The Journal of an Expedition Across Venezuela

T HE JOURNAL OF AN EX PEDIT ION ACROSS VENEZU ELA AND COLOMBIA

1 9 0 6 — 1 9 0 7

Th e journa l of a n Expe dition

A cross Venez uela and Colombia

1 9 0 6 - 1 9 0 7

EX PLORATION OF THE ROUT E OF BOLIVAR’S

CELEBRAT ED MARCH O F 1 8 1 9 AND O F T H E B AT T L E— FI EL DS

OF BOYACA AND

CARABO BO

BY D H H B H . F H M P . RV RD I RA M I NG A , ( A A ) ,

’ ﬁl my on Lat i n America n H istor Yale Uni vcrszt y, y

WI TH MAP AN D 133 I LLUS TRA TI ON S FROM P H OTOGRA P H S TA! EN BY TH E A UTH OR

NEW HAVEN, CONN. YALE PUBLISHING ASSOCIAT ION

LONDON T FISHER UNWIN 1 909 25 5

o ri h t 1 0 b C py g , 9 9 . y YALE P U BLIS H I NG ASSOCI ATION - (mcou onn m)

' ENT ERED AT Su r romgns HALL LONDON

All right s reser ved

PREFACE

FOR the past eight years I have b een collecting material for a h istory of the South American Wars of Independence and for biog h i M i ra es . p of San artin and Bol var, the chief heroes of that era As I worked on the life of Bolivar it appeared to me to be particularly difficult to form a just estimate of his achievements ; I could find no maps of his battle-fields and few trustworthy accounts of the scenes

of his greatest activity . In 1 8 1 9 Bolivar conducted an army across Venezuela and Colom a bia by a road that was deemed to be impassable . The ofﬁci l des patches state that many of the soldiers succumbe d to the hardships of the march and that all the saddle and pack animals died on the was way. The result the permanent expulsion of Spanish power

- from Colombia. It has been maintained by Spanish American historians that this march of Bolivar and his army was as wonderful

a eon as the more famous marches of Hannibal and N pol . I found it to be almost impossible to form an intelligent estimate of the actual

o bstacles that were overcome by the Liberating Army , for the region is not one that is easily visited and the published descriptions of it

are very meagre . I came to the conclusion that if I wished to understand this period

in the history of South America, it would be necessary for me to undertake an exped ition that should have for its object not only a w study of the country here Bolivar lived and fought , and a visit to e a the scenes of his most important battl s , Carabobo and Boyac , but

also an exploration of the route of his most celebrated campaign .

1 0 6 Accordingly I left New York about the middle of November , 9 ,

Cura ao spent a fortnight in the islands of Vieques , Porto Rico , and g , w a . as and reached C racas early in December Here I joined by Dr .

e x eri Hamilton Rice , who had some years previously p e nced the difﬁcult ie s of travel in South America by going from Vi PREFACE

az Quito to Para by way of the Napo and the Am on , and whose love of exploration led him to join me in this enterprise . -ﬁ We spent a month in Caracas , ten days on the battle eld of

Carabobo , and four months crossing the Llanos and the Andes to

l 1 8 1 Bogota , following the route taken by Bo ivar in 9 . The larger part of our journey was through regions about which little has been so h written , that it seems advisable to publish the journal of t e h as expedition in detail . Although my training been that of an

e historian , rather than that of a naturalist , I hop that the record of myobse rvations may nevert heless prove to b e of some value in th e h n ﬁelds of geography and et ology . In the preparation of my notes of scientiﬁc observations for publication I have received much assist ance of the greatest value from Professor Herb ert Gregory of Yale

University.

now I desire to acknowledge my great indebtedness to Secretary , ofﬁcials Senator, Root , and to the other of the Department of State , and to man y members of the Diplomatic and Consular Services for favours without which the undertaking would have been impract i a ofﬁcials cable . To President Raf el Reyes of Colombia and the of h t e Colombian Government , who took pains to facilitate in every

. ac M r way the success of the expedition , to the Hon J ob Sleeper, ajo

Heimke F . M r William , rancis Stronge , Esq , Don Carlos Stelling, .

Ca riles . . ac William Phelps , Dr Isa p , Sr Jorge Pombo and many

e others, who made me welcome in their homes and gave me assistanc

am . t and advice , I under a lasting debt of gratitude I only regre that it is impossible to enumerate all whose kindness added to th e pleasures of the journey . This volume has been printed during my absence as a delegate

- A Scient iﬁc to the Pan merican Congress held at Santiago de Chile ,

1 0 8 . in December, 9 The oversight of the proof was assumed e r n n by my friend , G orge Parke Winship , of the Joh Carter Brow

ar h as d Libr y , who thereby placed me un er obligations which only those will fully appreciate who have been in a similar position . HI RA M BINGHA M .

NEW HAV EN C NNEC I T. , O T CU CONT ENT S

CHAPTER I CARA CAS

CHAPTER II VALENCIA AND CARABOBO

CHAPTER III CARA BOBO ro BARINAS

CHAPTER IV FROM BARINAS 1 0 1 111-3 AP U ‘RE RIV ER

CHAPTER V FROM 1 111: AP U RE RIV ER ro ARA U CA

CHAPTER VI ARAUCA 'ro Lmno

CHAPTER VII EL a o 1 0 PO11}:

CHAPTER VIII PORE

CHAPTER IX P011}: 1 0 NUNCHIA

CHAPTER X NUNCHI A To 1 111: Pu m o or PIS VA

CHAPTER XI FROM 1 11 1: P ARAMO or P ISV A r o PANTANO DE VARGAS

vii viii CONTENTS

CHAPTER XII FROM Pm m o DE VARGAS ro BoyAcA

CHAPTER XIII

FRoM rm: BRIDGE or BoYAcit 1 0 3 0001 11

CHAPTER XIV Boooré

CHAPT ER 3 0001 5 To CARTAGENA

P I A HI T RIC ! E CH AP END X . S O AL S T

B B B . BA TTL E or CARA O O

C EMPERA TUR AN D EA HE R . T E W T

I NDEX 2 85

M AP or ROU TE F RO M CARACAS r o Boc or A I n pocket at end of book CHAPTER I

CARACAS

December th 1 06 . 4 , 9 This morning I arrived at La Guayra , the

a e nez u n i seaport of Carac s . The V ela ofﬁc als had been informed of the object of the expedition and courteously passed my outﬁt s A through the customs hou e without examination . few hours after landing I left La Guayra on the little train that connects the port

w r ith Caracas , and greatly enjoyed the ride over this wonde ful rail v road . With many cur es it winds up the slopes of a great moun l tain , giving one an inspiring view of the Caribbean . Caracas is on y

ﬁve ﬂie s h miles from La Guayra as the crow , but as it is nearly t ree thousand feet above the sea it takes thirty miles of railroad to climb around the intervening mountain and reach the beautiful valley in

which lies the capital of Venezuela . ’ ’ M r é d Atfair . es Jacob Sleeper , the American Charg , met me at the station and most hospitably invited me to be his guest at the

American legation . The house is a charming one , built around o M at i s . two attractive courts or p It is the property of General atos , who ﬁnanced the last serious revolution in Venezuela and spent two million dollars (so it is reported) in an unsuccessful attempt to over ’ e throw General Castro s Governm nt . h ff December t . 9 I have been su ering from dengue fever , which A I picked up in Porto Rico on the way down from New York .

d me local octor suspected of having yellow fever , sent me to bed soon after my arrival and since then he has been trying to starve me

s to death . I feel hardly strong enough to walk acro s the street and w s hether I shall be able to cross Venezuela eems pretty doubtful .

w New Ho ever , Rice arrived today from York, is very optimistic and says all I need is plenty of good food .

It seems strange not to be able to send a cable anywhere . Some time ago the French Cable Company got into difﬁcultywith the VENEZUELA

C ARAC AS l

Venez uelan Government and since then there has been no cable ofﬁce nearer than the Dutch Island of Curacao . As a result the news of the outside world which is printed in the papers is frequently a w eek or ten days old .

ece r roth D mbe . We hear that the rains on the Llanos have

o been extraordinarily late this year , so that we shall not be able to g o ac a directly s uth ross the plains to Achaguas , where Bolivar ssembled

1 h is soldiers in 1 8 9 . During the rainy se ason the central Llanos are largely under

o water and it is almost imp ssible to travel except on the rivers . Accordingly we have decided to go west a hundred miles by rail to

-ﬁeld Valencia , thence south to Carabobo , the most famous battle in

z and o Vene uela , from there s uthwest , skirting the western edge of the Llanos until it is feasible to descend to the lower plains . We hope ’ n to reach Bolivar s route ear the Apure River not far from Achaguas .

Fort unat el o ythe eastern slope of the Andes , along which we must g , is little known and well worth visiting .

r v o Decembe 1 2 th . We inter iewed two negroes t day who are

r . willing to sha e the hardships of the journey Josh Obadiah Nero , ! h St . as s born and raised in itts , lived in Venezuela for the pa t ﬁf n r k and n ﬂuent l H tee . e yea s , and spea s both English Spa ish y

1 T h e anorama i of Carac as ro m t h e so t at t h e t o of t se a s was p v ew f u h , p he p ge , ’ T h e a o a t aken from t h e hills just a bove Cast ro s new vi ll a . C jiga l bse rv t o ryis on h o h e l on h x r m l o r t at l is t h e Cal a r o t o f t t e t t . L o P ark t e p hi l e e e ef we d wn h hi l v i . T h o In t h e foregro und at t h e left is t h e Municipal Elect ric Light plant . e c nspicu

ous it in is t h e Nat onal T a t r lt b Cast ro . T h e ak at t h e wh e build g new i he e, bui y pe h h right a bove t e c louds is t e Silla . CARACAS 3

FROM rm: S OUTH .

has been in the interior and is ready to qualify as chief cook . The other one , Richard Harvey , comes from Trinidad , speaks almost no a i Spanish , but has a pleas nt face and is anx ous to do whatever is

wanted of him . We have tried to discourage them by enlarging on

difﬁcult ies the possible and dangers of the undertaking , but they have both been out of work so long that they are ready for almost

n . a yemployment They little dream what is ahead of them .

ecember 1 th . o D 3 One rarely sees any dis rder in the streets .

Policemen are numerous . They carry carbines and are well dressed

in blue uniforms . The soldiers wear a cheap quality of khaki with ﬁ d helmets to match . They are kept pretty closely con ne to their

barracks , of which there are several large ones in the city . The

greatest pest on the streets are the be ggars . Caracas seems to show a mixture of Spanish and French in

ﬂuences. One sees a great number of little shops where provisions u are sold in verysmall q uantities . O everyhand may be encountered

the tiny establishments of tailors , barbers and druggists . Their large number and their small size constantly bring to mind the

Southern European cities . The coinage is based on the French

bolivar system , the unit of value being the which is worth about

. e twenty cents There is likewis a Pantheon , a direct imitation of

Paris . The police call to mind the Parisian gendarmes . The s public carriages are little victoria such as one sees in Paris , except

that here it is more customary for them to have two horses than one . a Even the coach fare is the same , although there is one local peculi rity

th at I do not remember having encountered elsewhere . There are 4 VENEZUELA

C ARACAS 1

u l . three grades of hacks , all eq al y comfortable The distinction is one that appeals solely to the imagination . The lowest grade is ’ distinguished by having a driver in citi z en s dress and numbers on

- the carriage lamps . The next grade has a driver in semi livery ; while the most expensive of all carry no number on their lamps and are driven by Jehus in full livery . For this luxury one is charged double the regular t ariﬁ.

t aﬁairs There is a system of tram cars, primi ive drawn by mules .

s Although unable to carry more than a score of pa sengers, each has its conductor as well as a driver . The only people in Caracas who seem to be in a hurry are the M hack drivers . ost of the men on the streets carry walking sticks

are and appear to have little to do . There always dozens of loafers

1 Th e t wo views at t h e top of t h e page give a t elephot o panorama of Caracas fr om m ll se r r r ntl h n O n t h e l t in t h e ore roun is a s a r o ilt b Cast ro . t e ort h . ef f g d e v i ece ybu y In th e c ent re of t h e foregro und mayb e seen t h e old road t hat goes over t h e mo un r h o r m t h e ure was t I asse s n a t e s t o c t ak . T h e t ain to La Guayra . t p e p f whi h pic en do me in t h e ce n t re of t h e pict ure is t h e Nat ional Capit ol . T h e consp icuous whit e building to t h e right of t h e cent re is t h e Municipal T heat re . Above t his and a lit t le ’ m h o h is t h e lla Zoila Cast ro s ne w alac . Fro t e ll a o t s t h e t t e right vi , p e hi b ve hi w k T h e t ri m al ar on t h e ot her panorama of Caracas as t a en . u ph ch wooded hill on o t t h e l t of t h e hi ll t h e right was built b yGeneral C re sp . A ef wooded nea r it s base t th e maybe see n t h e roo f of t h e bull ring . In t h e valleya ext reme right o f t h e pic t u re are t h e roofs o f th e rail road sta t io n where t rains a rrive from La Gu ayra an d also from Valen cia . CARACAS 5

mom THE Nonr a .

in w in the vicinity of the Plaza Bolivar . The prevail g colour is bro n .

Now and then one sees a pure Indian , but not very often . Among F the faces are a small sprinkling of German and rench types , but

- almost never an Anglo Saxon . The faces denoting pure Spanish

descent are also scarce . The great majority show the mixture of

Spanish , Indian and Negro . M There is a great sameness in the appearance of the houses . ost of them look as though they had been built on identically the same A plan . paved passage leads from the street to a small uncovered patio from which one has access to the living- rooms in front and

r . h rea The main room looks out on the street , usually t rough two

barred windows that project over the sidewalk . The streets are

narrow , and telephone poles are placed in the sidewalk about eight

r inches from its edge . As the sidewalks are also extremely na row , two pedestrians walking side by side cannot pass with comfort between the telephone poles and the sides of the houses . And when the iron framework of a window projects ten or twelve inches from the wall , as it frequently does , there is barely room for even one person to pass . In the suburbs , where the streets are wider , trees are frequently planted in the sidewalk , a hole twenty inches in diameter e being left in the concrete for that purpose . Evidently it is expect d ﬁl that people should walk in single e . The old mule trail to La Guayra goes directly north over the 6 VENEZUELA

mountain from the northwest corner of Caracas . It is still used to a e limit d extent , although all heavy goods are conveyed either by train

or by the cart road that follows more or less the line of the railway . In places the road still retains the old Spanish stone paving described b y Colonel W i l l i a m Duane of Philadelphia in his “ Visit to Colom ” 1 bia in 8 2 3.

South of Caracas , across an attractive little s river , ri es a range of gentle hills where P a raiso , a f a s h i o n a b l e

suburb , reached by new r o ad s a n d m o d e r n

bridges , is rapidly grow

ing U p . President Cas tro h as built a large ne w villa here and several of his friends are doing

likewise . The view from their houses is wonder

fully attractive . I do

COURTYARD or rm: AMERIC AN a u rox . not remember ever to have seen more beauti

u . ful colo rs The intense blue of the sky , the lighter blues of the o distant mountains , every p ssible shade of green on hillsides and ed a e in gardens , and the red til roofs and whitew sh d walls of Cara cas , make a wonderful combination .

F run o . our little railroads out of Caracas north , east , s uth , and west

r r The northe n one goes to La Guayra , the weste n to Valencia , and sou l the thern to Va le , a village about three miles from the capital u and the centre of an agricult ral district . After winding through a gap in the range of low hills south of Caracas this road passes between ﬁelds of sugar -cane and reaches the terminus almost before

8 VENEZUELA w a u offices t est wings to v rio s governmental , and the nor h wing to a a n fi nt ofii cial m g i ce hall . Here the more important receptions are

. u its are un n At i h eld O walls h g ma y historical paintings . ts east

end is a representation of Bolivar addressing the Congress of Angos th e t ura shortly before his famous march . The scene is a wild one ,

- u building a tumbled down thatched hut . Altho gh painted when was most of the members of that Congress had long been dead , care CARACAS 9

taken to make the faces as good likenesses as possible . The ceiling is devoted to fanciful paintings of the battles of Carabobo and

Boyaca , in which the soldiers of the Wars of Independence achieved A t their greatest victories . the western end is a large painting of the surrender after the battle of Ayacucho , the ﬁnal battle for inde pe ndence in Spanish

South America . Portraits o f t h e chief revolutionary h e roes , including San

M a t r in , Paez , Sucre , and G r e g o r y M c Gregor are hung on the north and south walls of the reception

hall . The most inter esting is a port rait of

Bolivar , said to be one of the three extant likenesses known to have been painted

during his lifetime . Two documents ac

company the portrait .

In one , Antonio Guz

man , the friend of Bolivar and the father BOLIV AR . of President Guzman From t h e port rait in th e ca pitol at Caracas .

Blanco , writing under d 1 8 0 1 8 2 - 2 6 ate of 7 , states that he saw this picture painted in 5 , by a Peruvian artist whose name he h as forgotten (but which appears

in He on the canvas as Gil) the palace at Lima . also states that many of Bolivar ’s friends were present during the sittings and gave the artist such efﬁcient criticism that an excellent likeness was pro c ured . The other document is a letter from the former owners of 1 0 VENEZUELA

the picture , a niece and nephew of Bolivar , presenting it to Presi dent Guzman Blanco , in order that it may be permanently exhibited

Federal a in the Pal ce , where the people of Venezuela may always be able to see the best known likeness of their great hero . The ﬁ portrait is not ﬂattering . The drawing of the gure is very crude but the head is lifelike and is probably a faithful po rtrait .

C ASTRO AI rm: H EAD or ms T ROOPS .

F l rom the Capitol we went to Independence Hal , where the

1 1 1 Venezuelan Declaration of Independence was signed in 8 . It is At at present used for civil marriages . the north end of the hall is a T h e large painting representing the signing of the Declaration . picture is probably quite as correct as that of a similar event now u hanging in the Capitol at Washington . The most conspicuo s CARACAS 1 1

ﬁure M g in the group is General iranda , the father of Venezuelan On l Independence . the east wal hangs an equestrian portrait of a President Castro at the he d of his troops . Seated in a striking

s . attitude on a white hor e , the general seems to challenge all comers On the west wall is a frame containing one of the standards S upposed

to have be en carried by Piz arro during the conquest of Peru . It was captured in Cuz co by General Sucre during the ﬁnal campaign u an and for Per vi independence , presented by him to Bolivar , who in it r turn gave to the city of Ca acas . Pizarro doubtless had more

’ C AsrRo s VILLA AT P AR AISO .

n ﬂa so tha one g, this has quite as good a claim to be genuine as the ” two or three other standards of Pizarro that are preserved in vari

ous South American cities . Another interesting relic preserved here is a large volume said to contain the minutes of the Venezuelan Gov

ernment during the revolutionary epoch . It is kept in a glass case i and we were unable to examine t . “ v We next isited Exposition Hall , now devoted to the two u Academies . The Academy of Lang ages occupies rooms in the

north wing, while the Academy of History meets in the south wing . I 2 VENEZUELA

are b u u The halls somewhat faded and forlorn , t ndoubtedly many learned discussions have taken place around the long tables where F the academicians sit on riday nights in comfortable armchairs . Next door is the ancient University with its attractive quad ran le g s. Directly over the entrance is a grand convocation hall At where commencement exercises are held and degrees conferred . one a u ’ end , on raised dais nder a rich canopy , is the president s

se . s at The eats of the faculty , large comfortable chairs upholstered

TH E r TH I P arro o E C AP TOL .

a off a in red broc de , are immediately in front of the dais , fenced by railing from the audience . In the centre of the hall is a beautiful u old pulpit , now sed as a rostrum from which the candidates for degrees read their theses . To enter it one has to climb a rough as undi niﬁed wooden ladder crude and g as the rostrum , with its

i e u ma nifice nt rich gilded carv ngs and b a tifully decorated panels , is g . This contrast between splendour and squalor is one that frequently a ppears in Caracas . floor The examination hall is on the second , between the first CARACAS 1 3 a d n second quadrangles . Here we listened to an examination for v the degree of doctor of dentistry . The president of the Uni ersity

o sat under a crims n canopy at the end of the room , ﬂanked by several o f the local physicians and the professors of dentistry . The candi date , dressed in his very best , was seated in the centre of the hall at a l sma l table on which was a glass of brandy and water , from which ha he derived inspiration from time to time . There were no c rts or instruments in sight and it was somewhat difﬁc ult for the uninitiated to see how a satisfactory examination in dentistry could be con ducted entirely orally .

T H E C API L AND TH E NI I TO U VERS TY .

