Kitabı oku: «Spanish America, Vol. II (of 2)», sayfa 4

The peninsula, which lies to the north of Coro, is called Paragoana, and the isthmus is about a league in width, from which the peninsula stretches from south-west to north-west for twenty leagues. It is inhabited by people of colour and Indians, who breed great quantities of cattle on it, which they ship off clandestinely to Curaçoa, that island being supplied from this place with meat and vegetables, by open boats, which cross over daily.

Coro is 80 leagues west of Caraccas, 65 north of Maracaybo, and 33 north-west of Barquisimeto.

The next place of note in the government of Venezuela, is Porto Cavello, or Puerto Cabello, 30 leagues north-east of Caraccas, in 10° 20' north latitude, and 69° 11' west longitude. It lies in a fine harbour, in the Golfo Triste, near Curaçoa, to the neighbourhood of which island it owes its importance.

Burburata, a village and harbour, a league to the east of Porto Cavello, was originally the port of Venezuela, and was founded for that purpose in 1549. The harbour of Puerto Cabello, being well adapted for carrying on a contraband trade with Burburata, its shores were soon settled by fishermen, and many Dutch smugglers erected huts there. Such was the boldness and enterprising spirit of these people, that all the efforts of the Spaniards were unable to check them, and they continued their unlawful trade under the eyes of the local authorities. When the Guipuscoa company obtained their final charter, they ejected the most troublesome of these people by force, built a town, a wharf, and forts for its defence; and they also erected immense warehouses, some of which still remain.

The site of this town was a small peninsula, the neck of which was almost under water; this isthmus was cut through, a canal formed, and the town detached from the suburbs.

The exterior buildings are by far the most numerous, they are however built very irregularly, and the island town is chiefly occupied by the forts and warehouses; the communication between the two being by a bridge over the canal, at the end of which is placed a gate that is always closed at night.

The population of this town amounts to about 8000, their sole employment being navigation and commerce, and their principal connection is with the continental harbours and the islands. About 60 vessels are employed in the coasting, and four or five in the European trade. It is the place of resort for ships requiring repair, and some vessels are built here; and it may also be said to be the entrepôt of eastern Venezuela.

The climate is very hot and unhealthy, which prevents its becoming a place of importance.

Puerto Cabello is supplied with water by canals from a river a league to the west, and distributed to the public in cisterns, built at proper distances.

It has one parish church near the harbour, and two hospitals, one for the soldiers, and one for private persons; and the local authority is vested in the hands of the commandant.

This place was attacked by the English in 1743, but they lost many men, and were obliged to relinquish the undertaking.

Porto Cavello is 30 leagues from La Guayra by sea, 48 by land, from Caraccas, following the road through the towns of Valencia, Maracay, Tulmero, Victoria and San Pedro.

Carora, an inland town, in 10° north latitude, lying on the Morera river, is 110 miles north-east of Gibraltar, on the lake Maracaybo, and contains a population of 6200 souls, resembling in its commerce, inhabitants, &c. —

Tocuyo, a large town, in 9° 35' north latitude, and 70° 20' west longitude, seated in a fine valley between two ranges of high mountains. The city of Tocuyo is very regularly built, the streets being all wide and straight, containing a church, chapel and two monasteries.

In this city, the climate is very fine and wholesome, owing to the vicinity of high mountains, but the air is occasionally cold. The inhabitants who amount to 10,200, are in general artizans, traders, graziers, and agriculturists.

The wheat of Tocuyo is reckoned the best in the province, and furnishes flour to many towns of the interior. Manufactories of woollens are also established, in which coverlids, blankets, &c., are made, and sent to Maracaybo, and even as far as Carthagena. Tanneries and taweries supply work to a great part of the inhabitants, who work up as much of the raw materials as they can find hands to do, and export the rest. Salt from the salt ponds of Coro affords a lucrative article of traffic to the merchants of this town. Tocuyo is 90 leagues south-west of Caraccas, and 20 north of Truxillo.

Guanara, on a river of the same name, that flows into the Portughuesa, which furnishes the inhabitants with excellent water, and fertilizes the land by its overflowings; on the western parts of this stream, the country is very fruitful; and on the south and east are the immense plains of Varinas.

The chief wealth of the people of Guanara consists in cattle, of which they possess immense herds. They supply the provinces of Caraccas with vast numbers of oxen and mules, and export their surplus by Coro, Puerto-Cavello, or Guiana.

