, below which
Colombia is west for a short space. Amazonas is south of the west part
of Bolivar, and west of the southeast part, which last has Brazil on
the south and British Guiana east. Bolívar, largely covered with virgin
forest, includes a vast extent of unexplored territory, besides a gold
region bordering on British Guiana.
Ciudad Bolívar, the capital, perhaps a trifle hotter than the coast
ports, has a lower death rate. Two hundred and twenty-five miles from
the mouth of the river, which during a great part of its course is two
miles wide in the dry season and seven in the wet, the city is located
at a point where the river is narrowed to a mile. In consequence of
this, the water is liable to rise 50 feet in the wet season, flooding
the lower and poorer part of the city.
While the capital is the official port of entry, there is a city
farther down stream known as San Felix or Puerto Tablas, just beyond
the mouth and falls of the Caroni River. These falls, famed since
first seen by Sir Walter Raleigh, are an imposing spectacle: a huge
mass of water descending over a wall of black granite to the Orinoco
below, obviously a great source of electricity in the future. East
of the Caroni, which flows from the southern boundary, are the two
most populous districts of the State. This is explained by gold. Cart
roads, by which merchandise is carried south and balatá and hides are
brought north, extend through Upata, capital of the Piar District, to
Guasipati, 125 miles; but as the time of wheel traffic may be ten days
and upwards, the traveler usually hires a mule and arrives in a few
days. Guasipati has been the centre of the balatá industry, but as the
local operators lazily cut down the trees instead of tapping them, the
main production is moving south.
The town of El Callao, 3 hours ride farther, is over the famous mine of
that name. On the border of Guiana 60 or 70 miles south, a section has
been opened accessible by water only. The high cost of transport, and
the scarcity, the high price, and the poor quality of labor, greatly
interfere with the development of this region. With wide spread
indications of gold, there is little reason to doubt the existence here
of vast mineral wealth.
Besides the forest clad hills of this section there are great stretches
of savannas occupied by or suitable for cattle ranches, while
plantations and mills for the production of sugar and rum are also
found.
Six hours east of Callao, near the forests, is the town Tumeremo, a
centre of the balatá industry, where the wholesale destruction of trees
still prevailing will end local production and the town as well. The
uplands of the Caroni River are yet unknown, but gold, and the timber
and vegetable products of the forest will doubtless one day reward the
hardy explorer, as in many other regions of the country.
Above Bolívar, on the Orinoco, there is at one point a narrow gorge
where the current is at times so strong as to drive back river
steamers. Farther on, the Caura River comes in from the south, through
savannas in the lower part and forests higher up. On a western
tributary of the Caura, the Nichare, there is said to be plenty of
good rubber. 130 miles up the Caura are falls or rapids descending 200
feet, a splendid source of power for future saw mills. Two days higher
are more rapids in a narrow gorge. The lower part of these Orinoco
tributaries are infested with mosquitoes, sand flies, etc., a torment
to explorers, but decreasing upstream. Near the Cuchivero, the next
considerable river, are many cattle ranches; its upper valley is rich
in forest products.
TERRITORIES
=The Amazonas Territory=, beginning as previously stated somewhat
below the entrance of the Meta River into the Orinoco, occupies the
entire region south to Brazil. It extends farther down than the State
of Bolívar, having that State and Brazil on the east, Colombia west,
and Bolívar also on the north. Amazonas with 101,000 square miles is
larger than Bolívar and still less known, explorers having attempted
little beyond the passage of a few streams.
San Fernando de Atabapo, the capital, is a village where the Atabapo
flows into the Orinoco and that river begins to be the boundary with
Colombia; the Atabapo being the boundary for some distance farther
south. The Orinoco coming from the southeast, in its upper reaches is
entirely in Amazonas. About the same point as the Atabapo, the Guaviare
enters the Orinoco from Colombia, the white waters of this stream
contrasting with the clear black (one writer calls it red) of the
Atabapo, which latter, it will be remembered, often indicates absence
of mosquitoes with more comfort and better health.
It is farther north, between the entrance of the Colombian rivers
Vichada and Meta, that the two great barriers to navigation on the
Orinoco occur, the Atures Rapids, the lower and the largest on the
river, and 50 miles south the Maipures. In each of these sections
the foaming river dashes among rocks and wooded islands in a fashion
magnificent to behold from the shore, but not inviting for a sail. With
the water power apparent, an electric railway connecting the service of
the lower Orinoco with that above the Maipures Rapids might not seem
too difficult; a contract has been made for the work to promote the
development of this region.
Amazonas contains a mountainous district with peaks 7000-8000 feet
high, though the greater part is rather low land. There are tribes
of Indians, some gentle and timid, others so savage as to prevent
exploration, especially the Guaharibos, also called White Indians, far
up the Orinoco beyond Esmeralda. The territory has grassy plains suited
to cattle raising, but more forest land with rubber trees of the first
class, a few of which in small sections have been tapped; there are
natural cacao patches. Mineral wealth is indicated by the reports and
specimens from the Indians.
Forty miles above the confluence of the Atabapo and the Guaviare, the
great Ventuari tributary, 300 miles long, enters the Orinoco from the
east. 150 miles higher the famed Casiquiare or Brazo leaves the Orinoco
to join the Rio Negro and Amazon. An old mission station, Esmeralda,
20 miles beyond, on the Orinoco, is the last permanent settlement of
the region. The watershed, here but a slight bank along the left of
the river, is entirely lacking where the Casiquiare leaves it, taking
a little of the water. Farther on the diverging stream unites with
the Guiania River in Colombia to form the Negro, the chief northern
tributary of the Amazon.
=The Delta Amacuro Territory= embraces the delta of the Orinoco, with
some mountainous country at the south before reaching the boundary
of British Guiana, which with the State of Bolívar is on the south;
Monagas is on the west. The coast line runs northwest southeast from
the Gulf of Paria, of which it forms the southern limit, to Guiana;
thus nearly the whole coast faces the Atlantic. Only one settlement
is found on the swampy shore, Pedernales on the Gulf, a gloomy spot
with unprepossessing inhabitants. Up the Caño Pedernales there is
beautiful foliage in the inundated forest, with higher lands back,
where live primitive wild Indians; farther on is unflooded forest,
or open savannas with rich grass for thousands of cattle; on the
banks a few scattered houses. One fine cacao ranch is passed before
reaching Tucupita, the capital, a dismal place, but with some signs of
commercial life. Soon after, the mountains of Guayana are visible, and
presently the town of Barrancas in Monagas, the lowest town and port on
the Orinoco proper.