M In one of the wings of the University is the National useum , w here everything is in wretched condition . The specimens of ani

- mals and reptiles , badly preserved , moth eaten and decaying , seemed i s . ff to be l terally on their la t legs Geological specimens , stu ed birds , n publicatio s of the Smithsonian Institution , Indian weapons and implements , and the bones of a mastodon found near Coro , all in confusion and covered with dust , made one feel that the museum was not very highly appreciated by the authorities . 1 4 VENEZUELA

Near the University is the ancient monastic church of San Fran

c l - cis o , which contains a marve lous altar piece covered with elaborate a gilded carvings said to be three hundred ye rs old . From here we drove to the Pan o theon , m delled on

th e one in Paris . F ormerly a church , it is now devoted t o the graves of the na ’ tion s heroes . Boli

M ae var , onagas , P z , ’ O Le ar y, and most of th e Venezuelan revolutionary chiefs

are buried h e r e . The most notable exceptions are M i

randa and Sucre , the former dying in an unknown S p a n i s h prison cell and t h e latter having been assassinated in B0

l i v i a . T h e l a t e

e Pr sident C r e s p o , the foremost patron of art that Venezuela

e has had , caus d a

T H E ALTAR I N rm: C H URCH or S AN FRANCISCO . number of beautiful monuments to be M erected in the Pantheon to the memory of the heroes . ost of th em were made on the spot by able sculptors who were brought

from Italy for that purpose . The Nat ional Library is located on the north side of the great

r M L and ae t a Plaza Bolivar . The libra ian , General anuel Rosales , is one of the foremost Venezuelan historians and h as written a large ﬁ number of monographs in his chosen eld . He has arranged t h e

1 6 VENEZUELA

a un d now me lthough there are only about two h dre there . We t

several of the doctors and visited half a doz e n wards . Each ward

i i d C is a separate bu ld ng , connecte with the other wards by loisters d and separate from them by gardens , so that there is an abundance r We of light and fresh ai . were present at an operation performed A by one of the leading surgeons . placard on the wall back of th e

o us e . perating table caused no little amus ment It read in Spanish, “ Those who spit are forbidden to stand around the table during the operation !” After reading this notice we were not surprised to see

a i sm d ﬁfteen r that sever l of the v sitors oke , that about or sixteen cu i n v ous persons , includi g doctors , students, and a con alescent patient in n i his nightgown , crowded close arou d the table dur ng the opera ur a o tion . The s geons m de some attempt at m dern methods, but did not wear rubber gloves and allowed the patient to lie in a cold

draft with almost no covering ou. The whole thing was so clumsily

d . done , it ma e one shiver After such an exhibition we were quite surprised in visiting the department of bacteriology to ﬁnd there an extremely clever young

ﬁ - rst s . doctor surrounded by cla s apparatus Excellent microscopes ,

- u i . For good cult res, and well made spec mens were in evidence

e X eriment al h ad u - p purposes he cats , dogs , rabbits , g inea pigs , rats, ul i and . mice , a few birds One co d not help be ng most favourably impressed with the excellent work done in this department ; notwith standing the fact that the noise made b v the caged animals must m have been rather annoying to the patients the neighbouring wards . i a At one end of the hosp t l is the laundry , a large concrete pavilion where the fowls of the air congregate and assist in undoing the work

of the washerwomen .

r n l Decembe 1 7th . O Sunday afternoon we attended the week y

- fih t v f l bull g . The toreadors were not ery skil ul and the bu ls were m first u was fine al rather ta e . The b ll a , large anim whose rushes i and charges were most satisfactory to the aud ence . It took several stabs to kill h im even after he was once down . The second bull was a nervous creature who fortunately was neatly despatched with w A x ki one thrust of the s ord . t this e hibition of s ll the crowd went

a ﬂowe rs wild and gave the mat dor a great ovation , showering , hats, ls i and coins on him . The next two bul were tim d and could not be CARACAS 1 7

coaxed to show any ﬁgh t at all . They were driven out of the ring l amid the hisses and groans of the crowd . The next bu l was more

i t oo i . l vely , lively in fact , for he seemed to have n ne lives The per formance s la ted a little over two hours , but we went away before the end . It was neither good sport nor an exhibition of skilful butcher ing .

r Decembe 1 9t h . One sees on the street an extraordinary number l o f r aﬁict ed a s . ise begga s with m lignant disea es Otherw , owing to

and e fﬁcient - i r d frequent showers an street clean ng b iga e , the streets

c a . are le ner than one might expect There are many street cries , but the loudest are those of the venders of lottery tickets who persist in repeated ly announcing the favourite numbers they have for sale . u This afternoon we went to see the lottery drawing . O Sundays ” ﬁve l W there is a grand prize of thousand do lars , but on ednesdays

r the grand prize is only one thousand . Each numbe has eighteen parts and one can buy a part for ten cents . Apparently every one

- t urall in town who can aflord it takes chances semi weekly . Na y the lottery h as a bad e fiect on the population and tends to demoralize n ai honest labour . As the after oon was r ny , the drawing of the lottery was - not held in the flower pavilion near the market place , as usual , ’ wa but in the courtyard of the company s offices. It s attended by a u l loafin bo t a hundred individua s , most of whom belonged to the g

a and class . The dr wing proceeded very rapidly the crowd watched

a ﬁrst in silence , patiently waiting for the llotment of the prize , which was the only one in which they had anyparticular interest . Its announcement was followed by a murmur of voices as the crowd whispered the lucky number and wondered who was its fortunate l possessor . I was surprised at the smal show of disappointment or s plea ure manifested . The same apathy is very noticeable at the in Club Concordia , the most fashionable club Caracas , where bac ’ r ca at is played every afternoon and evening . Although a man s m h l losses or gains may a ount to t ousands of do lars , it appears to make very little difference to him or the others . I have seen Cubans and Porto Ricans get tremendously excited over games of chance that involved altogether less than ﬁft ydollars . Yet their cousins h w ere in Caracas, hether of the highest or the lowest class , seem to take both good and b ad luck very equably . 1 8 VENEZUELA

e r D cembe 2 0th . Yesterday afternoon we went to the cathedral ’ to see a remarkable painting of the Lord s Supper b ythe late Vene 1 z u l i M e an . n u art st ichelena Others of his paintings, i cl ding two that h ad r al are a Fi taken p izes at the Paris s on , at the Ac demy of ne He z Arts . was deservedly patroni ed by the late President Crespo

M r and painted se veral pictures for his palace of i aﬂores . It is a ll great misfortune that he died when sti q uite a young man .

Mira h w ﬂores a . as This morning we visited , w ich is now v cant It u occ pied for several years by President Castro , who , it is said , neg l ect ed al . to pay any rent to its owner, the widow of Gener Crespo

Perhaps he regarded it as the property of the state . The palace .

FR LOO! I NG NORTHWEST OM C ALV ARIO .

ff which is said to have cost two million dollars , stands on a blu , and r l i its oof, on which there was once a sma l park of art llery , commands

all the approaches to Caracas . It impresses one as being a most

r approp iate residence for the President of Venezuela .

F M iraﬂores rom we drove to the Cajigal observatory , which

is situated on top of a hill west of the city and above Calvario , the

attractive park built by the late President Guzman Blanco . We

uet o . U r were most kindly received by Dr g , the astronomer in charge ,

1 O ne of h is st o r ca a t s is t h e C t H a New Yo rk hi i l p in ing in i y ll , . CARACAS 1 9 wh o showed us his instruments and explained the careful methods B by which the new military map of Venezuela is being made . y n a con unc means of the gover ment telegraph , the observatory cts in j tion with men in the ﬁeld and is thus able to determine the correct latitude and longitude of a large number of places . The map com mission see ms to be doing excellent topographical work . We have

see o been allowed to and admire s me of their maps , but not to make e our copies or take any notes , although thes would make journey somewhat easier . This afternoon we met a famous general who has bee n in many d h ad revolutions an has a most romantic career . Cowboy and u soldier , disting ished for daring and courage , he has spent many d and h as o a ays in prison lived s me time in exile . During the l st e u d s rio s revolution , he was on the losing side and was capture by ’ u General Castro s forces and imprisoned . Being by nat re extremely ac tive and energetic he grasped at an opportunity to while away his time of imprisonment which was offered by the gift of two or three H us silkworm eggs and so me books on the subject . e told that he raised silkworms in his cell and in four months h ad three thousand

F and ﬁnall cocoons . rom these he made silk thread yfabricated a a beautiful sash which he sent to the President . Ge neral C stro was so n pleased at this u dertaking , that he pardoned him and tendered

ﬁne s him a estate near Caraca , where the silkworm industry is to be encouraged . The old soldier has made a wonderful collection of Venezuelan b utt erﬂie s and is as thoroughly abso rbe d in his cocoons and mulberry trees as he once was in guerrilla warfare .

December z ed. One of the many charming people who have be en so verykind to us in Caracas drove us out this morning to a sugar plantation in the suburbs which has been in this family for

- many years . The main dwelling house is a wonderful old Spanish mansion that h as withstood the eart hquakes of the past one hundred W and ﬁft yyears . ithin its walls it now shelters three distinct house holds that have entirely separate establishments ; but as the building itself is one hundred and ﬁft yfeet wide and two hundred and twenty

ﬁve l o feet long , it wi l be seen that its tenants have no lack of r om for h ed t . ree a comfor T hundr yards away is the sugar mill , a rom ntic Spanish structure where the same primitive methods of sugar- making 2 0 VENEZUELA

are followed that have b een in use for generations . The mill is a

' small three- roller aﬁair to which cane is brought to be ground each

l . t h e day in the year, excepting always Sundays and ho idays As bagasse falls from the rollers it is caught in a rawhide stretcher and

E N AND A DEMY r T H U IVERSITY THE C A o HISTORY .

u a carried away by two labo rers to the drying sheds . From there small car on a track sixteen inches wide takes the dried bagasse to u the furnaces under the vats where the j ice is boiled . In front of each of the four vats stands a man with a huge oar which he rows in u such a manner as to ca se the scum to slop over into the next vat . CARACAS 2 1

u a From the last vat in which it is boiled , the j ice is poured into sug r loaf moulds to cool and harden in the form in which it appears the next day in the shops of Caracas . The daily capacity of this mill is

about three and a half tons of sugar , the yield of an acre and a quarter n of cane . The manager and owner is an intellige t young man ,

us educated in England and America , yet he assures that no other

. b ut u method would pay here Probably he is right , I co ld not help wondering what the people of Honolulu would say if they had such a primitive mill in operation within a few miles of the capital of u in o Hawaii . S gar is highly protected Venezuela , its imp rtation

being forbidden .

r A o Decembe e 4th . few years ag President Castro decided to erect a National Theatre and gave orders for some of the trees in the Plaz a Washington to b e cut down to make room for the new

building . It is related that one Saturday night a wag approached the statue of Washington that stands in the centre of the plaza and proceeded to condole the Father of His Country on the despoliation F l u n of his trees . ina ly , as the stat e retur ed no answer , the joyful wag became gently resentful and turned sadly away with the remark “ se o u z e e Anyhow I suppo y reali it s rves you right ; for it was you , ’ was it not , who cut down your father s tree e Last evening we attended a concert at the theatre . It is arrang d u after the sual Spanish manner , having a tier of boxes in place of ” d the balcony . In the gallery irectly over the boxes were some

ﬁft y on n . men with their hats , two Indian wome , and a little child M ost of the ladies in the boxes wore large picture hats , but a few

were in conventional evening attire . In the orchestra circle were a

number of men in evening dress and a third as many ladies . In

the orchestra itse lf ladies are not allowed . The programme included

numbers by a symphony orchestra , a pianist , and a boy violinist who

ﬁr t was making his s appearance in public . The orchestral music w as fair although the orchestra clearlv needed more rehearsals .

The players varied in colour from pure white to jet black , but the

majority were brown . The pianist performed prodigies of valour on “ ” a grand concert piano , a tin pan that would not have been toler

e e at d for a moment in any private hous in the States , much less in a

concert hall . The little violinist in white shorts, bare legs , white 2 2 VENEZUELA

s e ocks , and black pumps , appear d to be about eleven years old and very much frightened . Neither he nor the piano soloist had com mitt ed their pieces to memory and t he ' lat ter ' act uallyh ad to turn ff w his own music . The most striking di erence bet een this audience and a c th S a e s t ej aet t a h two t S wa u h a t . oncert audience in e . h t more t n

— t h irds tqf those; prese nt were men a Th e Caracas appe r to have rather a dull time . They

ld m o e s m t s o . o e g out, except to mass and their chief amus ment ee s be

e ir0n t sitting b hind the bars of their windows wa ching . the passers

" by and gossiping with their neighbours . As th e windows nearly W always project , it is easy to talk from one window to the next ithout On u t h e leavin th e . a t a gh house S nday evenings l dies a tend the b nd concerts on the plaza . Their escorts rent chairs for them and t hey

t e at sit in h glare of the electric lights to be stared , by the young

v ad u and gent lemen of the city who par e p down the walks . Anglo w ﬁnd e a Saxons ould it annoying, but that is becaus their ncestors d id not live in sunny Spain . r After the conce t we went to La India , the best known restaurant i n Caracas . One of the customs of the place is for everyone who e nters t h e room to bow right and left to those who are seated at th e tables and who loo k up and bow in return . The action is so courte o us l s — , friendly , and persona that it is q uite embarras ing to an

- t n . Anglo Saxon . Everyhing about La India is expe sive I bought two cigars for a friend and with difﬁcult yconcealed my surprise a when told that they were a dollar apiece . The best chocolate is d a th e ollar a pound , although this is the home of the cocoa be n and

e e ad reﬁned product is made in Caracas . The thr e b tter gr es they

t d r tell me are not impor ed into the Unite States , as no one there ca es t o pay what they cost . ’

mber 2 th . 1 2 Dece 5 Last night , shortly before o clock , we went t o the church of the Capuchins to witness La M isa del Gallo (the was midnight mass or the mass of the cock) . The church beau t ifullyilluminated with candles in magniﬁcent crystal candelabra and was thronged with people . Although some were evidently h ad attending out of a spirit of curiosity , all were reverent and many nd come prepared to spend the night in prayer a worship . In one s ativit o f the shrines was a grotto , repre enting Bethlehem and the N y,

2 4 VENEZUELA

ﬂ win r w . o se to see The old man with his long g bea d , his bro n coar u s u a cloth robe tied with a rope , and his pict re q e sandals , reading in l gentle voice from a page dimly ighted by a single candle .

Janua r I st 1 0 . y , 9 7 Last evening we went with nearly every e r body els in Caracas to the Plaza Bolivar , to g eet the new year. l and e a Electric ights , placed in the trees cluster d in st rs and mottoes,

l . A r P . M made the plaza very b il iant military band played from . until after midnight . The arrival of the new year was marked b y “ t h e ﬂash ing forth of an electric sign bearing the words Feliz Ano ” uevo n a N (Happy New Year) on one of the gover ment buildings ,

d s u c . ed i charge of m sketry , and s ores of rockets This was imm iately

l - e fo lowed by a universal hand shaking , embracing, and kissing , whil the band played a lively air and the fort s ﬁred a salute of twenty

u u u e one g ns . It is the c stom for friends and acquaintances to ind lg in much embracing in the Spanish fashion , and there was general felicitation on all sides . After the universal exchange of greetings we followed the crowd t led o La India, where a gay assemblage was partaking of ices and p g ing each other a Happy New Year. CHAPTER II

VALENCIA AND CARA BOB O

an r 2 d J ua y . Tomorrow morning we take the train for Valen cia . We calculate that our route to Bogota is about one thousand

a -ﬁelds miles in length . With the necess ry stops at the battle of a se Carabobo and Boyac , and the few days we shall need to purcha

and our outfit M a mules complete at Valencia , it will probably be rch f 1 t h . fiteen s before we reach Bogota If we average miles a day , M fid n we shall be doing well . ost of our friends here are con e t that we will never get there and are bidding us good -b ywith gloomy d l forebo ings . Hardly any of them have ever trave led in the interior and no one has anyidea of the actual route that we shall be obliged to take . Our outfit consists of everything which we expect to require in

r e s . a crossing ba ren plains and unfrequent d mountain pa ses S ddles , mountain breeching , bridles , tents , blankets , surveying instruments ,

e n a theodolite , prismatic compass s , a sextant , brass folding la terns , u kitchen utensils , emergency rations including erbsw rst , julienne ,

e - f ﬂ ur o u . b ef tea capsules , co fee , chocolate , , s gar , rice and salt In ’ ’ e R H r r a s lecting art icles I found . . Davis s list in S c ibne s M ag z zne of u m considerable value . O his advice I a taking a folding cot and ’ a h folding chair, much to Rice s amusement . We are taking bot h lms our out ﬁt and plates in photographic , as we have heard that

e the latter do much b tter in this climate , although they are heavy

and r r to carry ve y fragile . Rice car ies his valuables , including a

fine u u am u set of surgical instr ments , in a tin tr nk , while I entr st ing mine to a sole leather trunk . We are taking two Winchester rifles M e and e , a aus r, two Winchester rep ating shotguns , besides i n A th and suffic e t S . o ree revolvers a upply of ammunition few bo ks , s and u uch maps as we have been able to procure , clothes for a fo r ’ o fi months trip make up the rest of the ut t . 2 5 2 6 VENEZUELA

Janua r d. a 8 A a . y3 The train for Valencia left C r cas about H .

r e The rail oad is own d and operated by Ge rmans . We were out

e ur out ﬁt rag ously overcharged for o luggage . The weighed alto

1 1 00 m gether about pounds , but the baggage aster declared it weighed 1 1 00 kilograms or 2 400 pounds ! Notwith standing a vigorous pro test we were obliged to pay for over half a ton of excess luggage ” - ﬁv that we did not h ave . Sixty e dollars excess on a journey of

u - one h ndred miles was an entirely new and unlooked for experience . The road ought to pay good dividends if everyone is treated that way . l i Our train consisted of a smal eng ne made in Germany , three

a car ﬁrst - s h w freight c rs , a baggage , a cla s coac with seats for t enty

d - an s a . two people , a econd class coach of about the s me capacity all The passengers were nearly men , the only women being two nuns . M n e an ost of the men were Venezuela s , but there were a few G rm s and an Italian priest .

se u - ﬁelds After leaving Caracas the road pas s through s gar cane , then enters a b eautiful valley densely covered with tropical foliage .

Occasionally we passed coffee plantations and small clearings . The valley constantly grew narrower and the mountains rose higher on each side until the scene reminded me of the Crawford Notch in the W M u u i hite o ntains . Then we entered a wonderf l reg on of tunnels and ad vi ucts . Before stopping for lunch we passed through more

n F r u s t u . o tha ninety t nnel , for nately none of them very long an

F we hour we averaged a tunnel a minute . inally came out on the western slope s of the mountains and the view became inspiring . “ ” One curve looked like Cape Horn on the Central P aciﬁc Rail road .

r e After lunch at Victo ia , where G neral Castro won his decisive

M a victory over General atos in the l st serious revolution , we left h the ills and skirted the north ern shore of Lake Valencia . The a appe rance of the lake disappointed us . Its islands are rather b ut pretty , one reads such glowing accounts of its beauty that it ﬁ w n was surprising to nd the views e got of it so unattractive . O its south side a range of rather barren mountains seems to rise abruptly

. r from the water The railroad ski ts the north shore , but at such a distance that the lake is not visible much of the time . We had , VALENCIA AND CARA BOBO 2 7

l e however , a g imps of the tiny steamboat that is said to be the so le disturber of its waters . The crazy craft did not look as though it

r would make many more t ips .

There was little foliage on the plain over which we passed . We saw almost no grass and t h e trees and bushes loo ked stunted and

e . a u burn d The coast range lies at some distance from the ro d ntil , near Valencia, a spur comes south into the plain . Shortly before reaching Valencia the train stopped abruptly and we learned that n there was a man asleep o the track .

Janua r i h . e a c y4 Valencia res mbles C ra as in some respects ,

much as a French provincial capital rese mbles Paris . One sees the

r same kind of ca riages, but they are older and look as though they

d e ar d h a been bought at second hand . The str ets e not as clean an im i u wn few house s give the press on of prospero s o ers . The cathedral

z r is attractive and the Pla a Boliva is quite pretty . F The pleasant Italian priest , ather Voghera, whom we met on

the train is the director of a college here . With several of hi s Salesian n r brothers he fou ded the establishment ten yea s ago , having come

from Turin for that purpose . The college accommodates thirty s a l ul r boarders and ninety day chol rs , and is real y what we sho d te m a d an ac demy in the Unite States . It has a small theatre and a

ri th r own - p nting o ee whe e the boys print their text books . h Valencia is the capital of the State of Carabobo . T is morning e ed n o we pres nt our letter of i tr duction to the President of the State ,

n He e a or the Gover or as we should style him . receiv d us gr ciously but appeared to be much troubled by our request for information -fild in regard to the battle e of C arabobo . In fac t he see med to b e suspicious of us but finallygave us a letter to the Governor of th e u city with instr ctions to aid us in securing mules for our journey . ’ th e One of President s secretaries showed us over the State Capitol . It is a fine old Spanish monastery and was used as a convent until h it s t irty years ago , when President Guzman Blanco converted it to

e a . pr se nt purpose . Near it are the University and the b rracks

anua r 1h . J y6 We have been trying and buying mules . As we a a are f ase g llop about the streets on the nimals that o fered for purch , we are th e z r quite centre of interest , but the citi ens are ve y friendly a nd not at all rude . 2 8 VENEZUELA

V LE CI Looe c NO A N A, RTH

We have been most fortunate in making the acquaintance of one of the leading citizens , Don Carlos Stelling , whose maternal d u gran father fo ght with the British Legion at the battle of Carabobo . He owns the electric light plant here and is interested in various H e . e us enterpris s has introduced to an old follower of his , Antonio , u a typical horse trader , very pla sible but a little too sharp . The h as us h latter tried very hard to sell a number of mules, some wit girth sores and others with back sores , but we have not patronized him as yet . o M Pe ple here say that in the dry season , from December to arch , there is a passable cart road from here to Barinas , a distance of about two hundred miles . No one knows what kind of country lies b e w ar u t een B inas and Ara ca on the Colombia frontier , or whether it will be possible to take a cart beyond Barinas . Our friend Don so u Carlos thinks that we will be able to do , altho gh we may be check mated by some of the rivers . As we can put all of our out ﬁt on a us light cart , where it will be much safer and give less trouble than if transported on pack mules , we have decided to try that method as far as it is practicable . Don Carlos has been interesting himself

ﬁdin - ﬁeld in n g out what is known about the battle of Carabobo . He owns a pack of hounds and has frequently taken them to hunt

e deer and p ccaries in that locality , but has not been much concerned “ He y an with its history heretofore . sa s that one of his hounds is ” English setter that was elevated in Denmark . VALENCIA AND CARABOBO 2 9

w -m n o n r m: T o r or THE CATHEDRAL .

fin ll u fiv Ja nua r 81h . a se e a a y We have yp rcha d s ddle mules, t ix -five a d ll prices varying from s ty doll rs to one hundre do ars . The leading commercial house here is a branch of the Bloeh m

an Company , a German concern that controls more business than y F o ther house in Venezuela . rom them we have obtained a letter of r n credit to one of their co respondents in Gua are , so that we shall u not be obliged to carry all our money with s.