This city consists of a number of streets disposed in an uniform and regular manner, and the houses, though not sumptuous, are well built. The church is large, handsome, and much adorned, and there is a very good hospital. The image of Nuestra Senora de Comoroto, which is supposed to have a particular virtue, attracts a great concourse of devotees from the neighbouring provinces, and renders Guanara a lively place; it is 93 leagues south-west of Caraccas, in 8° 14' north latitude, and 69° 54' west longitude.

Barquisimeto, which contains a population of 11,300 souls, is situated in 8° 55' north latitude, and 66° 55' west longitude; 120 miles west-south-west of Caraccas, 450 north-north-east of Santa Fé, 45 north-north-east of Tocuyo, 80 miles south of Valencia, and 175 north-west of Calaboza, on a small river of the same name, which joins the Portughuesa. It was founded in 1552, after the surrounding country had been reduced, and is one of the oldest cities of Venezuela; being placed on a plain at such an elevation, that it enjoys every cool breeze from the river, and owing to this happy situation, the great heat of the climate becomes supportable. The north-east winds are the most constant, and whenever these do not blow, the thermometer rises to 82° and 84° of Fahrenheit.

The inhabitants pasture the plains with herds of cattle, and find this a lucrative occupation, and an easy method of making use of their time; but they also cultivate the valleys, which produce cacao of an excellent quality, owing to the periodical overflowing of the stream; and the sides of the mountains are now planted with coffee-trees, which only require a little more care to be of the purest quality. The houses of Barquisimeto are well built, and the streets are on a wide, regular, and good plan. Its church is a handsome structure, and the luxury of its ornaments, as well as the general aspect of the city, show the ease and affluence in which the inhabitants, who are mostly Europeans and their descendants, live.

The city is governed by a lieutenant-governor, and common council.

Victoria is situated on the road leading from Caraccas to Puerto Cavello, six leagues east of Tulmero. It was founded by the missionaries, and for a long time consisted wholly of Indians, till the fruitful nature of the valley of Aragoa drew a number of whites to it. The lands were soon cultivated, and Victoria was covered with houses instead of huts.

The principal ornament of this place is a handsome church, so large that it might well be termed a cathedral; the number of inhabitants of the town is about 8000.

Tulmero is another town in the same fertile valley at six leagues distance west of the latter, and two from Maracay. This town is modern, well built, and the residence of a number of tobacco, coffee, indigo, cacao, &c., planters, but has been peculiarly the abode of the officers appointed to the administration of the tobacco farm; it is embellished with a handsome church and neat private buildings, and is governed by a lieutenant; a vicar also resides here, for the direction of ecclesiastical affairs.

The population is about 8000 souls.

Maracay, forty miles south-west of Caraccas, is also seated in the same rich vale of Aragoa, and is a beautiful new town famous for the excellent chocolate made in its neighbourhood. The inhabitants who are mostly descendants of Biscayan Spaniards, have been computed to amount to 8500, who cultivate indigo, cacao, cotton, coffee and grain.

Valencia in 10° 9' north latitude, and 68° 25' west longitude, sixteen miles south-west of Caraccas, was founded in consequence of Faxardo, one of the conquerors having greatly praised the surrounding country; it was first built by Villacinda in 1555, with the view of establishing a port near the capital; but Alonzo Diaz Moreno afterwards preferred a scite more distant from lake Tacarigua (now Valencia), and he accordingly removed the colony half a league west of the lake to a beautiful plain, where the air was pure and the soil fertile.

The population of this city is said to be about 8000 souls, mostly creoles, of good families, with some Biscayans and Canarians; the streets are wide and well paved, and the houses built like those of Caraccas, but not of stone. This town has a beautiful square, in which the church, a very pretty structure, stands. In 1802 another church was built and dedicated to Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria; and the Franciscans have a monastery which has also a neat church.

The inhabitants were formerly noted for their indolence, but have lately become active and industrious, and the situation of the place is peculiarly favourable for trade, being separated from Puerto Cavello by only ten leagues of good road. Every commodity landed at that port for the consumption of the provinces of the interior passes through Valencia, which necessarily causes much traffic. The adjacent country produces every sort of provision and fruits in great abundance, and the plains feed immense herds of cattle, with sheep, horses and mules, so that its markets are well supplied. Near it is the lake of Valencia, which has been described already.

Valencia, with the towns of Victoria and Barquisimeto, suffered very much from the earthquake which overthrew Caraccas, La Guayra, Merida and the villages of San Felipe and Maiqueta, on the 26th of March, 1812.

