LARA, YARACUY, AND FALCÓN
The original Venezuela—Ancient
cities—Communications—Barquisimeto—Fortified
stores—Productions—The Bolivar Railway—Duaca—Aroa
copper-mines—A precarious house-site—In the mine—Bats and
cockroaches—“_El Purgatorio_”—Blue and green stalactites—San
Felipe—The Yaracuy Valley—Nirgua—Yaritagua—Tocuyo—The
“coach” to Barquisimeto—Quíbor—_Minas_—Carora—An ill-advised
scheme—Siquisique—Steamboats on the Tocuyo—San Luis—Coro—The
first cathedral of South America—Goat-farms—Fibre—La
Vela—Capatárida tobacco—Curaçao—A fragment of Holland—A mixed
language—Trade—Sanitation—The islands.
The three States whose boundaries include to-day the Segovia Highlands
and the Coro Lowlands represent the greater part of the original
province of Venezuela, as known to the Welser Governors. The region is
for the most part high, with no exceptional peaks, and therefore may be
considered as an elevated plateau, separated from the sea by a belt of
plains. In Yaracuy there are fertile valleys, as well as in the northern
part of Lara and the south of Falcón; in Lara, too, round Carora, we have
llanos for cattle-grazing, and Barquisimeto receives much wheat from the
surrounding country. The Coro plains are mostly dry and barren, covered
with cactus, which nourishes thousands of goats.
The towns and cities of this region are, almost without exception, of
sixteenth-century foundation, and include, therefore, the majority of
the earliest settlements in Venezuela. Despite the fact that a railway
connects Barquisimeto with the coast, communication with much of Lara
is only carried out by primitive means. A projected branch line to San
Felipe, capital of Yaracuy, will further open up that fertile valley,
and the products of northern Falcón are mainly shipped through La Vela
and Curaçao. Both upland and lowland plains are very suitable for wheel
traffic, and natural carreteras there contrast favourably with the bridle
paths of the hills, though little labour has been expended upon them.
Barquisimeto was founded in 1552, at the northern edge of the plain,
which extends thence to Tocuyo, in appearance like the dry bed of an
ancient lake. As the centre for the produce of the northern Andes, as
well as Lara, the town has a busy aspect, busier even than Maracaibo.
In the recent troublous years the conflicting parties seem to have met
in and around Barquisimeto, and as a result one is struck by the heavy
iron doors, often pitted with bullet marks, of the big commercial houses,
which were thus at times turned into fortresses. The plains and valleys
of Lara sent to the markets of Barquisimeto their wheat, coffee, cocoa,
beans, sugar, and sugar-spirit, while the aloes of this region furnish
not only _cocui_ (a spirit distilled from cocuiza) but also fibre for
the manufacture of sacks, bridles, and hammocks, for which the town is
celebrated.
The British built and owned Bolivar Railway connects Barquisimeto with
its port of Tucacas, and a steamer of the Company carries goods and
passengers thence to Puerto Cabello, Tucacas being only an internal
port without a custom-house. The gauge of the line is only two feet,
but a considerable amount of traffic is carried. Leaving the open and
dry plains of Barquisimeto, it climbs through scrub (probably excellent
cotton land) to Duaca, and then begins the ascent of the humid coastal
slope, along a valley full of coffee, sugar, and cacao plantations, but
little cultivation has been carried on away from the line, the country
on either side being as wild and as unknown as any in Venezuela. Near
Tucacas the swampy forest gives place to open sandy plains, as on much of
the northern coast of Venezuela.
Below Duaca, a well-built and picturesque but apparently sleepy little
town, the railway enters the State of Yaracuy, and so continues to beyond
the important junction of El Hacha, where the Barquisimeto line joins
that from the copper-mines of Aroa. Originally the line was built from
Tucacas to Aroa, the El Hacha-Barquisimeto extension being known as the
South-Western of Venezuela; now both are united, and El Hacha to Aroa is
regarded as a branch line.