In Caracas , and to a certain extent in Valencia , Venezuelan bank n otes are accepted without question , but we are told that paper cur reney doe s not pass at all in the interior and that we must have gold

. onz as u and silver The current gold coins are called , o nces , and are valued at Most of them are handsome old Spanish d o - b ut f oubl ons bearing eighteenth century dates , there are a ew M All n u . e n exica , Per vian , and Colombian coins the silver is V ez ue lan but we have not seen a single Venezuelan gold piece so far .

n boli 'var w Although the unit coi is the silver (t enty cents) , one rarely

reels hears that term . Small sums are given in (ten cents) . Larger

esos amounts are given in p (eighty cents) . In Caracas one commonly h ue rte d ears the word f , which is the term applie to the largest silver coin , worth about a dollar . In buying mules we have heard another

maro o c te 2 0 . term , , a $ gold piece Today we h ad some trouble with a man who sold us three of H u h im . e 1 the mules claims we o ght to pay a commission of $ 5 , o u H ver and above the price agreed pon and paid for the mules . e 30 VENEZUELA

ﬁnallyhad to be kicked out of the hotel . The proprietor of the hotel M is an Italian who has travelled in adagascar , Australia , China , and l b ad b u Ca ifornia . Six years ago he had the judgment to ythis

n s . property , so that his wa derings appear to have cea ed The rooms are almost entirely neglected but the table is excellent . h s January9t h . We ave purcha ed a strong cart and a good 1 0 and solid cart mule for $ 4 ,

t an a engaged as car m , R fael

Rivas , a Venezuelan peon recommended to us by Don

He Carlos . says he has been as far as Barin as once and agrees to accompany us to Arauca if we can possibly u get the cart that far . O r helpers now consist of Josh r and Richard , the two neg oes

us c who joined at Cara as, and

Rafael the cartman . We have completed all our pur chases and hope to start early

tomorrow .

Januar rot h y . We rose at six so as to be packed

when the cart should come . It had been promised for

’ se ven o clock , but as was to be expected in this country

it did not arrive on time .

Rafael came at eight . The cart h ad not yet appeared so L OLIV AR VAL NCI A . P AZA B , E “ he desired to go back and

- u was saygood b yagain to his family . The res lt that the cart did not get away from Valencia until eleven .

u . r c We started after l nch Don Ca los , a cording to the old Span ish u and c us custom , mo nted his best horse a companied some dis ad tance out of the city . After leaving Valencia the ro passes over

32 VENEZUELA

B ATTLE-F IELD or C ARAB OB O

for a permanent camp four miles south of the monument in the valley and of Naipe . It is close to the road sheltered from it by a grove h an of orange trees . Less t twenty feet away is a clear little stream

off and not far are a few thatched huts where we can secure eggs,

are a fowls , and p (maize cake) , the staple of this part of Venezuela.

ua r 1 2 th Jan . a y As the camp is two thous nd feet above the sea , o the night was very c ol and extremely clear . Jupiter was so brilliant that it woke me U p and for a moment I thought some one had lighted a lantern outside the tent . “ - a This morning , guided by a one eyed old v gabond named Ber ” hi nardo the Bohemian , I went in search of points of storic interest . For miles in every direction the region is a perfect maze of hills and valleys . There are not many trees but the slopes are covered with such rank high grass and dense bush foliage that it is almost impos

o w sible to g any here except on the paths, which are most confusing . It is to be our task to make a map and attempt to locate deﬁnite ly

first the important points . Bernardo took me to Buenavista, which commands an extensive prospect in every direction . The old bridle path from Tinaquillo passes over it and from here Bolivar studied the Spanish position and settled on his plan of battle . Our most serious problem is to find the trail by which the British Legion was able to thread the mazes of the hills, avoid the main road and reach the Spanish flank .

anuar 1 th J y 3 . Our good friend Don Carlos rode out from VALENCIA AND CARABOBO 33

F ROM r m: S A OUTHE ST .

Valencia last evening and called on us at the camp soon after four ’ He se for o clock this morning . has brought veral friends with him al one of his weekly hunts, but says that he is going to combine historic

rese arch with search for deer . We had an exciting hunt soon after i m sunr se . The ethod is to surround a promising little valley with

u sufﬁcie ntl far so hunters carrying shotg ns, placed y apart that there

six is no danger of their hitting one another with stray shot . Then or eight of the b ounds are sent into t h e valley with two or three

beaters , and the deer , if one is there , is driven out . As the deer comes from cover in running jumps it is more than likely to get

through the cordon of hunters . ’ s After the hunt we breakfasted at Don Leonte s on thick oup ,

beef stew , fried eggs, fried plantains , maize cakes , doughnuts , and

ff r co ee , the fa e that we are destined to have at all the inns as far as a Barin s .

anuar 1 th us J y 4 . This morning the hunters joined in historical s re earch . We traversed overgrown trails , plunged through banana plantations and made our way through deep gulches and over steep

se w hillsides , where veral of the hunters ere obliged to dismount in following a route said to have been that used by General Paez and

the British Legion , but we have all agreed that they could not possibly

t oo difﬁcult have come th is way . It is far and would have required

more time than they took . Ou our ride we conversed with an old woman who appeared to 34 VENEZUELA VALENCIA AND CARABOBO 35

recol b e about se venty years old . She declared that she had a clear “ lection of the battle of Carabobo as she was living here at the time ” and was eleven years old ! Later in the day we met another old a h is resident who looked to be at least eighty , and who s id mother was nine years old at the time of the battle , and that the old lady we in h e had met earlier the day was not as old as , instead of being

- all n ﬂank ninety ﬁve as she claims . Nearly these people k ow of the

a movement of General P ez, and most of them claim that it took place th rough their own little valley or over the path that goes past their particular thatched hut . A n n Janua ry1 sth . nother hu t this morning i cluded the trails both of deer and revolutionary generals . We saw no deer although we enjoyed the excitement of hearing the baying of the dogs and the e n a c urious cries and shouts of the b aters e cour ging them . We had ’ a hunt breakfast at Don Leonte s tavern and a good siesta before th e hunters returned to Valencia .

r 1 k Janua y 61 . The average daily range of temperature see ms to be about The coldest time is just before sunrise and the

A - 2 P M . t warmest at . half past six this morning the thermometer ° ° 1 F was SS P . In six hours it had reached 9 . During the day there ze is nearly always a gentle bree , but the nights are clear , calm , and cold .

This morning Don Alfredo Pietri , who owns more than twenty

ﬁve h us square miles of land in this vicinity , came to s ow a trail that se he considers must be the one u d by the British Legion . It ah swers all the requirements and we feel sat isﬁed that at last we have

-h so lved the mystery . We found on the battle eld the barrel of an

- old fashioned pistol ; also a number of large white snail shells, three

s n a or four inches long (Bulimu oblo g s) .

Janua ry2 0th . We have been at Carabobo longer than we in b ut tended , I have been able to visit the points of interest three

e l -ﬁld or four times and b come we l acquainted with the battle e . I have spe nt most of my time exploring the numerous paths that wind

l th e l through the va leys and making sketches from hi ltops . While in Valencia I received a call from a distinguished Venezuelan his

He torian who has written about the battle . was kind enough to ’ an At i give me hour s lecture on the subject of Carabobo . ts close 36 VENEZUELA

I asked him whether he had ever explored the battle-field and made He a study of its topography . replied no , that was not necessary ” He as I have read the documents . admitted that he had passed it s once when riding into the interior , but aid he understood the battle us perfectly . It makes feel as though we must be very stupid in deed to have taken ten days to unravel the puzzle presented by the conflict ing traditions and the lack of maps and plans of the battle ! Our study of t h e topography of the region has led me to adopt the version of the battle which is given in the Appendix . It seems to us as though the Spaniards could have done much better if th e v had attempted to hold the passes in the hills instead of allowing the d patriot army to reach the plain without being moleste . Yet the position which the Spaniards took at the edge of the plain is much stronger than one would imagine . There is room for only a small number of men to deploy on to the plain from the valley of Naipe and these could easily have been driven back by the Spanish infan try d an artillery had the flan k attack been unsuccessful . It must b e admitted that the British Legion won the battle with their courageous l At ho low square . the same time the credit for the strategy that divided the Spanish forces and finallyout flanked their main army r rests with Boliva . CHAPTER III

CARAB OBO ro BARINAS

r 1 3 w Janua y2 i . Early this morning e broke camp and left th e r l e cha ming little va ley of Naip where we have been for ten days . In order to make good headway in th e cool of the morning we rose e a little before four , but it was almost s ven when we succeeded in n At getti g 0 5 . the time this seemed most extraordinary ; but we learned before long that in th is part of the world one must allow

a from two to three hours every morning for the business of breakf st , k pac ing, and saddling . Our party now consists of four men besides ourselves : Josh

a Obadiah Nero , chief cook , Richard Harvey , gener l utility man ,

n and Walde mera a - Rafael Rivas , cartma , , a ple sant faced Venezuelan

wh o v boy , twenty years old , a friend of Rafael has oluntarily attached “ himself to the expedition to keep Rafael company and see the ” u . F s world our of are mounted , but the two peons must walk as far as the cart goes .

th e u an s We reached Chirg a River in hour, after pas ing over very rough roads through a well-watered hilly country where we saw many roadside palparias (small taverns) and other evidences of a An h numerous population . hour later we left the green ills for the cha pparal covered plain of Tinaquillo where Bolivar held his grand review th e day before the battle of Carabobo . As no rain had fallen w as . for over a month , the plain hot and dusty After two leagues of this we crossed the sluggish little Guayavit a and entered the out k a l u s irts of Tin qui lo , a str ggling town with two inns , a few shops ,

T h e and the ruins of a new church . roof of the church fell in dur ing a heavy thunder shower, so that the building collapsed before d w l wa n . it s co secrate Its white to er sti l stands , however, and is a h o n . go d la dmark We had seen it from Buenavista , w ere Bolivar got his ﬁrst glimpse of the Spanish army drawn up on the plain of 37 38 VENEZUELA

A FORDING r m: CHIRGU RIV ER .

Carabobo . We spent the heat of the day here at a comfortable A u little inn and left shortly before three . leag e beyond Tinaquillo the road left the plain and made its way pai nfully through a range

th e of barren hills . Shortly before dark we reached solitary inn of

Guamita . m The poor cart mule is having a very hard ti e . Rafael leads “ th e him carefully with his hand on the rein close to bit , while Walde ” W mar pushes the cart from behind . hen an unusually large rock ,

T H E PL A IN or T I NAQUILLO .

40 VENEZUELA

ﬂ oors . d Each hut seemed to have its own pigs , chickens , and nake infants . “ El osada r We stopped for breakfast at Salto , a p named afte

- - the falls of the Tinaco half a mile away . The ten year old son of

as n us m the proprietor , a ple a t little fellow , had accompanied fro

He as u l Tinaquillo . now acted Ganymede and served s with coo Caracas lager on a tray with clean napkins ! His people seemed to in was be of good stock , with blue eyes and good manners , but their l r u e ia . of the poorest class , scarcely more than a p p

NA EL S ALTO DE T I CO .

h h t T ere are two distinct falls near ere , the upper one ten fee d an the lower one about forty feet in hei ght . The ravine which has been cut by the falls is about half a mile long . Rapids extend

rt and for some miles fu her and there are many pools small falls . The banks are well wooded and the region supports a moderately CARABOBO T O BARINAS 4 1

w ﬁsh m large population . The river is stocked ith fro eight to eighteen

ﬁsh e rmen inches long . They jump the smaller falls and the local

suspend baskets from the rocks to catch those that make poor jumps .

We saw a few baskets suspended over the rapids lower down the river .

The surroundings are wild and picturesque , and the whole scene is

T H E T NAC FA S I O LL .

most attractive , except for the fact that a number of lepers and other beggars have built little shelters on the road in the vicinity , where they can tell their pitiful tales to the traveller who halts to enjoy th e

view of the falls . Whether the presence of these lepers here bears anyrelation to the quantities of ﬁsh in the river and the fact that h ﬁs . forms a large part of the local diet , is a question About eight

th e l miles beyond fa ls the road climbs out of the valley , crosses some il low h ls , and descends on to the plain of Tinaco .

The cart road is the worst I have ever seen . Enormous ruts ,

r - t eacherous mud holes , bogs , steep grades , ledges of rock that s hould have been blasted when the road was made , all together ’ h detract considerably from Rafael s enjoyment of the scenery . T e “ ” in cart mule was about all when he reached Tinaco . 4 2 VENEZUELA

J(mua r 2 d. y 3 Tinaco is on the northern edge of the great Llanos, about a league south of the hills . Here the road from Valencia

s s F diverges to the Eastern and Ea t Central Llano , to San ernando de Apure and the Central and Southern Llanos , and to San Carlos ,

s the Western Llanos , and the Andean Provinces . Con equently it h as - s . everal inns , one hotel , and a number of well stocked shops When the world is suﬁi c ient lycrowded to make it necessary to irri gate the Llanos and use them for agricultural instead of grazing pur and poses, Tinaco will probably wake up and amount to something

- the attractive falls will be used for grist mills .

- - A Frsn Bas mzrs on r a t : T I N CO .

a This morning we turned westward . The ro d to San Carlos crosses a succession of small rivulets with wooded banks and grassy

c l Zena ida vi naceo rie a savannas . We saw s ores of sma l pigeons ( f )

d . by the roadsi e . The most frequent animals are the lizards They o are of all sizes . The largest variety , about a f ot in length , has the a fas test movements of any animal I have ever seen . It runs like

a d . streak of lightning , lthough rarely for more than a couple of ro s The view of the domes and spires of San Carlos which one gets CARABOBO TO BARINAS 43

l from the plain has been spoken of by Duane and other trave lers, and it is as attractive as ever . As we entered the long street which is now almost the only inhabited part of a city that once boasted a

s ze population of thirty thousand ouls , we met half a do n carts loaded are t h e with hides and bound for Valencia. There two barracks in

- town and a few companies of sad eyed conscripts . If ever men

’ A H RTE A R BOLIV R S EADQUA RS AI S N CA LOS .

us l A n s envied our iberty , they did . cloth sign ha ging acro s the road “ ” l ﬁne indicated the whereabouts of the Hotel Centra , once a old

at io residence with an attractive p . We found that it was the tempo rary home of half a dozen bureaucrats who have lived here since the capital of the State of Zamora has been transferred to San Carlos

s from Guanare . They did not relish our pre ence at the table and tried to show us by their rude manners that they were not like t h e

u . ordinary co ntry folk , who are very polite ﬁn In the days of Bolivar this was a e city . Before the march to Tinaquillo and Carabobo in 1 8 2 1 he was entertained here by

General Manriquez in a palatial dwelling that covered a city block . 4 4 VENEZUELA

Some of its walls are still standing and one corner has recently been

h . roofed over for a butc er shop Earthquakes , revolutions , and cattle plagues have reduced San Carlos so low that even the addition of politicians , bureaucrats , and soldiers give it barely two thousand A m . people . Never in A erica have I seen such picturesque ruins gateway with a Latin in scription on a panel over the lintel made one think of Rome ; while the Casa B l a n q ue r i a w i t h its

painted frescoes , elabo v rate reliefs , car ed ceil

ﬂoors ings , and tiled m re inded me of Pompeii . Its exterior is decorated w ith Inca caryatides, but the interior is the present abode of pigs and chick ens and their poverty

stricken masters . The plaza of San Car — los is a sad sight , not m a tree or a shrub , si ply the ruins of concrete walks to show that it once had been a ﬁne

square . We were told by a local antiquary that it had once been sur R INE D A WA U G TE Y . rounded on three sides

- w r s t o h . by two sto y hou es , only of whic are now standing The fourth side is still occupied by a large church ; but the whole aspect of the place is very depressing .

Janua r 2 t h . y 4 We left San Carlos this morning . Our road , i th e nstead of skirting plains as we had been led to suppose , lay h A through some low ills . league beyond San Carlos we entered ﬁ the village of San José. It had a few ne houses a hundred years CARABOBO T O BARINAS 4 5 a o se ru g , but the are now in ruins and overgrown with vines and sh bs, while twenty wretched huts and a wayside pulperia are all that keep S an José in existence .

all ch ie ﬂ The banks of the streams are thickly wooded , ywith

ch ie ﬂ bamboo . This is cut for various purposes , yto make fences and wattles for the mud huts . The wooded streams are so frequent h ereabouts th at the road continually appears to cross savannas t a o hat are surrounded by forests . It is hard to realize th t the wo ds

S B LAN U ERI A S AN S . CA A Q , CARLO

are rarely more than an eighth of a mile across . There are many

r and little paths that lead off to ranches . Richa d I followed one

n . s this mor ing, mistaking it for the highway Pa sing through a grove of mango trees we presently reached a small sugar plantation d an . the most primitive sugar mill I had ever seen It had no roof, although it only takes these people a couple of days to put a palm A t hatched roof over anything . primitive windlass turned the c a i a l entr l vert c l ro ler , and this , by rude wooden cogs, caused two o ther rollers to rotate . The furnace for boiling the juice and the m “ ” oulds for making papelon were only a few feet from the rollers . 46 VENEZUELA

“ on The fuel was dry cane t0ps and bagasse . The windlass was of e ” ” - or ox . horse power , to be more exact , one power Ou the road today we met a ﬁne wild bull on his way to th e

ll - h c as a Sunday bu ﬁg t in Cara . His he d was completely tied up in a s d e ack . Only his nose protruded and this was fastene by a rawhid

T H E AT AN S PLAZA S CARLO .

o s i lass , pas ed through a hole n the cartilage , to the tail of a horse l u forty feet in front of the poor bu l . O the horse rode a Llanero n whose mournful whistle , oft repeated , a nounced the approach of a

s l wild animal , erved to pacify the bu l and encouraged him to pro ceed r h . In d iving cattle across t e plains one Llanero usually rides ahead and with this same mournful whistle bids the cattle follow him l . Another cowboy rode behind the bul , likewise to encourage his orderly march towards Caracas .

A a ﬁres e famili r sight from the road is the grass , set by anyon

a s with match to spare who wishes to see dry gra s and bushes burn .

ﬁres and s No one watches these ometimes they burn for days . It is an old custom and b eneﬁt s the country by keeping the grass short ll e and sweet , ki ing snakes and noxious ins cts, and keeping the trails

At . open . night the fires look like lava flows The birds have long since learned to watch the fire s and hover in the bushes and on the ground just ahead of the flame s looking for all the little animals

48 VENEZUELA

m was u a se The next an we met said it two leag es and a h lf, but we cho n us to think him in collusion with the i nkeeper to detain over night , u a and pressed o . The ro d soon entered a wild hilly region but kept turning northward . We knew Cojedes lay to the southwest and looked in vain for a left turn or fork in the road . It grew darker f w until we could see only a e rods ahead . Hoping every minute to use two see the lights of a ho , we kept on for leagues until the bark n e ing of dogs told us we were near some habitatio . It turn d out to

h eria i r ranc . be a little hut or There were no l ghts bu ning, it was ’ after eight o clock , and the inhabitants had all retired except four or h ye large dogs that seemed ready to eat us alive . I raised my voice loud enough to be heard over the din of the barking and called “ “ i os ! s 0 Ami os I — in o ut A m g (Friend ) N answer . g my most P” . C an pleading tones . What is it a timid shout from the hut ” ” you tell us how far it is to Cojedes ? Two leagues and a half ! “ But we were told that three hours ago . You are on the wrong ” ad ! ro . Alas then we are lost and have nothing to eat and nowhere

inall s to sleep . F ythe frightened hou eholder came out with two

us us other men and a lantern , inspected and agreed to give eggs and

r coffee and the mules some co n . We were not allowed to enter the hut , but had to shift for ourselves in the thatched shelter outside .

. was We had no blankets The wind was cold . Sleep out of the u question . The mules kept m nching corn for hours . Dogs and ’ a burros c me to satisfy their curiosity or steal the mules provender .

Finall - s u sad two yat half pa t three we got p , dled , and rode leagues to the hamlet of Apartaderos . u Here the trail from Barquisimeto to Cojedes, two leag es south

us . l of , crosses the main road We now discovered that travel ers rarely pass through Cojedes and that we had followed the main road

. A u quite properly Carts going to Barquisimeto continue to carig a, but travellers on horseback turn to the right here and go by way of s Rl the pa s of Altar, as was done by Colonel Duane and the anony mous author of “ Letters written from Colombia during a journey ” s 1 8 2 from Caraca to Bogota in 3 (London , As we crossed the Cojedes River I saw for the first time a flock f o macaws . There are few more striking sights than a doz en or t wenty macaws flying rapidly in the morning light from their roosts CARABOBO T O BARINAS 49

o - t their feeding grounds , screaming the while at the top of their l ungs .