Ocumara, though only a village, is celebrated for having a very fine port, the entrance to which has a battery for eight pieces of cannon. Ocumara is five leagues east of Porto Cabello; the port is excellent and well sheltered, with fine moorings. The village is about a league distant from the anchoring place on a small river of the same name, which, after fertilizing a fine valley, enters the sea at the foot of the fort. Between this bay and La Guayra are the bays of Choroni, Puerto, La Cruz, Los Arecifes and Catia, and between Ocumara, or Seinega de Ocumara are the bays of Turiamo, Burburata, and Paranego, from all of which the inhabitants of the coasts export their produce to La Guayra, Porto Cavello, or the West Indies, as each of these afford fine anchoring places for vessels. In the bay of Burburata there is a village, formerly a place of consequence, but principally of note for the number of mules which it exports.

San Carlos was formerly a missionary village, which owes its present beauty to the luxuriancy of the surrounding country; it is twenty-eight leagues south-south-west of Valencia, in 9° 20' north latitude; the climate is very hot, but owing to the prevalence of the north-east wind it is much ameliorated. The inhabitants amount to 9500, composed of Spaniards from the Canaries, and Creoles, and are engaged in rearing cattle, horses and mules, which form their chief riches; the quality of the soil is so good that it gives an exquisite flavour to the fruits, particularly to its oranges, which are celebrated throughout the province.

Indigo and coffee are the chief articles cultivated at San Carlos, and the town is large, handsome, and well laid out.

Araura on the shore of the river Acarigua is north-north-east of Truxillo, in a fertile country, where numerous herds of cattle are reared, and cotton and coffee are cultivated; this town, which was, till lately, a missionary village, contains a fine square, a handsome church, and several streets of well built houses.

Calaboso was also a mission until lately; it was formed into a town for the sake of those Spanish owners who wished to be near their cattle which roam on the vast plains of the same name.

It is situated between the rivers Guarico and Orituco, which unite their waters four or five leagues below the town, and then flow into the Apure.

The number of inhabitants in this new town is 4800, and it has 116 settlements in its jurisdiction, containing 1186 free Indians, 3100 people of colour, and 943 slaves. It is fifty-two leagues south of Caraccas, and about the same distance from the Orinoco, in 8° 40' north latitude.

San Juan del Pao is also inhabited by the proprietors of the cattle on the plains, and consists of a church and several handsome streets on the Pao, which runs into the Orinoco. It contains 5400 souls, and is fifty leagues south-west of Caraccas, in 9° 20' north latitude.

San Luis de Cura, in 9° 45' north latitude, twenty-two leagues south-west of Caraccas, and eight leagues south-east of Lake Valencia, possesses 4000 inhabitants, and a miraculous image of the Virgin, to which votaries are constantly flocking.

St. Sebastian de los Reyes in 9° 54' north latitude, twenty-eight leagues south-south-west of Caraccas, and in a hot climate, contains 3500 souls.

St. Felipe or Cocorota, in a very fertile soil, where cacao, indigo, coffee, cotton and sugar are cultivated, contains 6800 inhabitants, and is well built. It stands in 10° 15' north latitude, 50 leagues west of Caraccas, 15 leagues north-west of Valencia, and seven leagues north-west of Nirgua; which place was built in the early periods of the conquest, on account of its mines; but it is now in a decaying state, and is inhabited only by Sambos, or the race springing from the Indians and negroes; their number amounts to 3200. This town is in 10° south latitude, 48 leagues west of Caraccas.

Besides the above, there are several other smaller towns, and some very large villages in this government, which are too numerous to describe.

The country of Venezuela is not famous for mines of gold or silver, though some gold has occasionally been found in the streams, which rush from the mountains; the pearl fishery of its coasts will be described in treating of the island of Margarita.

THE PROVINCE OF MARACAYBO

Maracaybo, or Maracaibo, surrounds the lake of the same name. It is bounded on the west by Santa Marta, in New Granada; on the east by Coro and Venezuela; on the north by Santa Marta, and the gulf of Maracaybo; and on the south by Merida and Santa Marta. Owing to the great extent of the lake, this province extends but a short distance inland to the east and west, its length being about 100 leagues.

The soil of Maracaybo is unfruitful on the banks of the lake. The east shore is dry and unhealthy, and on the west shore the land does not begin to be fertile for more than twenty-five leagues south of the city. South of the lake the country may vie with the richest lands of South America.

In this province the population is estimated at about 100,000 souls.