The copper-mines of Aroa have been known from early colonial days, and
even in 1800 some ore was exported. The greatest output was recorded
after the concern was conceded to an English Company in 1880, and in 1891
(the maximum year) 38,341 tons of ore, with a smaller quantity of 25 per
cent. regulus, was shipped from Tucacas. Three years later the production
began to decrease greatly, and smelting-works and mines alike fall into
disuse. They have now been reopened by an English syndicate, and, under
Mr. Scrutton’s energetic management, have already commenced to pay well.
In the eighties the mines of Aroa sent to Swansea so much ore and regulus
that in the statistics they ranged next to Chile.
The mines, or the entrances to them, are in a beautiful limestone gorge,
full of the blue and green tinted pebbles and boulders which led the
pioneers to search for the source of the mineral. On the left bank there
are some cottages situated under an overhanging rock which would give
a nervous inmate qualms, but presumably here as elsewhere familiarity
breeds contempt. The manager’s and other white houses up the valley look
charming with their girdles of orange-trees, bananas, and papayas.
Wash-outs in the gorge sometimes cause considerable damage, and at
the time of our visit the mine was temporarily closed owing to the
disablement of the centrifugal pumps buried under the debris brought down
by exceptionally heavy rains; four inches in an hour was, I think, the
fall during part of the downpour, which also carried away or buried big
pieces of the Bolivar Railway.
As one walks through the galleries with a little acetylene lamp clouds of
bats brush past, and the floor is alive, where dry, with cockroaches. The
most recently opened parts develop a very high temperature owing to the
oxidation of the copper pyrites, and in “El Purgatorio,” as it is called,
one finds it difficult to breathe for a moment until a slight effort
of will forces the lungs to take in the hot air. In many of the older
workings there are quantities of beautiful stalactites and stalagmites
in all shades of blue and green. Unfortunately, the copper-salts which
colour them also make them brittle, and it would be difficult to bring
one away without injury. After these the ore looks very black and dingy,
though the freshly broken surface glitters brightly enough.
Near the edge of the forest on the Bolivar Railway is the station of
Palma Sola, whence a branch is now being surveyed across the Aroa and
up the Yaracuy Valley to San Felipe, a great boon to the agricultural
interests of the State. There is a road from the town to Puerto Cabello,
along which the merchandise now travels, but it is often impassable in
the rains; the comparatively easy task of engineering a railway here to
connect with the nearer port of Tucacas will probably enable it to be
carried out profitably at the same time that it provides a cheap and
rapid mode of transit for the coffee, cocoa, and hides of these rich
agricultural and pastoral valleys.
In the State of Yaracuy, but south of the watershed at the western
extremity of the coastal cordillera, lies Nirgua, founded in 1628 in the
picturesque alluvial plain of the Buria. Copper-mines have been known and
worked here from very early times, but I believe they are quiescent now;
there are also, it is said, deposits of sulphur in the neighbourhood. The
fertile plains and the surrounding hills send to the markets of Nirgua
coffee, cocoa, beans, sugar, alcohol, cotton, and wheat, a goodly list
for one small town.
Twenty miles away from Nirgua to the west in a straight line, though
very much more by existing roads, is Yaritagua, the only other town of
note in Yaracuy, connected by road with Barquisimeto. This is a good
place for tobacco, and cigarettes used to be manufactured in considerable
quantities from the local leaf; also it has its share of the ubiquitous
coffee and sugar.
A natural cart-road enables the produce of Yaritagua to be shipped
through Barquisimeto, the route passing by the small town of Cabudare.
A similar road connects Barquisimeto with Tocuyo rather more than forty
miles to the south-west.
Though the population of Tocuyo to-day is scarcely two-thirds that of
Barquisimeto, it is the older town of the two, being founded by Carvajal
in 1545. Its substantial, well-built houses bear witness to its former
importance, and even now there is a continual stream of carts passing
along the road to the capital, bearing not only coffee, sugar, and cocoa,
which grow in the plantations of the valley near the town, but also wheat
and temperate fruits from the hills. There are extensive potreros in the
district, too, for raising sheep as well as cattle. The club building is
a fine old mansion, comparable to any in Carácas, with a large patio and
broad veranda.