San Rafael , one of at least three villages of that name in Vene z u la e , lies half a mile west of the Cojedes , just beyond the ﬂood F ﬁrst plain . rom here we caught our glimpse of the Andes , far away to the westward .

: C ROSSING r m C OJEDES RIVER .

The village of Agua Blanca , our next stop , lies in the midst of an

l a s e xcellent cattle country , and there are a few smal sugar plant tion At inn in the neighb ourhood . the where we spent the hottest four

o h urs of the day , I met an intelligent cattle owner who was very a it nxious to hear all about our journey and the reasons for . It was quite incredible to him that two private citizens of the United States should take the trouble to cross Venezuela on a scientiﬁc

r mission unless paid to do so by their Gove nment . His idea , based o n his own experience in driving cattle from one part of Venezuela

scie ntiﬁc e to another , was that all work must be subsidiz d by the

Government . Therefore , since it was quite beyond reason that we should be paying for this expedition ourselves and as we did not

was it t e pretend that the Venezuelan Government subsidizing , h only possible conclusion in his mind was that its cost was paid by the H United States . e was most insistent to know why our Go vern ” “ ment had sent us . Was it contemplating taking Venezuela next 5 0 VENEZUELA

after Panama ? Oi course no government would pay for the n exploration of a other country , unless it had ideas of territorial ” in o se aggrandizement . As I persisted denying b th his premi s and

b e ofﬁce r his conclusions , he decided I must a spy or an army in dis

He guise . was not the only Venezuelan that arrived at this enter n taining conclusion , but he was more fra k about it than most of

the others . To suspect travellers of be ing emissaries of their governments is

an Oriental and also a Spanish trait . Richard Ford says in h is “ Gatherings from Spain “ Nor can Spaniards at all understand

e s why any man should incur trouble and exp n e , which no native

r o e ever does , for the mere pu p s of acquiring knowledge of foreign ” s countries or for his own private improvement or amu ement . In the course of the afternoon ’s ride of th ree leagues between

n - Agua Blanca and Acarigua , I cou ted only sixty seven head of d cattle fee ing in the savannas, although there was pasturage for

hundreds, if not thousands . We have been continually surprised Of at the scarcity of horses and cattle . course such easily movable

property is the ﬁrst to suﬁe r in a revolution . Once the brands have

been destroyed there is no way of proving property , and it is very

difﬁcul s t to get any redress . The natural con equence is that no one takes any interest in raising cattle — or anything else for that — matter and the country appears to be in a state of stagnation .

anua h ﬁrst J ry2 6t . Acarigua is the place we have seen that

shows any signs of growth and progress . It lies half a mile south

e of the more resp ctable and ancient town of Araure , which is , for no

ﬁri l s sn e n . apparent rea on , g a dec ine The latter may have a thousand

a u s . inhabit nts , but Acarig a has at lea t three thousand Excellent hammocks and hats are made here . Since the Bolivar Railroad h as t been completed from Puerto Tucacas to Barquisimeto , a car

h as u h as road been made from the latter place to Acarig a , which thus become an important distributing point for the Northwestern

Llanos . A w recent riter on South America, an American commercial

are l d sur traveller , says his brethren the rea heroes of mo ern times , pas sing the missionary and the sc ient iﬁc explorer in se arching out the dark places of the earth . We are told that only one American CARABOBO T O BARINAS 5 1

w h as ever been seen here before and that as over forty years ago . I wonder if he was a commercial traveller and why none of his fel

O l lows have been here since . Has the pening of the rai road made it too easy ? West of the town is a terrace rising poss ibly one hundred and

ﬁftyfeet above the level of the plain . Here occurred quite a bloody

1 8 1 . e ncounter in 3, during the Wars of Independence The story goes that a hastily organiz ed regiment of volunteers won the battle for

so e the patriots . Bolivar was pleas d with the courage of the raw recruits that he bestowed upon the regiment the name of Bravos de

T m: C H U RC H or A IG CAR UA.

is Araure , much to their joy . If there anything a Spanish soldier

loves it is to belong to a regiment with a resounding appellation . The story of this episode was told me with much gusto by a decrepit o ld - ﬁe ld fellow who lives in a hut on the hill terrace above the battle .

ﬁnish ed After he had his tale he wiped his eyes with his sleeve , ﬁnall l d heaved a heavy sigh , and ypu le out from his pocket a little

r ho n box , about as large as a walnut . It was partly ﬁlled with a nasty black nicotine paste which is made hereabouts by mixing the e c ssence of toba co leaf with a mineral salt found in Los Andes . VENEZUELA CARABOBO T O BARINAS 5 3

With a small stick , picked up from the ground , he extracted a bit of

z off paste , the si e of a pea, and carefully scraped it on the back of his upper front teeth . This he assured me was far better than smok use s th ing . (I found that the of this pa te is quite common in e towns on the eastern slopes of the Andes . ) We left Acarigua about half- past three and reached the C arigua osada l s . th River before sun et There is a p here cal ed Choro , on e l right bank of the river . It consists of the usual co lection of thatched huts , a shelter for the mules , another for the hogs, of which the pro

rie tor h as p a hundred or more , and a third for the kitchen and bar .

n ar i h - o ﬁlth Ja u y2 7 . The sleeping ro m was so ywe chose t o h d s . a sleep in the inn yard la t night We little rest . Every hour scores of the half- starved hogs would emerge from their shelter and

o go on foraging expeditions in the mo nlight . The mules were th reatened with the loss of their corn and took to chasing the emaci ated pigs round the yard . The sober old cart mule made vain efforts to land a blow on the largest hog . The latter sought refuge beneath o M t oo h ur . T hammocks ycot was altogether near the ground . e

o pigs attacked bo ts and instruments , clothes bags and food bags . — Altogether it was a night long to be remembered , but not for refreshing slumber . The air was cool and fresh , a gentle breeze

ﬂies s drove away the and mo quitoes , the stars and the moon vied in u brilliancy . But all the beauties of nature did not compensate s for the attacks of the hungry hogs . We were glad to get away with

a ﬁh t z ac out g , for Rafael in his eal had thrown a stone with fatal ’ curacy at one of the pigs which was stealing the cart mule s supper . He concealed his crime by throwing the porker into a neighbouring u e s. banana patch , leaving the evidence b hind Had our host been v sober it would ha e been a simple matter to pay for the pig , but under the circumstances we did not breathe freely until we crossed the Rio

a i u C r a . Guachi , two leagues and a half beyond the g Another t wo leagues brought us to the magniﬁcentlydeserted

a r . pl za of Apa icion Its church is a curiosity , with huge buttresses d v an . on each side , , in one of them , three bells Ser ices are still

th e d r held here once a year and tiled roof is in moderately goo repai . “ th e s Diagonally across plaza , which is nothing but an open wa te , is the only other building, a general store kept by an enterprising 5 4 VENEZUELA

chi nch oras Indian . Cotton cloth , (hammocks) , lager beer from Cara “ ” “ ” r cas , Extra Soda biscuits from New York , Love Drops f om

e London , and watermelons from the patch back of the hous , together

with a few other trinkets , made up the stock in trade . Half a mile a e e beyond , having p ssed p rhaps two hous s , we came to the inn .

’ a is a : ac Ap ricion Quite pl e on the map , and is spread over consider

b ut - ﬁve a able territory , I doubt if it has more than twenty inhabit nts .

A A T m; VILL GE o r AP RICION.

I spent the noon hours swinging in a hammock in the outer

o open ro m of the inn , trying to make up for the loss of sleep ; but ’ the proprietor s pigs took up the tale where their friends h ad left it t h e o sc night before , and pr ceeded to disturb my slumbers by ratch

ing their backs on the under side of my hammock . When they tired of this, their friends , the chickens , got busy scratching up the earthen

ﬂoor ﬂoor . The once smooth is now in ruts from the hoofs of the

mules that are brought in here to be saddled , the snouts of the u . O rooting hogs, and the feet of the energetic fowls one side of

so - this called room , which is in reality nothing more than a thatched s hed , is the shop , a broken chair leaning against its rough mud plastered walls . A little porker dodges under the hammock and through the open

d o O . o r of the shop , which chances to be pen Driven out of there ,

5 6 VENEZUELA

e us who sent a messenger to me t , in order that we might not fall into

an al osada . n the h ds of the riv p Here we found our acquainta ces, l and was one of whom spoke a little Eng ish , very fond of repeating “ ” - so r ! with most extraordinary sing ng accent , Ah , my f iend

anuar 2 h J y 8t . Ospino is a quiet little town . The citizens are t oo lazy to gather any cocoanuts from the graceful trees which are w ell lad en with fruit . The only local enterprise of which we heard is th e manufacture of little horn boxes for nicotine paste . Last evening we were entertained by our two young Venezuelan u s. friends, who speak a little English and desired to try it on They attended the University of Caracas a few years ago and chose Eng “ M ” lish as one of their odern Languages . One lives in Guanare

ﬁrst where his father is the citizen of the town . The other is a local “ ” H “ S po rt and has a pack of hounds . e tells us they are all fox ” “ ” e — H i . e s terriers , and that he has s ven , his friend says three a mighty hunter and often goes out after deer , peccaries , and “ wild fowl with a Smith and Wesson revolver . Our conversation “ in dragged somewhat until he remarked , New York is always ?” “ ” ad . January very gl No We suggested that he meant cold , but he did not se em familiar with that word and soon too k h is

a dep rture . l We left Ospino early this morning . Such hi ls as we se e are much eroded . The road keeps within a mile or two of them and as usual crosse s savannas and wooded watercourses . Occasionally d we see large trees in the woo s . This morning we passed one that measured twenty- one feet in circumference at a height of ﬁve feet

rinid from the ground . Richard said it was common in T ad and is ” ed called there the wild cusha . Although we see hundr s of lizards

as . every day , we have yet not seen a single snake The numerous ﬁres that annually sweep over the savannas apparently have made

a ﬂowers snakes quite sc rce . The that one notices most often are

T h e s . large yellow ones een everywhere , frequently on fence posts

s se trees u ed for this purpo here seem to have great tenacity of life ,

ﬂower and even as fence posts continue to live and bear s. The road

are is never quiet . The chirp of insects and the chatter of birds a m s l ost constant , except in the middle of the day , but one never hear anysounds of cattle or horse s . CARABOBO T O BARINAS 5 7

ae About twelve miles from Ospino we came to another San Raf l , un wit h an elaborately decorated church . The front view is not

attractive , as the facade presents an imposing appearance ; but the li side view is as ridiculous as possible . The building is in rea ty

and se l l low , the facade , three or four feet thick , ri s ike a wal to twice

the height of the roof .

r : R1 A T m: JUNGLE o r m 0 PORTUGUES .

on After luncheon we pushed , and toward evening came to a ﬂ grand jungle , the ood plain of the Rio Portuguesa, which extends for a width of two miles on the left bank of the river and is the ﬁnest was f w . s as forest we have yet seen It a ter sun et , but the moon full and the ride through the woods in the moo nlight was one not soon

o to be forgotten . Vines that lo ked like snakes hung down from

the giant trees . Bright eyes seemed to glisten in the inky shadows , and the crashing sound of some large animal hurrying 0 6 in the thicket gave one a pleasant sense of jaguars and other interesting

ﬁre possibilities . It was a time when one appreciated the value of t u arms ; but nothing happened . We reached the Por ug esa at seven ’ o diﬂi eult v t h e clock , forded it without and soon after entered 5 8 VENEZUELA

osada z enclosure of an excellent p , where half a do en carters on their way to Valencia h ad already arrived . In the courtyard of the thatched inn were hung long lines of ﬁsh

dr M to y. ost of them were about a foot long ; but there were two

ﬁsh specimens of a large , a kind of salmon , that measured forty inches from neck to tip of tail after the head had been removed .

an ar 2 th ff J u y 9 . Every one that can a ord to do so in this country a sleeps in hammocks . One never sees a bedste d of any kind . The peons, when they have no hammocks , sleep on mats or rawhide

r laid on the ground . The night was ve y cold and damp . Yet at ° 6 1 F m A . H . cart en . the thermometer registered The were all

r shivering . It may seem ridiculous to think of shive ing within nine ° degrees of the equator when the temperature is above 60 F but ° t h e dampness and the daily change from 90 F in the early afternoon ° to 60 F in the early morning is very t rying .

r as was ﬁrst We made an early sta t , but it my sight of a large tropical river I went back half a mile to the Portuguesa and was well rewarded by the novelty of my surroundings . I reached the river just as the sun was rising slowly over the great forest on the u m was . left bank . The jungle fa ily just waking p Scores of doves ﬂ w . e were cooing in the trees Wild pigeons rapidly across the sky . l Parrots and paroquets chattered . Hundreds of sma l birds kept

wo up a continual chirping . T large herons added their screams to the chorus ; but the most fascinating sound of all was the mimic

ara uat os l roar of the g or howling monkeys , rising and fa ling like i ad . r the moan ng of a wind , in a weird c ence They are ve y shy s ﬁnd bea ts , and almost impossible to . A slight mist lay on the water but rapidly disappeared as the sun

was conﬁned rose higher . The river to its deeper channel so that

r r the sandy shoals were left quite dry . Wande ing along them I tu ned a bend in the river and swept the canebrakes and the banks of the

irst stream with my Zeiss glasses in the hope of new sights . F an

u - ig ana sunning himself on top of a vine covered tree , then a gray heron quietly watching me from a branch in the shadow beneath , and finallyan alligator basking in the sun on a sand bank not far off fild ul e . A , came slowly into the pair of beautif storks that looked as though they had stepped out of a Japanese screen flew majestically CARABOBO T O BARINAS 5 9 from tree to tree above the river looking for the fish that occasionally diffi lt splashed in the stream . It is cu to do justice to the enchant ment of the scene .

Two leagues south of the Portuguesa is Guanare , once the capital of the State of Zamora , but now reduced to a quiet somnolence that

s n gives no promi e of bei g disturbed for many years to come . The offic ial fiures latest g give it a population of thirty thousand . But as there are only five very small shops and certainly not three hundred

e difﬁc ult hous s standing , it is to account for more than two thousand

. ﬁfte n residents I very much doubt if there are e hundred .

E AN ro E T H ENTR CE GU ANAR .

A small bridge , thirty feet long and covered with a corrugated

o iron ro f, leads over a little stream to the main street of the town . A crowd of good - natured boys and men followed us about and pointed out the sights of the town . There is a quaint old college with a pleasant cloister that lends to the place an atmosphere of monastic f ﬁt . learning . About ystudents are on the rolls West of the college

a is the C lvario , a hill devoted to religious purposes , from which we h ad a ﬁne view of the town and the plains which stretch away into d . an n the interminable distance The plaza is shady well kept . O 60 VENEZUELA its east side is a well -built house said to have been the headquarters ’ of Bolivar . During the days of Guanare s political importance a

s was re ervoir built in the hills back of the town , so that some of th e houses enjoy running water .

R H AT G Y E T H E C H U C UA AR .

In Valencia we had secured a letter of credit to the correspondent

Bloeh m 81 Co . r of , in Guanare , and he tu ns out to be the most

H ﬁne import ant person in town . e is a very old fellow with fourteen

us children , who did not make the slightest fuss about furnishing H with $ 2 00 in gold and silver . e keeps a store on the corner of the CARABOBO TO BARINAS 6 1

z us i s p la a, but tells that th s town is too slow for him , and he intend t o as move as soon possible to Barquisimeto . Janua r 0t h . r an y3 We left Guanare this mo ning , and in about

ma niﬁcent hour reached the river Guanare , a g stream , quite shal

ﬁlled an d . e low , with islands , ﬂanked by great jungles In one tre

- few we counted sixty three beautiful egrets, who were joined in a m inutes by twenty others .

’ Borrvu s AD A S AI ANA HE QU RTER GU RE .

After passing the Guanare , the fauna seemed to change slightly .

The blackbirds , buzzards , and hawks continue as before , but are — joined now by many new birds that I had never seen , occasional

hornbills and m any kinds of ﬁsh ing birds . Few carts ever go l beyond Guanare , although a passable road continues to fo low the

lone telegraph wire as far as Barinas . Swallows sit on the wire here

just as they do in New England . This morning in the trees on

T ocu ido the banks of the river p I saw some monkeys . They

were the small red variety that are common here . Near by were

as h oatz i n O isth ocomus cristatus s uach arac . ome g ( , p ) They made a and great noise . They look like crested pheasants their plumage is

m . ost striking There must have been eight or ten of them together . 6 2 VENEZUELA

was and - z In the river a small alligator a fair si ed skate . Bites of

are assorted kinds and sizes accumulating on arms and hands . Flies

ad are getting very troublesome , and the little midgets bite b ly, leaving a little blotch with a black nucleus that lasts for two or r th ee weeks . It seems to be a kind of blood blister .

T m: SHOPPING s r nrcr or GUAN ARE .

A mile beyond the river we came to the picturesque ruins of the

T ocu ido . e old p church One of the arches is still standing , but a tre twenty or thirty years old is growing in the aisle . Th irty thatched f huts and a small church with a little thatched bel ry , a deserted plaza and a few cocoanut trees are all that is left of this old Spanish town . The innkee per told us that the road to Barinas by way of c the village of Bocon6 was impassable for the art , and that we must o 6 w g by way of Sabaneta, crossing the river Bocon ten miles belo in the village of that name . We might have spent the night here

ocu ido on o s . T p , but we preferred to get as far as p sible About sundown we camped near a stream on the edge of a big n sava na . Just before dark I managed to shoot one of the strange

6 4 VENEZUELA

as far as Sabaneta. This is a little village of no importance except ” that it h as a good inn which is the natural half-way house between a T wo a a Gu nare and Barinas . ncient l dies, Spanish creoles, are the

z - owners . Their daughters are mesti os, and their kitchen maids

h is look like zambos . In the course of the evening Rice got out the

odolit e u u e l , as s al , and took observations ; Richard amused hims f “ ” n u was ski ning the parrots that I had shot , Josh sp n yarns , and I busy with my little red lanterns changing plates in a dark corner of

- . ur the living room . O audience divided its chief interest between ’ l speculating as to Rice s astrology and my alchemy , the ittle red

as lamps having almost as much fascination for them the theodolite .

T H E Boc N6 R o IVER .

o February1 st . We had expected to g from Sabaneta to Barinas b ut by way of Obispo , learned this morning that the cart road was

. u o o new and very heavy To reach Barinas , we m st avoid Obisp , g west and slightly north through the great jungle that lies for miles 6 on the right bank of the Bocon , then turn south and make for the For lav town of Barrancas . ten miles the road through the most

magnificent tropical forest I have ever seen . Trees with a girth of twenty to twenty-five feet and a spread of one hundred and fiftyto CARABOBO T O BARINAS 6 5

u F two hundred feet were not ncommon . locks of chattering monkeys , quantities of gaily colored birds , numerous stinging insects , and millions of ants mad e the day one of uninterrupted interest .

A T THE S AB ANET A I NN .

and Some of the ant heaps covered six or eight square yards , were At over two feet in height . one place which was rather sandy , the ants had made a novel causeway over the ﬁne sand of the man

travelled path . In order to keep up the great speed at which the

e oc majority wished to travel , s veral hundred of the workers lay l ked

together in the dust , making a bridge over which their companions ,

as the soldier ants , could run as fast on the hard little paths which

o in they make in the jungle . This living causeway was over a fo t

length , two inches wide , and from one to three ants deep . When I ﬁrst saw it I thought that the ants in the road had been killed by se pas rsby stepping on them , although I found later to my cost that A they were extremely hard to kill in that or any other way . kick

from my boot broke up the living roadway , which soon formed again

e s ﬁne in another place , each ant s ttling him elf in the dust and taking

hold with his fore legs of the hind legs of the ant in front . Others mounted the ﬁrst laver and gripped them with such tenacity that the e B caus way held together like a ribbon . ythrusting a stick under 66 VENEZUELA

n l ﬁve eath , I ifted it inches from the ground before the ants decided o to let g . The working ants were about half an inch long and of a k dusty blac colour . The soldier ants were a third as long again .