It was from the Indian towns built on posts of iron wood on the lake of Maracaybo that the Spaniards gave the country the name of Venezuela, or Little Venice. This country was long unknown after the conquest. Ampues, who was governor at Coro, had engaged all the neighbouring nations of Indians, by his conciliatory measures, to swear allegiance to Spain, when, in 1528, Alfinger and Sailler, who had been sent, with 400 followers, to assume the government, under the authority of the company of the Welsers, landed at Coro. Unfortunately for the Indians, they dispossessed Ampues of his government, and began to search in every direction round the lake for gold; finding that their hopes of suddenly acquiring riches from this source were not likely to be realised, Alfinger took the resolution of penetrating into the interior, to pillage the Indian towns, and make prisoners of as many as he could, in order to sell them for slaves. The Indian villages about the lake were soon destroyed; carnage and havoc spread around; the natives were sold to the merchants from the islands, and the whole province was a scene of horror and devastation. Alfinger did not long survive this inhuman conduct, he met his fate in a valley, six leagues from Pamplona, in Merida, the natives killing him there in a skirmish in 1531.

Two other German agents succeeded him, and continued the same barbarous conduct towards the Indians, which coming to the knowledge of the king of Spain, they were formally dispossessed: but it is asserted that the traces of the crimes they committed are visible to this day. Four villages of Maracaybo were all that escaped, and are yet standing, the iron wood on which they are founded becoming like a mass of stone from the petrifying quality of the water. These villages are situated on the east part of the lake, at unequal distances from each other, and have a church, which is also built in the water on piles, and to which the inhabitants of all the villages resort.

Several small rivers empty themselves into this lake: but as the country is uninhabited, excepting by Indians, and immediately on the shores, nothing is known with accuracy concerning them, the savage Goahiros from La Hacha preventing all access on the western side, and keeping the settlers continually in alarm.

The lake is navigable for vessels of any burden, but this advantage is sometimes rendered useless by a dangerous sand-bank across the narrow entrance, on which vessels drawing twelve feet water will occasionally ground.

Near the borders of the lake, on the west, are the only parts of this province which are cultivated, where, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, and the insalubrity of the air, some whites have fixed their habitations to cultivate cacao, and other plants. These settlers are much scattered, and have a chapel placed in the centre, to which they all occasionally resort.

The climate of the province is in general hot and unhealthy, excepting in the southern parts which border on the snowy mountains of Merida.

Its chief town is the city of Maracaybo, in north latitude 10° 30', and west longitude 71° 46', on the western side of the narrow or strait which leads into the lake at about six leagues from the sea, on a sandy soil, and in a dry hot climate. In July and August the air is so heated, that it seems as if it issued from a furnace: but the most usual preventative for the ill effects of this abominable climate is constant bathing in the lake. Thunderstorms, hurricanes, and earthquakes, are common in this country.

The city is built with some taste, but disfigured by having most of its houses covered with reeds. The principal part of the town is on the shore of a small gulf, a league in length, which extends towards the broad part of the lake on the south, and the other part is built on the neck to the north, where the lake is only three leagues in width. The place where the town begins is named Maracaybo Point; that where the gulf commences Aricta Point; opposite to which is Point Sta. Lucia.

Maracaybo was founded in 1571 by Alonzo Pacheco, an inhabitant of Truxillo, who gave it the name of New Zamora. It contains one parish church, a chapel of ease, and a convent of Franciscans and is supplied with water from the lake, which at times is brackish near this place, when the strong breezes, especially in March, impregnate it with salt from the spray of the sea.

The population consists of about 24,000 persons, owing to the number of emigrants who fled hither from St. Domingo. The great families, or people of rank, are about thirty. The whites, or Europeans and Creoles, apply themselves to agriculture, commerce, the fisheries and navigation, and live very comfortably. The slaves and freemen are composed of negroes and mulattoes, who exercise all the laborious trades and handicrafts, and the number of slaves is about 5000.

The best schooners which sail on the Spanish Main are built at this city, which possesses peculiar advantages for ship-building. Though the air is so hot, and the land so arid, yet the natives enjoy a good state of health, and live to an old age, owing, most probably, to the custom of frequent ablutions, as the children may be said to live in the water, and most of the people pass their time in navigating the lake. The young people are celebrated for their wit and ingenuity: but the charge of a want of probity in their dealings with strangers is brought against these people. The females are sprightly and modest, and are extremely fond of music; the notes of the harp resounding through the streets of an evening. The great object of veneration at Maracaybo is an image of the Virgin, denominated Chiquinquira, the name of a village in New Granada, from whence she was brought.