The “road” to Barquisimeto is merely a casual track over the sand and
gravel plains, but it serves its purpose, and one may make the journey
in a strange vehicle, rather like a stage-coach in shape when seen from
a distance, though without any outside seats, for the very good and
sufficient reason that the apparently solid sides and top are of oilcloth
and can be rolled up if desired. In leaving Tocuyo, _el Señor cochero_
tells us we must be ready to start at 4 a.m., reserving to himself the
right to turn up at two or five as may suit him best. This brings us
to Quíbor, a little town, whose chief trade is in the temperate fruits
(quinces, &c.) of the Sanare Hills, at about eight, and we leave again
after midday, arriving dusty and sore at Barquisimeto by 5.30.
There are reported _minas_ of metal and coal round about Tocuyo, and the
latter certainly exists, though, like the less authentic minerals, it has
never been worked.
If, in place of travelling to the capital of the State, we followed
down the river from which Tocuyo takes its name, we should shortly find
the cactus-covered hills replaced on the left bank by grass plains, the
llanos of Carora, in the middle of which the town of the same name was
founded in 1572. Like most of these more ancient towns of Venezuela, it
contains many substantial buildings, and it is the market centre for the
grazing lands surrounding it, where sheep as well as cattle are raised.
From more remote districts come goats on the one hand, coffee and cane
on the other, these last from the fertile valleys to the west. There are
said to be outcrops of coal near by, a by no means improbable occurrence.
A whim of ex-President Castro’s led to the expenditure of a considerable
sum on the surveying and construction of a cart-road over the Sierra
Empalada to San Timoteo, on the Lake of Maracaibo. It was manifestly
impossible that such a scheme could succeed, involving, as it did,
the use of a hundred miles of road over a range of hills instead of
some sixty miles across the level to the Bolivar Railway terminus at
Barquisimeto; at the present time much of the road has fallen into
disuse, the remainder forming a standing monument to misplaced energy.
In addition to the level road to Barquisimeto there is another which in
some fifty miles brings us to Siquisique, the head of possible steam
navigation on the Tocuyo River. Up to this point steamers were run for a
short time, but the undeveloped country on either bank was not brought
under cultivation as a result, and the produce of the rest failed to
make the venture pay. Once again, want of population and of incentives
to labour have proved the main drawbacks in a feasible project. The
hills both north and south of the lower river produce, and are capable
of producing more, wheat, coffee, and cocoa; downstream there are
virgin forests of valuable timber, and on the north bank indications of
petroleum over a wide area almost uninhabited and unexplored.
From Siquisique several roads cross the hills on the borders of Lara and
Falcón to the towns of the latter. Only one town of any importance (San
Luis) is situated in the hills, but about half the area of the State is
accounted for by grass-clad hills and fertile valleys, the remainder
being the better known coastal plain, with its dry climate and cactus
vegetation, a repetition of the Barquisimeto plateau.
Coro, now only the capital of a State, but once the capital of the whole
province, is situated on the plains at the base of the peculiarly shaped
peninsula of Paraguana. Next to Cumaná it is the oldest town in South
America, and has frequently been the landing-place for troops both in the
revolution against Spain and in the course of domestic quarrels. The
old church, known as the _Iglesia Matriz_, is interesting as the first
cathedral of the New World, but, like the rest of the town, it has fallen
upon evil days.
The flesh and hides of goats are the chief articles of commerce in
Coro. Bred at little cost on the cactus plains, they give returns said
to be enormous. I heard of one owner of a ranch along the coast who,
in the course of two or three years’ breeding of and trading in goats,
accumulates sufficient wealth to travel extensively in Europe, returning
when his money is gone to repeat the process. The coalmines and salinas
of the region count for little in comparison with this simple form of
stock-farming, but there are extensive coal deposits in the foothills of
the Cordillera de San Luis, whose valleys produce maize, coffee, cocoa,
and arrowroot, chiefly for local consumption. The greater part of the
foothills is forest-covered, and the timber and vegetable products of
these will continually add to the revenues of the State in the future.