RO 1 B N S O N THE AD 0 ARRA CA .

o Soon after this I heard what s unded like falls or large rapids,

but the jungle was too dense to penetrate and see which it was . The

- s foot hills in this region are grassy and without trees , but the bank of the watercourse s even where the stream has run dry are well

A a t wooded . mile f rther on we emerged from the forest and caugh a glimpse of the Andes through the gap in the foot - hills made by the

6 . Bocon River Then the road took a sharp turn to the left and south . We Spent the middle of the day in a wretched little thatched b ut M t on the right bank of the asparro River . The owner appeared o u have three wives and a large amo nt of other live stock , including

or cattle , goats, dogs , and pigs . His wives and children were all more ”

ill and . less and diseased , so were the dogs Rice held a clinic and l told us that nearly all had enlarged spleens due to ma aria . Shortly

u s a as l ﬁft een before s n et we re ched Barranc , a vil age of or twenty d thatche huts , besides some ruins to show that it was once a place

ﬂie s and of more importance . The bees were maddening this morning f d e u and I su fere greatly from the bites of all kinds of ins cts , altho gh

I wore gauntlets and a head net most of the time . This evening I

- counted sixty three bites on my left hand and arm , and over forty n o my right . CARA BOBO T O BARINAS 6 7

r d s h Februa y2 . Our weather for the pa t three weeks as been q uite uniform , no rain , little wind , and cumulous clouds . We spent a large part of the afternoon on the banks of the Yuca R m was u iver , as we had been infor ed that it only a leag e from here to Barinas . The result was we did not reach the Santo Domingo

a River until after dark . It is a large stream with m ny islands , much

r u ﬂood like the Po tug esa and the Guanare , and has a very wide plain . The cart got stuck in a bog before we entered the jungles of the Santo and Domingo , spent the night in the savanna , but we rode on hoping

difﬁ lt a r w to reach B arinas without cu y. The ro d th ough the jungle as

n was f well marked , but the ford at the Sa to Domingo a di ferent mat l ter . After several vain attempts we were ob iged to light one of the w s un a - folding lanterns, ade acro s and h t for the l nding place before we

T HE M ‘ ‘ AR U IS A I E I . Q , B AR NAS

. could follow the direction of the ford As the river was quite rapid , three feet deep , and the bottom rocky and treacherous, the mules ad ’ . At m e a great fuss about crossing length , about eight o clock , we r o eached the famous old city of Barinas and found a p sada . Februa r d y . l a 3 Barinas was founded ear ier than C racas , the 68 VEN EZU ELA

Spaniards having explored this part of Venez uela before they pene t rated s the region immediately outh of the Coast Range . The city prospered greatly during the Colonial epoch and was famous

a a n a for its tob cco , which comm nded a high price in the Germa m rkets .

T H E C AR o r r m: M AR U I Ar E OURTY D Q S .

- Barinas was at that time the capital of the province . One of the

fine Government buildings is still standing , and presents a appear ance . There are probably not more than one thousand people living here now . I presume six hundred would be a closer estimate . The offii fi r - five t en c al gu es give it twenty hundred . It once had thou a n s nd i habitants .

There is some interest taken in music , and an aggregation con

ﬂut e sisting of a bassoon , a violin , a tuba , and a are spending the u “ ” S nday afternoon rehearsing in one of the rooms of the inn . It d lt makes writing rather ifﬁcu .

In the latter part of the eighteenth century a great cattle king ,

f . who had social ambitions , built himsel a palace here During the wars with Spain he assisted the Loyalists and was made a marquis “ M ar ui for his pains . The ruins of his great establishment , the q ” 1 8 1 1 e sate , are most interesting . The house measures 3 by 4 fe t . CARABOBO T O BARINAS 69

and a n The roof is gone much of the rich orn mentation , but the gra d

n l a court is surrounded by colum s which are stil st nding . There were se venteen rooms besides the hallways . Other large ruins in and n u s d the vicinity , ma y mo nds cattere through the city , might be

roﬁt explored with p .

Barinas is the last city we shall see for some time . It is like the d San an a . other cities of the Western Llanos, Carlos , Araure , Gu nare

All a bear witness of a dep rted greatness . In the last days of the Colonial epoch there must have been at least ten times as many people here . Those that remain are poor and unenterprising . t Apa hy is their most marked characteristic . Their houses are gen erall - ybuilt of adobe , sometimes with red tiled roofs but more often

- e with palm leaf thatch . Their churches are in a better state of pres r

few vation than might have been expected . Yet one sees very signs

W I NG N A BO L GREE .

f o superstition . Schools of a primary grade are common in the towns s and every one eems to be able to read and write . Except on Sunday

e ﬁh t afternoons we have s en few cock g s. Bowling seems to be the

s . osada most popular form of amu ement Nearly every p , and many ul eria allevs b p p , have laid out on a smooth bit of ground near y. 7 0 VENEZUELA

Sometimes the game resembles the old English bowling on the ” a k r e green , but more often it is a v riety of s ittles , with th e pins . are u e Generally small silver coins placed nder or b hind the pins, as rewards to the successful bowler .

The main industry is cattle breeding , although the hogs of Araure ,

Aparicion , and Ospino are considered the best that are raised in l Venezuela . We are not ikely to forget them . The only manu

e a e a a elon factures s em to be co rs sug r in loaves (p p ) , straw hats, o hammocks, crude p ttery , and horn boxes . The staple food is the ﬁ l ne n n . plantain , a large ba a a , cooked in various ways Excel ent coﬁee is raised in the hills west of the cities . In fact coffee has bee n

r ﬁve e our greatest luxu y . The cities are about hundred fe t above

a F s the level of the se . rom them the plains slope very gently ea t ward down to the Orinoco .

7 2 VENEZUELA

where we were delayed more than an hour as the cart h ad to b e i ent rely unloaded . Once through this we turned our backs to th e s mountain , which presented a beautiful sight as the rising sun lighted

’ T H E JA BIRU S N

their eastern slopes . We took up our march over a magniﬁcent a ﬂow savanna p rallel to the rivers that into the Apure , and passed a i number of lagoons or ponds full of game b rds . So near together did the ducks sit on the water that I killed sixteen with four car r t ridges. One of the ducks which had appa ently fallen dead began i r t s . to act very strangely , alte nately diving and swimming on back

ﬁnall The motive power proved to be a small alligator , which was y

persuaded to relinquish his prey . About ﬁve leagues from Barinas we saw a nest of the giant jabiru

h igh up in a very tall tree . One parent and two chicks were perched

us al l th e on the nest and seemed to have no fear of at , although

parent kept up a continuous warning rattle with its long beak . We h ad hitherto found six leagues to be about the limit of our ’ r - ca t mule s endurance , but we succeeded to day in doing nearly eight ,

as we had no rivers to cross and a slight down grade . Our guide is

l He an excellent fel ow with a rapid walk and a cheerful spirit . FROM BARINAS TO THE APURE RIVER 73

all ﬁres in amused himself day by lighting in the dry grass of the pla , i and kept this up during the evening , as we did not reach water unt l ’ about seven o clock . In time the woods and the savannas surround us all and i ing were blazing it looked l ke a scene from the Inferno .

ﬁr The risk from these es is not very great . They help to keep the

0 So far paths pen , besides improving the pasturage . we have seen

few cattle .

F ebruar th y5 . One is continually impressed by the desolateness

of this entire region . We reached the Paguei in the middle of the

n af ﬁne mor ing, ter passing through a jungle where we saw a large d i h ad troop of monkeys . In or er to get the cart across the river t to ad ff n be unlo ed and the stu ferried over in a big dugout ca oe . As the

a difﬁcult water only came up to the ﬂoor of the c rt , Rafael had little y

in driving it across .

T PH W o r r m: AB A D ELE OTO VIE J IRU N NEST .

6 The Paguei resembles the Bocon in that it has rather high banks, d in few if any islands , and a slow current over a san y bottom , dis i i t nction from the Santo Domingo and the Guanare which are rap d , 7 4 VENEZUELA

l d and . shal ow , wi e . rocky But it must be remembered that we crossed the Guanare and the Santo Domingo near the foo t - hills and the w Bocon6 and Paguei at a distance of at least eleven miles belo them . We have not had an opportunity of exploring the rivers from source

u . to mouth , but I presume it would be fo nd that they are all alike They probably all have wide stony beds near the hills and change their appearance slowly as they get farther into the Llanos where there are no stones and the streams cut their way through sandy

an . banks . It would be interesting to know where the ch ge begins

C NG r m: AGU R V ROSSI P EI I ER .

O n T otomal the south bank of the Paguei is , or San Sylvestre as

- i it is now called , a poverty str cken collection of a dozen thatched o huts . As the bank is quite high and rises s mewhat above high w a k ater, there is little danger of ﬂoods and the village lies on the b n it as instead of being some distance from , as is the c e with most of u d the river towns we have seen . Here we sec re the services of

was o o another guide , who too lazy to g on fo t , but fortunately owned

a huge tame ox that was quite a fast walker. u The jungle on the south side of the Pag ei is over two miles wide . Passing through it we entered another great savanna and shortly u after dark reached a solitary ranch where we bivo acked for the night . The men were away when we arrived and the womenfolk were very e b ut n n much frighten d , their Llanero husba ds soon retur ed and ad us us silently m e welcome , although evidently regarding as highly FROM BARINAS TO THE APURE RIVER 7 5

not w suspicious characters . They were illing to give us any food but allowed us to take one of their pots in which to cook some of the

For game shot during the day . light they had primitive tallow dips,

sed - a and for a candlestick u the mud plastered w lls of the hut , to which they stuck the dip by means of its own melting tallow .

r r 6th Feb ua y . This morning we met a herd of over three hun i t A dred cattle be ng driven to Barinas and the nor hern markets . li in ttle later we came to a prosperous looking ranch , quite an oasis

il all the desert , its bu dings in good repair and a strongly built fence i enclosing a large grove of plantains . We were k ndly received here e c e by the majordomo , who look d like a ross b tween a Hawaiian and d i . e e an a Ch nese His master return d in the cours of the day, was kind enough to say that he h ad plenty of everything and would like l an to have us spend se vera days with him . Everything here me s

a fried pl ntains and dried beef, varied occasionally by the addition

ff . i s a a of a little co ee But planta ns are c rce , and considered such

A W A ! C TTLE ON THEIR AY TO M R ET .

r delicacy that the cowboys a e given nothing but beef . It turns out that this place is historically known as the Corral Falz o of General a Paez . Here that f mous Llanero chief established a temporary enclosure where horses and cattle could be collected for the patriots

e F l in the War for Indep ndence . rom this corra in the heart of the Llanos rode the Bravos de Apure wh o were foremost in the ﬁgh t at 76 VENEZUELA

. A e Carabobo Paez was born near Acarigua, but was brought to pur when two or three years old and spent hi s boyhood at a ranch not far

lz ad al a . a away c led La C a It is now owned by a Colombi n , Don

Francisco a ad a Falz o P r a Le l , who happened to arrive at Corral this

H i u i h im. in . e s He even g is most cordial , and inv tes to v sit comes

l is from Sogamoso , where his people still ive , and quite the most v H h intelligent person that we ha e met in some weeks . e as travelled i ai i extensively , and is able to g ve f rly exact nformation in regard to n routes . It is astonishing how few of these people k ow the dis a o an t nces, or even how long it takes to g to yplace that is more than ’ So t a day s journey away . far as hese people are concerned , Caracas

ut as . d is q i e far away as Bogota Work is har , and there is plenty i so it ch ie ﬂ n of it . Dur ng the dry sea n consists yof handli g cattle . There are no fences of anydescription to separate the ranches ; the

a h as w yearly br nding is of great importance , and to be done ith ’ considerable care . Usually the cattle owners attend one another s round - ups so as to keep track of their own cattle and make sure that l wi the ca ves are branded th the same brand the mothers carry . It

an rancisco a b ut is for this err d that Don F is visiting this r nch , he says he will return home tomorrow in order to accompany us and

see us comfortably settled at La Calzada . We have several times met wild bulls on the road that were being ul s dragged to the b l ring of Caracas, fa tened to the tail of a strong horse . It seems that the cowboys in this country have such wretched saddles that they are obliged to rely on the strength of their horses ’ ’ r tails . Before sta ting for the day s work the cowboy takes one end i il of h is rawh de lasso , doubles the ta over the rope , binds the lasso se veral times around it and thus secures it ﬁrmlyto his patient a horse . It is only when handling nimals that are too large or too wild to be trusted to the pommel of the badly made saddles that the u i cowboys resort to this ridic lous method of rop ng cattle . It looks t e a t as though it might hur the hors s , but they do not appe r to mind i . t h Februa ry7 . We had not intended to spend the night at Corral

F z w was a l al o , but Ramon Chapparo , the o ner, so cordi l y insistent in his in vitation that we remained . We ﬂat t ered ourselves that we

- were actually enjoying the proverbial free handed hospitality of th e e u plainsman . Imagin our s rprise this morning when he announced FROM BARINAS TO THE APURE RIVER 77

’ as we were about to leave that we owed him fourteen bolzvars w He said this as for the food for our men and mules . He assured w us as . s that he charging nothing for our own board Nevertheles , this was hardly the kind of hospitality that we had been led to expect by his repe ated and urgent invitations . A a league beyond Corral F lzo we came to the Canagua River .

I t is and w th e about one hundred t enty feet across , and looks like

t h e Bocon6 and Paguei . The river at this season was not more than

N T a r; B AN ! S o r r m: C A AGUA .

t hree feet deep and there are no canoes here . The banks are fairly me n two steep , and the worked hard for hours to make it possible for the empty cart to pass . To carry over the heavy luggage we ’ x presse d the guide s saddle c into service .

rancisco l i Don F had thoughtfu ly prov ded light refreshments , b ut he waited until the men and the cart h ad gone on before he

F od - brought them out . o is so hard to get in this half starved coun t rythat those who have any variety resort to various dodges in order in T h t o prevent their supply from be g too speedily consumed . e 78 VENEZUELA

- w t lunch consisted of sugar cane , cold boiled eggs , cold boiled s ee W i at cassava , salt , and muddy river water . hen we were camp ng l k Carabobo , and for a week thereafter , we were very carefu to drin

l we a u ll all only boi ed water , but have gr d a y allowed that custom to f into desuetude . Th ree leagues beyond the Canagua River brought us to La C al ’ h F is . was li n s z ada, Don ranc co s comfortable ranch It ke other ra c e

O U R Ho r AT s LA CALZADA .

in general appearance , but it did not take long to see that the owner u h was m ch more energetic than his Venezuelan neig bours . In th e construction of the main dwelling he had taken pains to build some r thing a little out of the ordina y , rounding one end of the house so as

- a to make a very attractive living room , even though the ﬂoor was , s

l . usua , of baked earth , and the roof of thatch Nothing remains of the house where General Paez lived but a

charred post or so in a neighb ouring grove . It is said that Paez lived

8 0 VENEZUELA

a us ma niﬁ The housekeeper , a wizened up old l dy of sixty , gave a g ’ cent breakfast this morning about nine o clock which included an omelette-aux - nes - h erbes u r . We ﬁ , a most delightf l surp ise have greatly enjoyed the ease and luxury of this little oasis . ° ’ ° ’ 6 F 80 The temperature here was 4 at six o clock , at nine o clock, 86 ° w ’ ° ’ ° ° 8 P M . 8 2 6 . at at t elve o clock , 9 at three o clock , at , 7 7 °

P . M . P . M . w l as i . a 9 , 7 5 at This a fa r average day In gener there is a daily range in the temperature of twenty-ﬁve to thirty degrees .

A GRINDING SUG AR T LA CALZADA .

at F ebrua ry9t h . We rose this morning and left La ’ Calzada about six o clock . Although the cart had been fully

a us p cked the night before , it took nearly as long to get started after i arising as it usually does . The men s mply cannot hurry . We rigged a tandem harness yesterday and put th e blue mule in as

He s r l leader . oon lea ned to pul well and helps to keep things

i - a w H u . e moving . Our g de to day was nephe of the housekeeper i i e i is a rather stup d boy of sixteen , and r d s a meek l ttle donkey . Our greatest annoyance is a little ﬂywhich is very active except when FROM BARINAS TO THE APURE RIVER 8 1 t h e i A breeze is blow ng . fresh breeze that blows for three or four hours every morning from the northeast is the salvation of these hot plains .

al i t We saw sever deer this morn ng, and I shot a young buck tha l proved to be very toothsome . The country seems to be wel stocked w a ch ie fl - n ith g me , ywater fowl . I was so fortunate as to bring dow fiv w rifle . hi n n e a jabiru ith my T s gia t stork measured , sta ding,

D . R R C A AND HE An I I T mU . R CE, H RD I

it s a it s feet ten inches from the point of be k to toes . Its spread from tip to tip of wings was seven feet ten inches and the beak alone was

l r a foot long . The neck had a most no feathers but a ve y tough dark

n e . gray skin , with a red ba d at its bas The body was covered with beautiful white feathers ; some of the wing feathers being 1 4 inches

. se so are e long The have a commercial value , the birds exce dingly as and l shy , quite shy in fact as the egrets , it is a most impossible to W get withi n gunshot of them . hen approaching a lagoon or a river 8 2 VENEZUELA

ﬁrst ﬂ bank, the jabirus and the egrets are always the to yaway ,

i r wh le the hawks, buzzards , and other carnivorous and ca rion birds are extremely tame and sometimes allow one to approach within a

. v and e few feet No one e er takes the trouble to kill them , they s em it a a to realize . The birds whose feathers are s l ble are hunted in th e wet season when the plains are ﬂooded and it is easy to pass quietly i difﬁ l in canoes through the jungle to their nests . It s c ut to handle

- i ﬁt u s . n cattle then , and the bird h nt ng in well Unfortu ately the wet s so is i o c ea n the breed ng seas n , so the egrets and jabirus are be oming scarcer every year . Four leagues beyond La Calzada we came to the little hamlet in w ° of Suripa . The temperature the sh ade at noon as 93 F This

is the hottest yet . The guide wanted to spend the night here , but as there were still several hours of daylight we determined to reel oﬁ another league or two before dark . Night fell before we reached

th e a i i e water , guide lost his bearings, but we followed path unt l n n ’ u a a i o clock , when we fo nd ourselves on the b nks of a gre t r ver which

. was ﬁne so the guide said he had never seen before It a night , we

camped in the open .

r r t F eb ua y1 0 h . As soon as it was light this morning we made a oﬁ. ai in out four houses not far Boca Surip , for which we were m g ,

was only a mile away . We found that we had camped on the banks a i 6 of the Surip R ver, which is like the Bocon and Canagua in appear

a . nce , a deep muddy stream with high banks and sandy shores We h ad happe ned upon a great spot for alligators and had the satis

faction of shooting eight or ten in the course of half an hour .

At a it s ﬂow i the mouth of the Surip , where waters nto the Apure,

a is Boca Suripa , a h mlet of half a dozen thatched huts , the homes

. wh of the ferrymen and of Dr Gabaldon o owns the ferry rights . There are a number of canoes here and the men are skilled in swim

ming cattle across the rapid current . The cattle raised in the great region to the south of us are generally brought across the Apure at a point just below the junction of the rivers where the Apure is quite

ar od i i n row . There is a go beach on the south side w th a feas ble

- landing place on the north side . It would have been impossible to take our cart across the large rivers that form the Apure and t h e u a a . S rip , but we had heard th t we could get it ferried across here FROM BARINAS TO THE APURE RIVER 8 3

M G al was h is son . in Dr. ab don not at home , but Dr iguel was charge

He e of the establishment . and his helpers had b en quite alarmed by our camp -ﬁre last night and our ﬁring at the alligators in the morn

o us i a . ing . They supp sed to be a revolut onary b nd As soon as he read our letters of introduction he made us most welcome and urged us to spend the night as his guests after se nding our men and ani

l a was a ma s across the river . The empty c rt put athw rt one of the canoes and with its wheels slowly revolving in the water looked like

n a some stra ge p ddle steamer . It was an awkward load to handle l m l c anoe en . on the ittle dugout , but ski ful got it safely across Towed

in l c s by men canoes, the mu es swam a ros , most of them showing

nothing above the water except head and ears . But the cart mule

h is all evidently desired to keep tail dry , for he waved it violently the

ad u way across the river . It was so ridiculous it m e s roar with l i laughter, unti we saw several large alligators sw mming near the l . ort unat e At mules F ywe shot t wo and the others disappeared . this seaso n of the year the water is low enough to allow the canoes to be poled nearly all the way across the river by poles twelve feet r long . Du ing the winter season a small steamer comes from Ciudad Bolivar up the Apure and goes to Periquera some distance beyond

this point .

1 8 1 is Achaguas , the rendezvous for the Liberating Army in 9 , l n se - ﬁve tw r n o ly venty miles to the e as a d . O its celebrated march to

a us Colombia the army passed over a tr il a mile south of , which we l so shal strike on after crossing the river . From here to the Bridge ac a i i of Boy , the scene of the culm nating v ctory of the campaign , ’ al l l as se as we sh l try to fo low Bo ivar s route clo ly possible .

r afﬂ uent The Capa ro River, once the most important of the n Apure above its ju ction with the Suripa , no longer ﬂows into that

a . A river , except on the m ps few years ago the Caparro left its old

M a ﬁndin a bed some distance above ampor l , and g a new p ass ge a i At northward joined the Surip above Santa Rosal a . present the region near here presents a very pretty example of river formation going on at a rapid rate . The stream of the Suripa is verv muddy and r n i r is i ca ries a large amou t of sed ment , while the Apu e qu te

a . and r cle r There are many shoals islands where the ivers join .