A temple was dedicated to her worship in 1586, and immediately a fountain rose up under the altar where she was placed; miraculous virtues were communicated to its waters, and this image has procured a lasting reputation in the surrounding country.

The mariners of the lake invoke this holy shrine in all their undertakings, and it is placed in the chapel of ease of St. Juan de Dios. Three forts protect the harbour of Maracaybo. This place was plundered by Michael de Basco, and Francis Lolonois, in 1667, when they sailed up the gulf of Venezuela, with eight ships and 660 men; they entered the strait, stormed and took the fort of La Barra which defended it, and putting to death the garrison consisting of 250 men, they then advanced to Maracaybo; on their arrival there, the inhabitants abandoned the city, and removed their most valuable goods.

Here they remained a fortnight reveling in drunkenness and debauchery, and then proceeded to Gibraltar, which the people of Maracaybo had newly fortified; after a severe contest, this place was also taken, but proved a barren triumph, which so exasperated the Buccaneers, that they set fire to the place, and threatened Maracaybo with the same fate; the poor inhabitants collected as much property as they could, and ransomed the city, but not before it had been gutted of every thing.

Soon after this, Henry Morgan a Welsh adventurer attacked Porto Bello, and succeeding in his expedition, fitted out in 1669, a fleet of fifteen vessels, manned with 960 men, with which he sailed to Maracaybo, silenced the fort of the Strait, reached the city, and found it deserted; but following the people to the woods, he discovered their treasures; he then sailed to Gibraltar, which was desolate; while engaged in torturing the people he had made prisoners, in order to make them produce their hidden treasures, he learnt that three Spanish men of war, had arrived at the entrance of the lake. Summoning all the impudence he was master of, Morgan sent an order to the commander of the vessels to ransom the city. The answer was, as might be expected, a denial, and direction to surrender himself immediately; to this he replied, that if the admiral would not allow him to pass, he would find means to do so; accordingly dividing his plunder among his vessels, that each might have a share to defend, he sent a fire-ship into the enemy's fleet, and having burnt two, and captured a third ship, he made a show of landing men to attack the fort, which being thus put off its guard, Morgan passed the bar with his whole armament, without sustaining the slightest damage.

Maracaybo is the seat of the governor of the province, who enjoys the same salary, and exercises the same authority as the governor of Cumana. This district was at one time under the jurisdiction of the governor of Merida, but since that province has been annexed to the viceroyalty of New Granada, and since the province of Varinas has been formed out of part of Venezuela and part of Maracaybo, the latter has been made a distinct government.

On the east side of Maracaybo Lake are several small towns, of which Paraute, Las Barbacoas, Gibraltar, and San Pedro, are the most considerable places.

Paraute is eighty miles south of Coro, and is a small place on the banks of the lake.

Las Barbacoas is situated a short distance farther south, and seventy-five miles south of Coro.

Gibraltar, in 10° 4' north latitude, and 67° 36' west longitude, is 100 miles south-east of Maracaybo, on the eastern banks of the lake; it is a very old town, famous for the production of a particular sort of tobacco, called tobacco of Maracaybo, from which the best sort of snuff, vulgarly called Maccabaw, is made.

The country in the vicinity of this town is well watered with rivers, and consequently grows excellent cacao. Cedars of immense size are found in its woods, but the climate is very hot and insalubrious, especially during the rainy season, when the merchants and planters retire to Maracaybo or Merida.

San Pedro is a short distance south of Gibraltar, and also on the banks of the lake. The other places being mere villages, or scattered plantations, are not worth mentioning.

Truxillo, on the confines of Merida, in 8° 40' north latitude, twenty leagues north of Merida, 105 south-west of Caraccas, and thirty west of Guanara, is in a country producing sugar, cacao, indigo, coffee, &c., and in which wheat is cultivated in great abundance, and forms the chief article of the commerce of the inhabitants, who also carry the above fruits, sweetmeats, cheese, woollens, &c. to Maracaybo, by means of the lake, which is only twenty-five leagues distant, but the route to which lies across the desert and unhealthy plains of Llonay.

The inhabitants of Truxillo are an active and an industrious race; and at present amount to 7600 souls, though the city, which is one of the oldest on the continent, was formerly also one of the best peopled, until it was destroyed and sacked by Francis Gramont, the Buccaneer, who, in 1678, traversed the province of Venezuela, with a small band of followers, attracted by the riches of this place.

The scite of Truxillo is between two mountains, and it contains a good parish church, a chapel of ease, two monasteries, a convent of Dominican nuns, and an hospital.