Last, but not least, the coastal plain near Coro is admirably situated
for the cultivation of cocuiza and other aloes, and attempts are now
being made to manufacture fibre equal in quality to that of Mexico.
Already Coro makes sacks and hammocks from cocuiza, in addition to soap
and cigarettes, the only other industries of the place. All the produce
exported passes along the seven-mile railway to the harbour of La Vela,
not to be confused with the cape of the same name far to the west in
Colombia.
Capatárida, a small town on the coast some thirty miles west of Coro,
is chiefly famed for the excellent quality of the tobacco grown in the
valley south of the town. The plains of Falcón and the peninsula of
Paraguana are, however, chiefly devoted to goat-farming, the character of
the country being almost identical with that of Curaçao, and most of the
other coastal islands.
[Illustration: WILLEMSTAD: CURAÇAO.]
[Illustration: THE HARBOUR: WILLEMSTAD.]
Curaçao is, of course, Dutch territory, but the relations of the island
with Venezuela are very close—too close, in fact, from the point of
view of the Government. The legitimate and registered trade between the
two is small, but an enormous amount of smuggling is carried on, while
Willemstad has more than once proved a convenient base for intending
revolutionaries.
The town is a strange mixture both in people and language, and in
character a strong contrast to those of the Venezuelan coast. If one
is up betimes on board, watching for the entrance to the harbour, one
wonders if it is not really a confused dream of Flushing and a desert
island, so much does the port resemble a homely Dutch town transported
bodily into the heat of the West Indies, and set down on a barren rock.
When the steamer has entered the harbour, and the pontoon bridge has
swung back behind her, one can hardly believe that the land of mañana and
_dolce far niente_ is only a few miles away across the sea.
Harbour police, in plain but good blue uniforms and helmets, in place
of dirty white ducks adorned with much gold braid, pronounce us, after
some conversation in very guttural Spanish, fit and proper persons to
enter her Majesty’s colony of Curaçao, and we go on shore to examine this
fragment of Holland.
The very cleanliness of the town seems the cause of the only discomfort
experienced as one lands, for the dry soil will not support avenues
of trees, and the glare from the white stone pavements and walls is
almost painful. The names over the shops are sometimes Dutch, sometimes
Portuguese and Spanish, often combinations of these, while the people who
fill the streets are largely negroes of a strong, healthy type, talking
a language which sounds like Dutch as far as accent is concerned, but on
fuller acquaintance develops a likeness to Spanish. Those who know it
say that all languages contribute to genuine Curaçao, and I am almost
certain that I heard a Russian word used by one dusky Dutch subject.
The notice on the end of the bridge tells us alternately to “_Langzaam
rijden_” and “_Kore poko poko_,” the latter being the genuine Curaçao “as
she is wrote,” practically Spanish spelt phonetically.
On the east side of the harbour are the Government buildings, Post
Office, &c., together with the large business houses and the Dutch
Reformed Church. As it was August when I visited the island, most of the
comfortable-looking mansions were empty, the owners being away on home
visits.
The prosperity of Willemstad, it is evident, does not depend upon natural
products, of which there are none; even the oranges with which the famous
liqueur was made are not grown in Curaçao now, but the building of small
sloops and supplies for these, with the custom of visitors who come to
buy in a free-trade market and avoid the all but prohibitive prices
behind Venezuela’s tariff wall, provide work for the numerous warehouses,
not to mention the illicit trade with the mainland. The official returns
show straw hats as the most considerable export, although formerly a fair
amount of guano and phosphate of lime was shipped away. With a water
supply dependent upon casual rains and a few shallow wells, there can
be no drainage system, but the dryness of the climate and the stringent
sanitary regulations combine to give Curaçao absolute freedom from
epidemics and a deserved reputation as a health resort.
The smaller islands of the Las Aves, Los Roques, and other groups used,
like Curaçao, to export a considerable quantity of guano, and phosphate
produced by atmospheric action from coral limestones under the guano.
Now, however, the few small settlements are mere fishing villages, whose
catch is sold on the mainland.