‘ For an a o t of t h e Cam a of 1 8 1 see A x cc un p ign 9 ppendi A . 8 4 VENEZUELA

a r new The Surip , now larger than the Apu e , is rapidly cutting a h c annel for itself in order to become adjusted to the new conditions .

ebrua r 1 1 th . a F y . Late last evening Dr G baldon arrived on horse back from a place sixteen leagues away . This seemed to us like very

e in n rapid transit , as only once have we succe ded making more tha

r i seven leagues . Contra y to the hab ts of the country , he had not all stopped in the middle of the day , but had been riding day long . was u His servant who rode with him quite exha sted , but our host ,

l v - r was st a though se enty three yea s old , declared that he not in the lea fi v li . He ne n r fatigued is a old fellow , and looks ery much ke Se o h a a . e Sag sta, the l te Spanish Premier Unlike most of his countrymen , appears to h ave only pure Spanish blood in his veins . His eyes are fi h ne fiure . He as bright , he is very fond of a joke and he has a g travelled in Europe and all over Venezuela and Colombia ; saw th e Ph iladelphia Exposition ; lived for se veral months in New York ’ C A and 1 8 2 h as ity during Grant s dministration , again in 9 ; and seen

l He and Niagara Fa ls . is fond of dispensing hospitality manages to live fairly well even in thi s little thatched hut on the edge of th e

now nd world . Every a then he brings out from his private stores some choice delicacy or a rare fruit with which to tempt our appc

i n hnd - d men t t es. a It seemed very str ge to such well rea , intelligent i H l son oﬁ s . as . Dr Gaba don and his so far in the w ldernes owever, r they see various people who come here to cross the ferry , and thei monopoly of the charges brings them in a very comfortable income . They get two bolivars a head for all the cattle th at cross the river here , and this amounts in some weeks to a couple of hundred dollars . ’ a d This morning a cattle speculator , a friend of C stro s , crosse ﬁft the river with about three hundred head of cattle . Some yor sixty of the frightened animals were cut out of the herd by the cow

a boys on the so uth side of the river and driven down to the be ch , wh ere a lane made of bamboo was intended to guide them to th e ’ in ox a water s edge and aid in forcing them . Then a tame with rope tied to the end of his nose was pulled into th e river and across

e by the ferrymen in a canoe . The cowboys yelled and shout d , urg ing the cattle into the water but the ﬁrst lot of steers stampeded when they came to the river 5 edge and smashed up the bamb oo and e ﬁnall fences . One steer was killed others were injur d , but y FROM BARINAS TO THE APURE RIVER 8 5

ﬁft f and w a yof them were orced into the river proceeded to s im cross ,

i far d several canoes keeping them from go ng too own st re am . They all r and was all see e had long ho ns , that about one could of th m h l t h as they swam the river . The long line of orns fo lowing e le ad

an n e ﬂank and an e t i ing c oe , other ca o s on rear , made int res ng sight . The shouting of the ferrymen and the cowboys added to the excite

not l se r n e e ment, which was es ned by the appea a ce of s veral larg w al ligators close to the s imming herd . n n Dr . Gabaldon insisted on our spendi g a other day with him so

ul us for that the m es might have a rest . In fact , he urges to stay ” n i i l t e s . days , but w lling that we should ta k about going tomorrow

r t a Februa y1 2 h . As soon s we get up in the morning our genial

u c fiee fir w host brings us a cup of most delicio s o . The st sound e “ a n s u he r in the mor ing and the la t at night is the crunch , cr nch of the cofiee beans as the mai d - servants grind them slowly to powder with a small round stone on a large flat stone that has been hollowed “ as t oo out . Fresh milk is a rarity in this cattle country it is much ” w ai l But trouble to tame a cow and milk her ith the d of her c a f .

a u k and as Dr. Gab ldon is acc stomed to making people wor , soon as we have ﬁnish ed our hot coﬁee he brings us great gourds of foam in l th e g mi k fresh from cow .

o h as We expected to cross the Apure today , but our p lite host ut all l p manner of obstacles in the way . It appears to be tremendous y difﬁcult to get a compe tent guide ! A boy was introduced yesterday wh o l was wil ing for four dollars to guide us for eight leagues . As l s b o u k our a t yg ide lost his head completely , we did not ta e kindly

a al to the idea of eng ging this one , especi ly at such an exorbitant m . r canoe en price We were then told that Libo io , the chief of the

ll fellow would o as d l and a most inte igent , g our gui e as far as Pa marito , but this morning another cattle speculator arrived on the south bank of the river and required the se rvices of every available man to assist

l a him in bringing four hundred head of catt e cross . Nevertheless , Liborio was to ﬁnish this task very quickly and start with us after b re akfas d As the only other goo guide was drunk , we were “ ” l a ob iged to wait for Liborio . After breakf st turned out to mean “ ” all so not at , for the cowboys on the uth side of the river got very drun k last night and were in no condition to make an early start this 86 VENEZUELA

n ri morni g . The usual strong breeze sp nging up on time at made the river too rough for safety . The current is strong and the wind blowing up -stream made a very choppy sea with waves of so considerable size , the cattle and the cowboys and the ferrymen and

h ad o i Liborio to wait until afterno n , and by the t me all the cattle it was were safely across the river too late to do anything . Since leaving Corral Falz o we have observed a daily change in

d i d r the wind , which , we are tol , is characterist c of the yseason . During the nigh t it is scarcely more than a z ephyr ; increase s a little with the sunrise but does not really attract one ’s attention until

a shortly after eight , when it begins to freshen r pidly and by ten ’ l w a o c ock is blo ing almost gale from the east . Towards noon it

and an n dies down , in the afternoon there is scarcely ymotio in the

arr.

F ebruar 1 th l y 3 . The breeze began an hour ear ier today , and ’ was h h by nine o clock blowing very fres ly , so t at some of the thatch h was torn off the roof of the house . It was decided t is morning th at

Liborio could not be spared , but fortunately the other available h ad o M guide s bered up and was ready to proceed . Dr . iguel desires to go up the Apure to Palmarito and invited me to accompany h i s . i him in canoe We are to be two days on the r ver, and shall cam n k spend the night mg on one of the sand ban s on its ed ge .

u and - l The canoe was of average size , a dugout abo t two one ha f

-ﬁve l feet wide and twenty feet ong . Ten or eleven feet of the fore

as - ma part of the canoe was reserved a runway for the pole n . The

th e and pilot with a paddle sat in the stern , boxes bundles were placed

M i an i and . d as am dships, Dr guel I made ourselves comfortable as

a possible between the pilot and the luggage . Our c rgo , though small,

a and was quite v ried included two large tortoises, a live duck , rice , m coﬁee n r acaroni , salt , , bea s, eggs, native suga , Danish canned

s . butter, Spani h sardines , plantains, and cooking utensils Soon after embarking we passed a sand bank where I had sh ot a small alligator th e the previous day . Notwithstanding toughness of its skin , the h buzzards had attacked the carcass and about ﬁnis ed their work . There remained t wo large birds called ! ing Samurs which we saw M nowhere else . Dr . iguel told me he had never seen two together before and that it was a rare occurrence to see even one . They

88 VENEZU ELA

favourite spot for an animal congress. Among the birds we saw

ar o al e carreteros . a few l ge , hands me ducks c l d They walk with a n h ir o h l strut like a gra dee and hold t e heads very high , s mew at ike n h e - geese . I am told that whe their eggs are atch d by a barn yard

l carretero an a fow , the makes excellent domestic anim l , being espe ciallyuseful as a substitute for a watch-dog ; but if the ducklings are h hatched by their mother it is impossible to tame t em . ’ u ﬁve a h a n - an as Abo t o clock we re c ed sa d b k known La Tigra, a u n v t ri dr s favo rite campi g place for ri er ravellers du ng the yeason . w n h ye In the i ter it is submerged to a depth of from to six fee t . We

si a -ﬁre e ea ly found plenty of driftwood for our c mp , and three larg v pieces to ser e as posts for the ends of our hammocks . One can nearly always tell where the rivermen have camped by these strange

e cl - looking posts that are plant d fairly ose together on the sand banks .

ebmar t l in F y1 4 h . Last evening I had a ong conversation regard

M an el and M m o . . d to theos phy Dr iguel is ardent b iever , regards a a ’ ” Blavat skys Isis Unveiled as the greatest book of modern times .

He in m was x for was born Colo bia , where his father a political e ile n b ut in fourtee years , lived as a student Caracas for eleven years and

h is l r took degree as doctor of aws at the University , later ente ing

He o . i l up n the practice of law in that city speaks English fa rly we l , as he once lived in Barbados for more than a year and in Trinidad for two months . l During the night we had a light breeze from the north , but ear y

air w this morning it shifted around to the east . The as damp and

l w e co d and my heavy Jaeger blankets were none too arm . Ther

Th e o all ai were a few mosquitoes . river pe ple use thick curt n mos r h quito nets which they hang from a st ing stretc ed over the hammock . As I had no net I put on my gloves and myhead -net and was able t o ’ enjoy a good night s rest . Th e banks of the river are in general from eight to sixteen feet

so l e i r and above us as we go along . The i s ems to be a m xtu e of clay i m a . et sand . One sees pr ctically no stones Th s morning we four

ﬁv us all e . or canoes going down stream When exactly abeam of , “ “ ” d s d s ues We t n e A io A io . hands simulta eously shout d , or p lef La Tigra at about quarter before se ven and reached Algarob o at

- l s . A arob o half pa t eight , just as the breeze was freshening g con FROM BARINAS TO THE APUR E RIVER 89

and sists of but two or three houses , we stayed only long enough to learn that Rice and the caravan h ad spent the night here and gone

b now as on just efore our arrival . The breeze incre ed in velocity

so e h was as to rais great clouds of sand from the exposed s oals . It

our a almost too strong for little sail, but we m de great headway for a

l - s im coup e of hours , until half pa t eleven , when the breeze d inished

as d and n a perceptibly , was to be expecte , by noo was reduced to s ﬁt ful eries of gusts . ’ We reached Palmarito about two o clock and found that the r h al caravan had ar ived f an hour before us. It had a fairly straight

E A B U NGO O N THE APUR RIVER .

road all the way from Boca Suripa but made almost exactly the same s progress as the canoe , which had to follow the winding of the river. i i i M ’ Th ere is no inn here and we are st ay ng w th a fr end of Dr . iguel s

us an who does not furnish with yfood , and we should have been

rather b ad ly oﬁbut for the supplies in the canoe .

Shortly before reaching Palmarito , we passed what had once b ut been the mouth of the Caparro River, is now only a small inlet

or backwater . a i w ﬁft P lmarito is a thriving little r ver to n of about yhouses, situated on the south side of the Apure at a place wh ere t h e bank

u w a . e is nusually high , t enty feet , above the stre m Steam rs touch

ﬁve ove mb e r h i here during months of the year , June to N , on t e r way 90 VENEZUELA to Periquera from Ciudad Bolivar ; conse quently all th e houses that can aﬁord it have corrugated iron roofs . There are se veral good A shops ; the best ones being owned by Syrians . t this time of the

i l i s w and year there is l tt e bus nes in these river to ns, they depend for

and b un oes communication with the outside world on canoes g , large cargo canoes that are poled by three or four men . Rice found a case of appendicitis at Algarob o and another here

al r so r see aﬁec t n at P ma ito , that next to mala ia , which ms to ine it h tenths of the population , is apparently the fas ionable disease in this locality . A young lawyer here told me the story of how he came to leave

a a C aracas . It seems that four years ago there died in C r cas a

l v a - s l Co ombian lea ing an estate of bout sixty eight thou and do lars,

i He l l nd which included a dozen houses in that c ty . eft no wi l a it was s f al ome months be ore his nephew , representing his natur heirs , m arrived from Colombia . In the meanti e , the public administrator, ” the courts and a few great ones h ad been di viding the property u amongst themselves . Abs rd claims against the estate were ordered

a i al i to be p id , the claimants gett ng a sm l fract on while the larger i and proport on went to the judge the administrator . The heir at law employed this lawyer and his partner to resc ue what they could

e of the estate . All they succeed d in saving was about eighteen thou

r b . so sand dollars Howeve , the graft had een taken openly that they felt sure of being able to bring a criminal suit whereby a large part i ff of the estate could be recovered . The he r o ered them half of wh at

r they might recover . They proceed ed to b ing the case before the i h ad w u cr minal courts , but reckoned itho t realizing how powerful ﬁl the political machine is in Caracas . The morning after ing the i v complaint my fr end , who fortunately was li ing at the same board

- i ofﬁcials ing house w th one of the chief city , was informed by that n n ge tlema that he had in his pocket a warrant for his arrest , which would be turned over to the police in the course of the morning . It se ems that the grafters had obtained an order for the arrest of both i n lawyers and the r imprisonment without trial for eightee days , a i pe riod just long enough to cause the criminal su t to go by default . Myacquaintance was warned by the friendly ofﬁcial to stay in his

o was r h a od - ro m , and fu t er dvised that there was a go hiding place

CHAPTER V

FROM T HE AP U RE RI VER TO ARAUCA

Fe ruar 1 th b y 5 . We were obliged to engage a new guide yester a day , as the guide from Boca Surip was angry with Josh , who is of

as o little use except a talker , and would g no farther . Our new guide rides an ox and agrees to go wit h us as far as Rl Amparo on the

He - . ﬁndin frontier came at half past eight , but g that we were not ad 03 i all re y , went again while we were pack ng . We spent nearly

IG ANA U S .

day waiting for him to return . In a tree near the house were three

h h 0 . or four large iguanas , w ich we s ot h ping to have them cooked

h ye The largest one measured nearly feet in length , but no one was ﬁ willing to prepare it for food . We nallyleft Palmarito about four ’ oﬁ o clock and struck away from the river across the plains again , reaching about eight o ’clock a small lagoon or pond where we camped th for e night .

F ebruar 1 t w 6 h . as so y It quite cold last night and very damp ,

9 2 FROM T HE APURE RIVER T O ARAUCA 93

u that I fo nd three thick blankets and four thin ones none too warm , a lthough we are only ﬁve hundred feet above the se a and within ﬂ seven degrees of the equator . Just at dawn I made out a oc k of d ucks swimming on the pond and succeeded in killing four with one shot . These with some plantains bought at a ranch we passed last e vening made a good breakfast . The familiar breeze began at half past se ven this morning , and in an hour increased with considerable

f s . reshnes The guide caught a small armadillo just after breakfast , and we saw them quite frequently today . None of them behaved “ : properly . The books say When attacked , they curl up into a ball , ” prese nting their armour on all sides . These did nothing of the “ ” kind but ran and hid under little bushes and would not curl up under anycircumstances . But they are good eating .

h ﬁrs w About noon I noticed a mirage for t e t time . It as south f a h o us and extended over a dist nce of two or t ree miles . The

off trees did not appear to be inverted , but were raised quite the plain . Since leaving Barinas there has been no pretense at a road what

e . t ver We have generally followed cattle pa hs over the level plains , but today these got much worse . Animals passing over them in the wet season have sometimes stepped so regularly as to make them completely corrugated . When the corrugations are from eight to ten inches high and a foot and a half across , it may easily be imagined

ﬁnds that our tired cart mule his work anything but easy . As a large percentage of these plains are swamps in wet season , and now look like baked honeycomb , it makes terribly rough going .

O n us a our right , north of , the horizon is gener lly bounded by u the jungles on the right bank of the Apure . O our left the plain

indeﬁnit el seems to stretch away yto the south . Occasionally we see a clump of palms or an oasis . This noon we stopped at an oasis , a bit larger than the average . It contained several deer , a wild hog , a few armadillos and two golden agouti . The latter we shot and

. t found very good eating They are rodents, a li tle larger than

o k rabbits , have smaller heads and lo k more li e large squirrels . Our

r guide calls them paga i s . The word agouti does not seem to be k n ’ ° now here . At two o clock the temperature was 9 5 F a rise of thirty degrees since six this morning . 9 4 VENEZUELA

h a This evening we reac ed La Gloria , a large r nch belonging t o

He General Guerrera . was not at home , but his cowboys made us welcome , after I had read to them a letter from Dr . Gabaldon to w s . as their ma ter No one at the ranch able to read . The huts so were full of bats we preferred to sleep out of doors .

Februa r 1 th y 7 . The country continues to have the same appear

as s . e ance for weeks pa t There are occasional isolat d thickets , but in general trees are only found along the banks of the watercourse s and in the ﬂood plains of rivers . Soon after leaving La Gloria I saw a small armadillo nosing

s H about the plain getting his breakfa t . e made so little effort to

ke u get out of the way that I dismounted and pic d him p , rather to ’

r i e and . his su pr s that of my mule s The latter promptly ran away . But the armadillo was perfectly quiet until I put him down on the

e e ground , when he wait d several moments and then slowly toddl d off in a casual manner until quite out of sight . Richard says they

rinidad . are very wild in T They are tame enough here . n Game is plentiful . This mor ing I shot a scarlet ibis , four mal

venados ﬁne lards , and two , one of them a buck with six points . As the caravan got a long way ahead while we were ﬁlling the game bag and skinning the deer, Richard and I did not try to catch up

Gre nadillo with it before lunch , but spent the hot hours at , a ranch

P az owned by General Narcisso , to whom we had a letter of intro duction from Dr . Gabaldon .

T e and He is h General was at home gave us a warm welcome .

and . quite old , almost entirely bald , appears to be quite a character He was anxious to learn the news of the day and deplored the state w He e as mm . b of his country . said its greatest ne d i igration La or

and A is scarce wages are very high here . few men , the cattle kings ,

o az are rich ; the rest very p or , largely on account of their extreme l i a ness . The Llaneros are picturesque in appear nce , with their

and o az brilliant red blue p nchos , but they are excessively l y , do not appear to care for games , and rarely indulge in song . They will not

. W work except for high wages , which they rarely receive hen the vi n - cattle kings require their ser ces during the a nual round ups , they

ﬁv receive from three to e dollars a day . They are contented with

are a z very poor food . We have seen no p (mai e cake) for nearly

96 VENEZUELA after being urged to remain as guests ; where the next day we are given excellent food in good variety for which we are not allowed to pay ; while a few days later we are kindly received but told that there is no food unless we choose to buy some and have it cooked at our own expense . The people in the heart of the Llanos seem to be less suspicious and more inquisitive than those living in the cities on the edge of San se the plain, from Carlos to Guanare . They are likewi less modest , perhaps less honest, but more hospitable . Immediately after lunch we set out accompanied by General ’ Paz s majordomo for a mile or so until we found the trail of our a - u cart . Riding at good jog trot we reached Des ela in an hour and a half . The people at this ranch were very kind and urged us to S pend the night here as it was growing dark , but as the caravan had on gone , we declined , and half an hour later overtook the cart stuck

. s in a bad bit of road The bad trail had quite u ed up the cart mule ,

o so that he lay down in the shafts and refused to g any further . Poor

was Rafael in despair, and it certainly looked as if he would never a H m get back to Valencia with c rt and mule . e deter ined to spend the night in the savanna while we pushed on to the ranch called

Gamelotal .

F e r a r 1 8th F r b u . y Gamelotal belongs to Don e nando Rangel ,

He who owns a dozen milch cows and makes delicious cheese . was r al quite alarmed by our a riv last night , as very few people travel

He us s was after dark . refused to receive in the hou e where he

was ff us living, saying that there no room , but o ered the shelter of a vacant house a couple of hundred yards away . We discovered today that the reason the house was vacant was that his wife and

- - an eighteen year old daughter died there a few weeks ago , both of H . e pulmonary troubles has four children left , three of whom are ae wretchedly ill with malaria and an mia . The baby is not old enough to have caught anything yet and is the only well person in

- the house . Rice prescribed quinine and iron for the three sad look

0 ing children . The nearest drug sh p is eighteen miles away in F Periquera, and as Don ernando was anxious to get the medicine us at once he oﬁered to accompany thither . The cart arrived here this morning after a bad night . FROM THE APURE RIVER TO ARAUCA 9 7

The new dwelling, evidently erected since the deaths, is extremely s primitive and is occupied in part by a dozen calves . It is suppo ed that milch cows will not give down their milk unless they are

s deceived into believing that their calves are getting their breakfa t . ’ Consequently , the method of milking is to tie the calf to the cow s front leg so that its struggles to get something to eat keep the cow ’s At attention engaged while she is being milked . most of the ranches the people are so laz y and the cattle are so wild that fresh milk is an

- ﬁnd ar o i . s unhe d luxury Once in a while one an exception as here ,

h ad i where we all the foamy , fresh milk we could possibly dr nk and all the fresh cheese and fried plantain we could eat for breakfas t . Don Fernando is anxious to send his oldest boy to the States to

a aﬁord improve his health and get a little le rning , but as he could to

l e pay only a hundred do lars a year , we advised him to s nd the boy to Valencia to our friend Father Voghera . Don Fernando had not been in Valencia since 1 8 7 5 and he had not heard of the new board

- ing school there . Soon after leaving Gamelotal we came to Las Queseras del ” M en edio , a bit of chapparal where General Paez had a bloody 1 counter with the Spaniards in the Wars of Independence . In ff appearance it is not di erent from the other parts of the plain .

r The savannas are g owing smaller , marshes more frequent and

- s s the lines of trees indicating river cour es clo er together . About ff noon , after a hard trot in insu erable heat and dust , we reached a small village two leagues from Periquera . We decided to spend the “ heat of the day at La Siberia , a new house built a year and a half ago by Rafael Briceno , who had lost most of his money gambling in

He us Periquera . made welcome with the usual formalities , placing

e O everything at our s rvice , but contrary to custom immediately pened

He trade relations . was extraordinarily inquisitive , wanted to see everything we had and to know its cost , and tried to buy the various things in our out ﬁt that attracted his attention . Although he annoyed us exceedingly , we put up with his questions and his bothersome

h ad - o s hogs that free run of the living ro m , as he eemed to be a kind

‘ I n an a r 1 8 1 a m r of la s r s nt t h e t o f Yo rk J u y, 9 , nu be Venezue n p e e ed ci y New

t a t b a omm mo ra t o f t s at t as a t ok o f rat t wi h pain ing yMichelen c e ive hi b le , en g i ude h t t xt t o t r ro wh o i as an x in Yo rk for t e o a . h spi li ye ended hei he , d ed e ile New 98 VENEZUELA

host and his wife prepared us a good meal . Our opinion of him did not improve when he insisted on our paying one dollar a head for n i l our lu cheon . The prevail ng price , whenever one is al owed to t w pay any hing , throughout this country , is never more than t enty

ﬁ ll ﬁ ed . na o er n cents We y him thirty cents, which he indigna tly H refused un til almost the last moment of our stay . e is the most

n s l of a Ya kee that we have een in Venezuela, alert , inte ligent , never loaﬁn g, keen to trade , considerate to his wife , proud of his achieve ments and willing to charge all the t rafﬁc will be ar . His bett er qualities are sorely needed throughout Venezuela . “ as a all We left La Siberia , Don Raf el c s his establishment , ’ about four o clock and reached Periquera at dusk . The last mile or two was the very worst bit of road that we had seen anywhere , so bad in fact that the cart could not possibly enter the town . The u o ruts , or rather corr gations , made in the road by the ho fs of animals

so in the wet sea n and now baked hard as rock by the summer sun, were about two feet deep and two feet across . We did not attempt n to bring the cart into the town , but tur ed back to stop it before it

s should attempt that awful last mile , and pas ed the night at Las l k w Corrales , an exce lent caravanserai on the outs irts of the to n . Our avoidance of Periquera came near costing us all our guns and i ammun tion .

ebr r s F ua y1 9th . We were told la t evening that it was about u El four leag es to Amparo , the frontier town which is on the River

Arauca opposite the town of that name in Colombia . Accordingly ,

0 r we rose at 4 . 3 this mo ning in order to reach the frontier early enough to cross the river before dark . But one of the mules had broken h nd loose during the night , and it took so long to him that it was

- osada ﬁr t half pas t nine before we left the p . This is the s inn that we n have se en since leaving Barinas . Two large ora ge trees full of fruit gave a pleasant change to the bill of fare . n The road this mor ing wound through partly dried swamps , jungle and small savannas until it entered a large grove where the a s d ﬁnd ncient city of Gua dualito stoo . One can it on almost any large map of South America , but all that remains of it in reality is a i u l pile of br cks and r ined adobe wa ls where once stood the church .

It had a dry , healthy location , much better than that of the new

1 00 VENEZUELA

ox mill on the back of a small and deposited in a pile near the rollers .

The latter were in the centre of the hut . A pair of small bulls pulled a l a windlass which cted directly on the centre ro ler . Two boys fed the cane into the mill and the juice trickled down into a wooden t trough . A one end of the b ut was an adobe furnace with two large A pots or boiling pans about three feet in diameter . low platform

S AC A A T m: UGAR F TORY NEAR GU SDU LITO .

a a enabled one to skim th e boiling molasses . The b g sse was spread

s th e out in the sun to dry , to be u ed for fuel in adobe furnace . Two

th a boys and a girl seemed to be running e entire est blishment . The adults were probably in hiding as they supposed from our hunting ” guns that we were a revolutionary band looking for volunteers. I ” a i bought a cake of their panela for ten cents . It me sured 8 x 6 x I i

a inches and tasted very much like a poor qu lity of maple sugar .

B C aﬁa F ynoon we reached the straggling village of lores , in the ” T h e and border country . women children were obliging , gave

us o a a . s me food , and sked what the revolution was bout They said h it was no use trying to work as t ere was always warfare . As we

t h e rode up to one hut to inquire way , a man who had been sleeping in a hammock sprang out of it with a great bound and made for the woods as fast as he could run . ﬁrst This afternoon we saw a shower in the distance , the one h a since leaving Valenci a. The country all about ere bounds in FROM THE APURE RIVER TO ARAUCA 1 0 1

. e marshes It is fairly well inhabited , but the people have s en so much border warfare and so many escaping criminals that they are

ab omi very timid , and we met few men . The paths were perfectly

nable . The cart was obliged to make long detours in order to avoid

bad swamps and our guide ﬁnallylost his way . About four o ’clock we came to a fork in the trail near a line of poles that have been placed to accommodate a projected telephone

i a El ff w between Per quer and Amparo . We di ered as to which as

o l t h e the best way to g . Rice and the cart took the left . I fo lowed ’ ﬁv El right fork and about e o clock reached Amparo . Across the a river was Colombia, where a diminutive hut , which does duty for

C AﬁA FLORES .

uar . customs house g d , was all I could see of Arauca Rice lost his way and did not arrive until four hours later . El Amparo has the appearance of being rather recently built , many of the house s having corrugated iron roofs . All are huddled

Arau together on the left bank of the ea River . There are half a f M z ﬁt . F a do en shops and yor sixty dwellings rom yto November, 0 2 VENEZUELA

when the river is full of water, the place is in monthly com municat ion by steamboat with

Ciudad Bolivar . The princi pal business here is shipping

hides an d feathers .

Februar 2 0th m m y . This o ing shortly before six o ’clock

ofﬁcial r the inte preter , a weak F kneed fellow of rench descent , called on us to say that the “ ” jefe civil or al calde had t e ceived orders from the Gov cruor of the district at Periquera to send us back to that place

ﬁrst for examination , taking charge of all our arms and ammunition and giving us a receipt for same ! The fact of our having ridden in and out of Periquera in such a hurry in the dusk day before yesterday had

aroused his suspicions, espe

ciall yas we carried arms . The country people had reported to him that we were “ a party of six armed men carrying four Winchesters and two M auser

riﬂes , engaged in convoying a cart -load of arms and ammuni tion to aid the refugee re volu ” t ionist s in Colombia ! At least

so the Governor said . Accord

in l e re gy, we were order d to

' ﬁA T HE M ls rnz ss o r C A S . FLORE port at Periquera . Could we have foreseen the attitude of

ﬁrearms these people towards , might easily have avoided all

1 0 4 VENEZUELA

h ﬁnall demanding our release . T is he yagreed to do and a messe nger went off bearing a letter of introduction to the Governor from our

M Fore i n friend Dr . Gabaldon , and also our card from the inister of g

Affairs at Caracas .

w - ﬁnish ed The cart , hich arrived about half past eight , had its journey ; being by all accounts the ﬁrst

cart to cross Venezuela . The las t t wo or three days have been extremely h ard

for the tired mule . Had it not been ’ ox d for the guide s , which we harnesse

us tandem , it would have taken much

. th e longer to reach this place As it is , mule h as a frightfully sore back and lies

a down frequently , but R fael is much cheered up at having actually reached the end of his journey and has hopes of getting both mule and cart safely

back to Valencia . (This he eventually

accomplished . ) As the sw amps to the north and th e river on the south do not leave much

o s ro m for the hou es here , there is no place for beast s in the yard of our little

osada r p , but some ente prising Syrians who have a small sh0p own a three -acre lot which they have fenced with barb ed

b e wire , where they allow beasts to

pastured for twenty cents a day . This afternoon we received a call

EL m T m: ALCALDE o r Am o . from the aged French Creole whose son

ofﬁcial r H is the inte preter . e came here

1 0 six years ago to speculate in feathers , buying egret feathers at $ 5

o 00 . a p und , and taking them to Paris where he sold them for $4

a Believing th t he was now on the high road to great wealth , he came back the next year with his entire capital and all that he could bor

2 2 row , invested it all in feathers , which had meanwhile risen to $ 5

and h nd e a pound returned with them to Paris , only to that the pric FROM THE APURE RIVER TO ARAUCA 1 0 5

1 2 roﬁt 1 00 had fallen to $ 5 , so that instead of making a p , he lost $ per He . ll pound came back hoping to retrieve his fortune , but is sti i here l ving in great poverty .

F ebruar 2 1 5 1 y . The messenger did not return from Periquera

r until this mo ning , when he brought a letter ordering the alcalde to “ allow us to cross the river with all our goods except the four Win ” chesters and the two M ause rs which are to be sent to General

Vallee as a prese nt . As it would be quite impossible for us to attempt t o cross the next two hundred miles of country without arms and

E A A o r OUR V AT EL AM O T H RRIV L CARA AN PAR .

i u alcalde ammunit on , we spent the morning arg ing with the , explain

h ad a ing that the Governor been quite misinformed bout our arms, ” h ad M that we no four Winchesters and two ausers , but only such

a arms as we needed for hunting , and that we had been del yed long

enough and proposed to cross the river . We se nt one of the men e t to buy the necessary cano ferry tickets , which he was allowed o At do . the same time the entire armed force of Venezuela detailed

e for s rvice on this frontier , consisting of four soldiers , was ordered to take up its station in front of our posada with M ausers and a 1 06 VENEZUELA

t hundred rounds of ammuni ion and prevent our departure . We held a council of war and discussed the feasibility of swimming the river at night , which might have been done had we not had

so n . r so much luggage and ma y mules However , Josh lost his ne ve

us completely , although he had hitherto been quite willing to aid in “ ” at crossing any hour , and begged Rice not to try to cross , saying

h e s that he was sure he would get shot , and that , Josh , had friend at home !

T H E P Ro xr xs a G AT EL AM UARD PARO .

The alcalde in the meantime got very nervous and begged us to

o se e H ff g back to Periquera and General Vallee . e o ered to lend o and me a go d horse to accompany me himself . I had little faith in

ﬁnall o what I could accomplish , but yconsented to g under protest , as was Josh unwilling to attempt to cross the river at night .

03 We started at noon , accompanied by a son of General Vallee ,

alcalde who acted as escort to see that I did not kill the , I suppose .

The temperature was 9 5 degrees in the shade , but we rode hard and , b ytaking a short route and forcing our way across several bad

- e . swamps , reach d Periquera about half past two We went at once

1 08 VENEZUELA

’ All we solemnly drank one another s health . seemed relieved and

I hoped to be allowed to depart in peace , but the General expressed

a me Rl and e see his desire to accomp ny back to Amparo , I suppos , El for himse lf what we had . We reached Amparo shortly after seven and were invited to dine with a brother of his . Rice and I were quite ready to enjoy the novelty of a good dinner and excellent

alcalde o -ﬁh t in claret , but the poor , more accustomed to c ck g g than u long horseback jo rneys , was completely played out by the thirty

- sun six mile ride in the hot and had to decline .

n osada After dinner we adjour ed to the p , where we showed the

outﬁt s General our , including our books, maps , surgical and sur i iﬂ ve n . r es as y g instruments , tents , etc Two had been hidden l t

riﬂe u night in the jungle , the other and the g ns had been taken ” down and stowed away in the clothes bags , for we feared that they ’ e might arous the General s cupidity , and we were sure he would not

and care to have the clothes bags opened . When it was all over he h ad apparently seen everything, we asked him if he would like to

He d was see our guns . looke puzzled but politely remarked that it not necessary .

r r d F eb ua y2 2 . This morning we received calls from all the loc al i ofﬁc als. They are evidently trying to apologize for their mistake . One of them gave us an old silver coin which had been found in an

u a Indian ruin near Pedraza ; while another gave s a Bolivi n coin . All tried their best to overcome the unpleasant impression created by

ffiia our detention . It was hard to believe that these suave o c ls had actually ordered the soldiers to fire on us if we attempted to pass “ ” the river without leaving four Winchesters and two M ause rs behind . After lunch we took our st ufidown the steep bank to the river

a a ofﬁcial an Rl and were ferried cross by an Indi n , the canoem of

- Amparo . Rafael and h is good natured assistant Waldemera de clined us b id to accompany into Colombia , and we had to them

ﬁve adieu . The saddle mules were towed across the river . Rafael assisted in the process and was unexpectedly obliged to land on ian i in m H Colomb so l order to get the ules ashore . e was very much frightened at ﬁnding himself in a foreign land and made all s k pos ible haste to get bac to Venezuela . We shall miss h im sadly FROM THE APURE RIVER TO ARAUCA 1 09

M for he h as been exceedingly faithful and most e fﬁcie nt . ore than a once , fter doing his own work he has had to come to the assistance

' o f inefﬁcie n n diﬂ erence t the lazy t egroes . The between a Wes

Indian negro and a Venezuelan peon is not only one of colour . Wh en we landed on the Colombian side we received at ﬁrst a

us st uﬁ very quiet welcome . Not a soul came near or our which was l d At b ut pi e up on the beach . the little where the customs guards stay we found a notice saying that no arms or ammunition c d in ould be landed or taken into the country . It looke as though o ne way or another these people were determined that we should e nter the wilderness that lay ahead of a s for two hundred miles w an ithout ymeans of defense or of securing food .

EL AM A F RO M TH E C MBI AN I OF TH E A P RO OLO S DE RAUCA .

l mi r The town of Arauca lies ha f a le south of the bank of the iver, a a l rge swamp intervening . After the mules h ad been landed I ﬁnd m . e r r rode into the town to the custo s house H re , to my su p ise , al l I was most cordi ly received by the Co lector of the Port , Colonel

- Gamboa, who had just received by the semi monthly overland mail from Cucuta a telegram from the Secretary of the Treasury , dated F r th i h im Bogota , ebrua y s , instruct ng to allow our outﬁt to pass freely through the customs without examination , and to offer us 1 1 0 VENEZUELA

v i u ur e ery fac lity for our journey , req iring only a list of o posse ssions

for the information of the Government . It was a relief to have this i i telegram arrive so prov dentially on the very day we needed t . The

orders worked wonders .

i e us Colonel Gamboa was most attent ve , rented a hous for on the i corner of the Plaza, quite the best location in town , for s xty cents,

and u u ofﬁce e sent some f rnit re from his s for our use . The hous was o u u co l and commodio s , with a nice yard , a good well , and a p mp in made New York City .

m: AT O UR House ON r PLAZA ARAUCA .

F ebrua r 2 d al y 3 . Last evening we received a number of c lers, including the local dignitaries and a visiting dentist from Ciudad Y Bolivar , who said that he had been educated in New ork . When asked if he had travelled any in the United States he replied : Oh !” yes , I went to Brooklyn once Later in the evening we were all i invited down to the favourite dr nking shop of the town , where we had to drink warm Bremen beer while being entertained by the an al music of a ﬂute d a curiously strung guitar , played by two loc h y musicians . Four or e doctors of law and medicine were present

1 1 2 VENEZUELA

° ’ thermometer going as high as 9 5 F at one o clock and falling again ° to 7 5 at night .

F ebrua r 2 6th i y . Last n ght one of the larger oxen got loose and

proceeded to gore the others. We had quite an exciting ox hun t in

w r the moonlight until the wild one as captu ed . We bought three

of the oxen this morning , The pack saddles used on the oxen are

r aﬁairs an i d p imitive , a rect gular p ece of rawhide boun by means of

thongs to a large pad made of dry banana leaves . It may easily be imagined that such a saddle is somewhat difﬁcult to secure to the

x rounded back of a large o .

x The b ig white ox took hi s load well . The red o was packed

and ﬁnall i ox i ed e ythe small wh te , but the latter immed ately proce d a all i n to buck his lo d to p eces, smashi g a thermometer and a hick

or ax . ox s y helve While he was being reloaded , the red got restle s

and proceeded to buck off his load . Then followed two hours of d r excitement and har labour on the part of eve ybody , including several l i ff of the customs house ofﬁcia s. No end of adv ce was o ered by the

r o . ox d Prefect and his f iends, but all to no purp se The white woul not allow himself to be loaded at all and the red ox threw o ff his ﬁnall e u load ten times . We ydecided that thes oxen did not s it our i purpose and gave up trying to start today . It s evidently a long

time since Arauca has h ad so much excitement . We are praying for

some tame oxen that are willing to work . The people here are too ﬁv z . e la y to train their oxen Ordinary cattle sell for dollars a head , w u wh ile oxen are worth from t enty dollars p .

Ar All t i Prices in auea are high . impor ed articles are obl ged to w n l n pay t o duties . The Venezuela Government co lects its duties o

all s i goods that pas Ciudad Bol var on the Orinoco , and the Colom bi an Government collects its duties when the goods enter the port i ﬁft A . o of rauca German beer is s xty cents a bottle , B rdeaux y

' M it was oﬁered cents a pint , old Chocolate enier (with worms in ) at

o ﬁnall - r d one dollar and twenty cents a p und , but ythe store keepe sol t the only pound he had for sixty cents . Rope costs for y cents a pound

and candles the same . One sees al most no Colombian paper money here and very little i . s Colombian silver The common coin is Venezuelan silver , which l i l accepted at its face va ue . Prices here are quoted indiscr minate y FROM THE APURE RIVER TO ARAUCA 1 1 3

” “ ” “ ” “ in i i a . gold , s lver , Venezuel n , Colombian and b lletes ” “ ” “ d and a are i i is Gol Venezuel n synonymous, wh le s lver at a “ ” discount in the loc al parlance of 2 5 0 per cent and Colombi an “ i or sc n . b lletes at a di ou t of per cent In other words, ” a sad dle mule costs one hundred dollars in Venezuelan or gold “ ” two hundred and fift ydollars in silver or ten thousand dollars in “ i ” “ ” b lletes or Colombian . It is a fine thing to have a mule worth ten thousand dollars ” ! It is extremely difficult to get accurate information about the c u r n li o nt y even from the more i tel gent classes. Their knowledge is

r l ve y imited . They know how long it takes to get to the next town ; sometimes they know the usual names of the common birds and a al al it i nim s , though is more than likely that the name they g ve you l is a purely local one . They al most never know whether an anima is i k d ed ble , but only whether they have ever eaten any of its in them

diﬁer l s selves . They among themse ves as to whether iguana and i such things are ever eaten by anyone . They seem to be qu te con

i a tent with a very limited b ll of f re . e u One has to be extr mely caref l to verify their statements, as they are quite likely to contradict themselves without the slightest

hesitation . It makes one extremely shy of believing what one is l told . And yet much of the iterature in regard to Venezuela and

Colombia seems to be based on just such hearsay evidence . The great fact that does impress one is the general shiftlessness and care lessness of the common people . They seem to be contented with less than any civiliz ed people that I have ever seen . Their food is

and inf i e are are wretched requent , the r hous s extremely dirty , they

an l i e can const t y tormented by noxious ns cts, everything that they i b eneﬁcent buy is expens ve , there is little evidence of a Government , titles to property seem to be insecure and yet with it all they rarely

i . r complain . They seem to be w thout ambition Those in autho ity

- are as ru ill n . a le rather haughty and proud , ma nered and disagreeable Their good manners do not appear to be very deep -se ated for they i easily forget them . This was particularly not ceable in such a place

as San a th e . C rlos , capital of the state of Zamora and d w The doctors of law medicine , who have taste the s eets of

ar are u . are a l C acas , as a r le poor and out of a job They lways po ite , 1 1 4 VENEZUELA

l h b ad e a . c ot es but app r to be lazy and incompetent Their , imitations

a u . are of Europe n models, are not pict resque The cattle owners a a a i relatively small class and appear to have no ruling ch r cter stics .

Som are u t are n . t l d sse h l e genero s, o hers sti gy Some rave well re d , w i e

BORDER I AG V LL ERS .

r ﬁ o as o n ers. thers, just ich , g barefooted and eat with their g Some o al h are fond of travel and g frequently to Caracas or V encia, w ile others appear contented to remain in ignorance of anything but the

Llanos and the ranches . The one characteristic that they seem to in and have common is their ability to keep busy to keep others busy .

CHAPTER VI

ARAUCA TO LI MBO

h i th e F ebruar 2 t . e y 7 Th s morning , with aid of the customs hous

al our ad r u so al sc es , we weighed lo s ca ef lly that they would b ance exactly and not be so likely to fall 0 3 . We discovered that we had

ad o ur tried to overlo the oxen , which was the cause of most of

r as ox e r a n and t ouble , an is not suppos d to ca ry more th n two hu dred twenty-five pounds and we had attempted to load them with about M three hundred pounds each . ore oxen were brought for our in spection and we finallybought a fine large white ox for thirty-two l dol ars . It has been my custom to carry five or six gold ounces tied up in a

i i ki al was stock ng in my coat pocket , wh le the rest of our wor ng capit conceal ed in different parts of the luggage . When I opened my

i i e stocking th s morn ng to pay a bill , I got the impression that ther were not quite as many gold pieces in it as the last time I had handled it m i h , and at the sa e moment saw Juan , our guide , peer ng throug the door with a look on his face as though he wondered if I was going

s . to mi s anything or not This put me on my guard , and I deter and A mined to bal ance accounts see how much had been taken . thorough examination of our hoard and a little bookkeeping demon st rat ed c -t wo l or the fa t that we had lost thirty do lars and eighty cents ,

l n in u e . two go d ou ces , the co rs of the night We at once took the mat

fﬁi A e o c al . al ter up with the Prefect , a most obliging fter the usu polit

o d h e remarks, he took me aside and with s me apologies sai that “ supposed he ought to have told me before that our guide was a ’ noted robber and was in fact facing a six months term of imprison l ” i th a . e ment , as he had recently been caught ste ing cattle Th s was “ reason Juan was so willing to go with us for whatever we chose t o ” He l an i e in pay him . natura ly preferred yk nd of s rvice the open

l ix a . al of ﬁe d to s months in j il His patron , Gener Perez , was aware

1 1 6 ARAUCA TO LIMBO 1 1 7

i it eﬁort s t a was d h is th s, and was owing to his hat Ju n allowe to have was jail term postponed . As there no question about his being an

a d s i i o excellent guide , n no one el e was e ther able or will ng to g the

e us way we had chos n , it was not thought necessary to tell that he ﬁnall was al so a most experienced thief . We yagreed that it was best

ai i a our and in to w t unt l we re ched the other end of journey , the ll ur i i meantime to be extremely careful of a o possess ons . It w ll be interesting to see what he will try to steal . The men from whom we had bought our four oxen agreed to us a a so finall help p ck and le d the oxen well out of town , that we ygot - u fin o fiabout half past fo r this afternoon . We had a e moon and

i 1 P M i travelled slowly unt l 1 . . when we reached a hosp table ranch li where we put up for the night . The moon ght was so bright that we could read and write without difﬁculty. We saw se veral prairie

ﬁres resembling those seen in Venezuela. v r see a It seems ery st ange to oxen c rrying heavy loads, but they

i t wo u and - ﬁve n do not appear to mind the r h ndred twenty pou ds, in a a i d and ﬁft u f ct one of them is c rry ng two hundre ypo nds, and i they march along at a steady gait of two m les an hour .

r w e t h sa i . F brua y2 8 . Last night we lightn ng to the southwest was The daily breeze came up earlier than usual this morning , and ’ e blowing very freshly by eight o clock . The plains are spars ly

e ﬁnit e l n dotted with groves . There do not appear to be any d i es i i of trees ind cating watercourses . Stock an mal s are much more plentiful here than in Venezuela . Today we saw more mares and colts than on our entire march from Valencia to Arauca . The savannas seem to swarm with cattle on this side of the border . One cannot help wondering whether th e state of the Government has not it something to do with . This noon we came to a small river meandering through the plain whose prese nce was not indicated in any way by shrubbery or trees ; a most unusual occurrence and one that we have not seen before . It appe ars to have cut it s channel in the plain so far below high water mark that it never overﬂows it s banks and consequently does

’ h i mres i r . d r c no r igation Here we saw a her of capyba as , or g , as

. s as an they are called here They are ometimes spoken of gi t rabbits , as they belong to that family although they are as large as sheep . 1 1 8 COLOMBIA

ﬁft a i am There were yor sixty of them together on the b nks of th s stre .

They seemed to be quite tame . ’ r i About twelve o clock we saw a ve y d stinct mirage to the south . ° u w F in ur The temperat re as 93 the shade . D ing the afternoon we saw a number of showers to the southwest and felt a few drops

b ut did nt n ar t of rain , not get wet u il just before reachi g Guarat i o

a it b e an u and n - r nch , when g to po r we had a hard thu der shower . This is the ﬁrst rain of the season here and the ﬁrst we have had in r nea ly two months .

A A A C ANO GU R T RITO .

The venados that we passed this afternoon were very wild and ran away before coming within shooting distance . Apparently these n i deer are hunted much more than their brethren i Venezuela . S nce

r leaving Ba inas we have been able , while on the road , to shoot a deer nearly every day .

arch st s and dis M r . Last night our best two oxen broke loo e i u . appeared . The g ide went after them this morn ng We suspect s u s o that he tied them careles ly on p rpo e , as he has no desire to g i us o i m through the wilderness w th , his s le idea be ng to escape fro the Arauca jail . A i i C aﬁo ri small , fa rly deep r ver , the Guarata to , meanders through

1 2 0 COLOMBIA

u a ff an the men soon became cross with s and st rted o alone . The wom was with the baby cheerful and fearless , although she covered the ’ i a it n ch ld s f ce with her hands when cried . The other two wome

. m a were vixens As we were co ing up from the stream to the r nch ,

al s i and Rice and I w ked a little ahead , as the Indians eemed t mid l l unwilling to proceed . Getting an impression that al was not wel I t u r n e d a r o u n d quickly and caught one of the women in the act of throwing a double handful of fresh cow-dung at

us . She dropped it h over her s oulder ,

as I looked at her , and appeared to think it a g r e a t jo k e H a d s h e thrown it we would have been placed in an awkward di

le mma . To al low such an incident to p a s s u n n o t i c e d w o u l d b e t o k e n cowardice and en courage the Indians to attack us so me night in the wilder i ness, wh le on the

A a A YARURO F MILY . other h nd to have chastised her on the spot might have led to a brawl and a few broken heads . It was fort unate that I looked around when I did . Had I received the pre monition a se cond later I should have looked just in time to receive th e mess full in the face .

- r The sight of steel shod arrows, short spears and long bows car ied ARAUCA TO LIMBO 1 2 1 by Indi ans clad only in breech cloths made us realize what kind of

if us a l e lies between and the next r nch , which is about one hundred i m les away .

i 05 m After purchas ng three dogs, the Indians went , four of the

n a e i t in goi g b ck with their purchas s , wh le the others wen on the i t ﬁrst d rec ion of the next ranch . The dogs went quite peaceably at , but when they found they were being actually carried away from u ﬁ n see home they p t up quite a gh t . It was astonishi g to how little the Indians appeared to mind the scratches that they received from

Y T A NG 'I‘O ARUROS R DI AI GU ARATARI .

u i . al l n e the str ggl ng dogs The anim s were mongre s , larger tha s tters m i M but smaller than ast ﬁs. ost of the dogs we have seen since we

a d left Carabobo , where we bade adieu to Don C rlos an his pack of n l a s . hou ds, have been very much sma ler th n the e None have had the appearance of belonging to anyone breed or of being thorough breds . This morning I spent a long time in the bushes where the capy a in b ras doze the daytime . They are quite tame and I frequently got within e ight or ten feet of one before it would give a snort and 1 2 2 COLOMBIA

ﬁ i o . At al i h run a distance they look l ke sm l bears, hav ng hig hind and ai quarters a rolling g t , but near by they are more like enormous

i . is s a gophers or pra rie dogs The head ugly and the snout qu re .

They feed at night on grass and smal l herbage . In the daytime a as they appe r to chew their cud , but they do not belong to the cow

s ir family , it must be that they store away the ha tily eaten grass in the cheek pouches . After sundown some of them came within ﬁftyfeet

S Ar ASr A A A CAPYB ARA C o GU R T RITO .

' of the ranch houses . Their hair is longer than that of a hog and more

' sufﬁcientl i i reddish , but they are yl ke sw ne so that sometimes they are “ ” S e poken of as water hogs . Their feet are webb d and they swim and well . They frequently take running dives swim under water for

ﬁf s tyor sixty feet with apparent ease . The alligators do not eem to trouble them and I have seen the two sleeping near each other . This li ttle river fairly swarms with al ligators . They are so tame that it is difﬁ l m cut to frighten them even by throwing sticks and stones at the .

1 2 4 COLOMBIA i t in u nclude the pe s that category , is not cond cive to comfort . T h e egret just now is rapping the hides with his foot to encourage th e and u n w worms and beetles to come out f r ish him ith a meal . A traveller stopped at the ranch for a short time today and offered to mi buy the egret , but its owner , the stress of the house , not desiring

e un t a to sell , ask d two gold o ces , and the egret con inues to se rch the hides for insects . In the evening the roseate spoonbill makes i eﬁort s ﬂ mal ridiculous, fut le to yup into a s l tree where he prefers l l to s eep . His wings have been clipped s ightly so that he h as to give

t ﬂ in and a t w i a n e ﬁort up his attemp s at y g , fter enty or th rty v i s, resign hi mself to the disgrace of being obliged to walk up the inclined un tr k of the tree , which he might much more easily have done in the

first place . was ki i Juan away all day yesterday loo ng for the oxen , but fa led fi He off n to nd them . went agai early this morning accompanied b y and Josh . It begins to look as though he a confederate had relieved i us . h s i s of our best oxen T is the outpost of civ lization , the la t house “ ” before we enter the territory of the Indios bravos ; a bad place in ’ which to lose one s pack animals . We asked the owner of the ranch this morning what he would advise us to do and were amused by h is was reply that he had given the matter serious consideration , and inclined to ad vise us to leave half of our out fit here and go on with what we were able to carry . This looks as if he migh t have h ad a hand in losing our cattle . Last evening a famished looking individual who says his name is An e gel . and that he is a runaway soldier from Venezuela arrived her

He a se i in on foot . is a baker by tr de , was impres d nto the army

and le in u . He some seaboard town , detai d for service Periq era i and r b ad c insub ordi found the service rksome the food ve y , be ame

- nate and was put in the guard house a few days before we arrived .

Hearing of our expedition he decided it was h is best chance to escape . it al s h u t r As is usu ly comparatively ea y to catc deserters in this co n y , is a u difﬁcult s i where food so h rd to obtain , he fo nd no yin e cap ng

- H El ua . e a u from the g rd house m de a long deto r to avoid Amparo , swam across the Arauca River and did his best to get on our trail . He begs us to take hi m along with us and oﬁers to work h is passage He k if we will give him food and protection from the Indians . loo s ARAUCA TO LIMBO 1 2 5

i s al il us no l ke a ra c , but it w l probably do harm to have an extra Wh i n u i s man le goi g thro gh the w lderne s .

are Moosie u h We addressed here by the title of , w ich we heard

th e ﬁrst in al . is ai n in n z u for time P marito It s d to be commo Ve e ela, t w it b u we were not favoured ith . We have not once heard th e term ’ gringof arch d s n M 3 . La t eve ing Josh and Juan arrived with one of th e n t Ar lost oxen and ews tha the other is near auea. They have gone after it today . so u h r . An We got h ngry t is mo ning that I shot a capybara gel ,

r e s and o it the Venezuelan deserter , ag e d to dre s it co k , but this s e i k l a all and i ham d our host nto i ling nother c hav ng it roasted . c i ui re The h g was not cooked . Our host told us when we arrived t h ad and was A b ut hat he sold the ranch going to rauca at once , apparently this was simply an excuse to avoid the responsibility of

He entertaining us. continues to give orders in a manner which s i m s s one our hows that he st ll owns the pre ise . La t night of best fi halters and a long rope were stolen o one of the mules . We could fin i u d no trace of e ther today . It helps s to realize what kind of people we are among . We are beginning to wonder how long our r in a is n pleasant sojou n Guarat rito goi g to last . r d i m Two or three travellers ar ive here th s afternoon , one of the A a lad y riding a side saddle . Venezuelan arrived on a very large ox with his peon on a diminutive donkey . They are on their way mi from Cravo to Araue a . We were re nded that it was Sunday by a o u as a the f ct that the co k went abo t with her hair down her back , mark of respect to the Sabbath . It seems to be the custom of the e b ut e i country . The hair is not braid d merely ti d w th a string near t h e head . Water for cooking and drinking is drawn daily from the stream al as near the house . It is not very p atable there are on the banks a numbe r of corpses of cattle and horses that did not survive the dry season . This afternoon I ventured to take a bath on the edge of u the stream and aroused the c riosity of the alligators . They fairly s m n u war ed about me , keepi g a respectf l distance , none of them fini h coming nearer than eight feet . Wh en I s ed I counted eighteen

w -ﬁv w d ﬂi t within a radius of t enty e feet . It as i cul to tell whether 1 2 6 COLOMBIA

they were waiting for me to fall into the water or merely curious to

' ch i mres so r see what I was doing . The g were not cu ious . They ar u in th e n u have no fe of h man be gs , but ra ch dogs ca se them to d un -s stampe e at once . We noted several th der howers today to th e

and s h ad a n . southwest northea t , but no r i here M arch h al 4t . Last night we were on the ert to prevent anythi ng

a r n n n ar th e i l else being stolen . He ring st a ge oises e an ma s in th e and a u middle of the night , we got up m de the ro nds of the mules and

. un e and s oxen We fo d nobody , but probably kept more rop s animal ni w from being t aken . This mor ng t o of the cowboys left for Arauea and h ad to content themselves with t heir proper business of taking in s ar . u in r animal to m ket They took fo r horses , driv g them a cu i l d h i ’ ous n . e s s man er One cowboy the way , horse s tail ecurely ’ s s o e i at fa tened by a la s to the neck of a wild st ed , the latter s ta l t ach ed se and so un i u in to the neck of a cond , on t l all fo r were jo ed in u i in that ridic lous fash on . The other cowboy rode the rear to keep th e procession moving and prevent the tails from be ing entirely i pulled out . It s a wonder the horses of the country have any

posterior appendages left .

Our mules were shod last in Val encia . We h ad planned to have in A w B t are t o mi . u them reshod rauca, where there blacks ths n e h ad h ad an n al either of thes any shoes or ever shod a im , as

it is in t are not customary to do so the Llanos, where here no

stones . and n d th e ox This afternoon Josh Jua arrive with lost , which they Ar a al n found last evening a mile from aue . We sh l sleep with o e - r eye ope n to night and hope to leave early tomor ow morning .

h kin a f- March 5 t . We left our d host of Gu ratarito at hal past h i se ven this morning and thanked him for s generous hospitality . He lacked the grace to congratulate us on having recovered our n oxen and looked at the departing carava with an envious eye . We h ad told Josh before we left Arauea to provide food enough

two e s and hi s o are a at for w ek , at suggestion b ught forty cakes of p h t h e n a that place . Wit careless ess of his r ce he packed them away e u h while still warm . When we open d the b ndle at the ranch t is

i d . s h ad morning, all were spo le and in a state of decay Josh aid we n and coﬁee u t hi s it bea s, rice , eno gh for a mon h , so we took word for

1 2 8 COLOMBIA

’ R v th e mules. ice and I have agreed to di ide night s watch between u s. i arch h . as M 6t . We had an exc ting night It w uncomfortably v n and u i i cold , my three hea y bla kets fo r th n ones prov ng none too A our w warm . very heavy dew fell and blankets ere quite wet this w n u i - morning . I as on watch from ni e nt l one . About half past eleven I was sitting in my folding camp-chair in the savanna a hundred -ﬁre u u m s . feet away fro the camp , where I s ppo ed I co ld not be seen a an al m u Just as the moon rose , I he rd a large im co ing thro gh the w woods towards th e camp . As it came closer I as tempted to shoot s n in the direction of the ou d , but waited in hopes it might come a bit

i . t n more nto the open I feared hat it might be an Indian , who if o ly wounded would make trouble for us on the morrow . Just as the creature was on the point of coming out of the jungle into the open in out space front of the camp , the moon came from behind a cloud and shone brightly on my gun . The noise instantly stopped and a i n u moment later the an mal began stealthily to retreat i to the j ngle, f kn so that I never h ad the satis action of owing what it was . I thi nk an Indian would have made less noise . The negroes were so fright ened by the fact that they h ad seen wild Indians shortly before sun se t u s all b ut ﬁre i u that they co ld not leep at , kept a good go ng ntil All i the moon rose . got up early th s morning and confronted the problem of ferrying the stuﬁacross the river .

ﬁred In the hopes that the Indians would come with a canoe , I three shots from my revolver and ten minutes later heard a faint A u rw shout from the northeast . few min tes afte ards three or four nude ﬁgures appeared half a mile away on the horizon . I went

u . out with J an to meet them We each had a revolver , but carried and i in our . no guns hands Waving our arms, beckoning call ng the n u and us India s , we enco raged the foremost to approach meet in i the middle of the savanna . He was covered by armed Ind ans in the

as u ms . bushes , I co ld see with my glasses, but carried nothing hi elf

We were covered by our friends in the camp . The Indian was quite timid but ﬁnallyapproached and shook hands . We patted h im on and h ad difﬁcult h im u we the back , no yin making nderstand that “ ” were buena gente , peaceable folk who wanted a canoe in which to

i . cross th e river . He understood a few words of Span sh The chief ARAUCA TO LIMBO 1 2 9 d esired a camisa (shirt) and pantalon (trousers) in exchange i w in i for the use of his canoe . Th s as agreed upon and a short t me a small dug-out arrived and the work of ferrying the st ufiand the animal s began . r al m These Indi ans were Yaruros . In a sho t time sever of the i fiured came nto camp . One of them wore a cheap g cotton hand l h is u kerchief tied over his head and a cloth mant e over sho lders, but first e the rest wore noth ing but breech cloths . The two or thre an as Yaruros who came had to be led into camp by the h d , they

on AT rm MP ON 1 1: E 1: RI V t srr s o CA 11 1 V ER .

u x i i i were afraid to approach witho t some e hibit on of fr endl ness .

r i They oﬁe ed no objections to hav ng their pictures taken . I do not

suppose they knew what we were doing . Gradually the camp ﬁlled

u ﬁlt ered p with Indians, men and women , boys and babies , who silently through the bushes until more than twenty stood around the

-ﬁre al u camp , t king together with their peculiar guttural gr nts and M watching our every movement . ost of those who came into camp a b ut carried no rms , with the glasses we could see their friends armed

and looking out for their safety . All the women had babies slung 1 30 COLOMBIA

e a one in tiny hammocks over their shoulders . We tri d to tr de for h e e s t t . t r of thes hammock , but wi hou success One of men car ied a n o ch inch ora h An e r d in for ative hamm ck or , whic gel s cu e trade - ia a in an old coat and a bowie knife . I gave the Ind ns e ch a p which aroused their curiosity and see med to please them greatly . We all f s i o a had break a t together, Josh having lav shly co ked a large qu ntity i and . a z e a a a of beans , rice , venison H lf a do n Indi ns , fr d to leave e as and the bushes, peer d out best they could , dodging disappearing l noiseless y as soon as one of us looked in their direction .

was u The chief very friendly , put his hand on my sho lder , patted

a 03 i e f h is me on the b ck , took my pith helmet , put it on h ms l , ran ” fin ers g through my hair, said bonito , patted his heart saying, ” e and e a contento , patt d my heart , smiled , ask d for my c rtridge belt and then for my gloves. The gauntlets excited the greatest admira B i as h ad k . t on , they apparently seen nothing of that ind before y “ making signs that all these th ings were part of my uniform as capi ” vin an fin h e o e se . T e tan , I manag d to keep them without gi g y ’ h e ad as h ad . chief s ears been pierc d , those of several of the men r One or two of them bore the ma ks of spe ar or arrow wounds . The man with the cotton kerchief ofiered to trade it for my silk

l . h ad a one , but this we dec ined The old men dull , stupid f ces , but h ad the boys bright eyes and seemed to be quite intelligent . They

a t o r f s and p r o k g eedily of our break a t , especially favoured the boiled venison . The women wore a rough garment of bark cloth around and m their waists, stood together apart by themselves . We gave the food which they barely tasted and carefully wrapped up to take home for their husbands . None of them showed an yinclination to

ﬁn er n wa oﬁered M g anythi g unless it s for their examination . ost

t th e of hem were timid , but even bolder ones were not rude .

nt st uﬁ and a s In the mea ime , the men got the across the Y ruro ﬁlt ered away into the bushes until I was left al one on the bank with only two Indi ans . The mysterious disappearance of the others made w me a bit nervous although I as well armed . The canoe was very and a i h ad cranky so n rrow that one could not sit down in t . Josh a z e and u s lready capsi d it once been d cked , but I got safely acros ,

un all e an g s and , and we proceed d to dress up the Yaruro chief with old tennis sh irt and a pai r of gray ﬂannel trousers wh ich mad e h im

1 32 COLOMBIA

- i d We saw three deer to day , but they were very wild . Some of the dr e up swamps which we passed contained shells of snails and crabs .

r th v M a ch 7 . We had a hea y dew again last night and the cold ’ was ui n . B u h ad q te pe etrating ytwo o clock today , the temperat re ° r 2 . e ni isen to 9 F in the shade We have s en few ducks , so that ve

r vemdos son is ou chief diet . The have been hunted so much b y th e Yaruros that they are extremely timid and it requires careful

i e stalking to make sure of one . Ever since leav ng Arauca we hav A “ w t ” h ad but two meal s a day . stick of erbs urs or a piece of

TW N r m: ELE AND V RI BE EE THE CRA O VERS .

’ ch ocolate enables one to get through the day s march without feeling

are faint . The oxen provokingly slow but they cannot be hurried as as u and are doing their work well co ld be expected . They make about ﬁft een miles a day . They do not eat maize but depend on what they can pick up at night when tethered and by the side of the

i . tra l in the daytime We have a little maize for the mules , but can not carry much . The Llanos hereabouts differ from those over which we have passed in having a great number of large swamps which make travel

diﬂi cult o . A im very even in the dry seas n detour , somet es two or m t hree iles in length , often has to be made in order to get around a ARAUCA TO LIMBO 1 33

a m b ad swamp not h lf a ile in width . It is easy to see from the con dition of the land that th e rainy season makes this country practi i s a in cally mpa s ble , and yet it was through here the worst of the ’ rainy season that the B ritish Legion and Boli var s little army marched . One cannot help wondering what the veterans of Waterloo thought

m ﬁ ered r w as w ound . theywaded , s a , and across these te rible s amps This morning we passed through a large jungle near a deserted i i in wi Yaruro village . The gu de said it was inhab ted only nter . ca al The shelters, one could s rcely c l them huts, were extremely A i primitive . cane or pole was tied by v nes between two trees that n i were conve iently near together . Large palm leaves of the k nd commonly used for thatching roofs were rested against th is pole at an angle of 4 5 degrees . Near each shelter was the remains of a camp

ﬁre u i i i , the partly b rned st cks of wood radiat ng like a many po nted

. v l star from the ashes There are no stones in the icinity . In al w o w i nin there ere ab ut t enty shelters , the largest be ng e feet long and

ix h i a s feet gh , while the smallest consisted of but three p lm branches ﬁr w and the remains of a e . There were no broken utensils any here

’ h e h ad i about . T occupants of one hut taken the trouble to bu ld a w n small frame for a spit by means of t o forked sticks . Jua said that the Yaruros came here to eat the dates of that variety of palm u all u in us M which is sed over Venez ela for thatch g ho es . onkeys are also very fond of these dates .

sw m u z The presence of so many a ps breaks p the hori on , so that one frequently sees small groves in addition to the long line of jungle i . a that betokens the presence of a stream Shortly fter six this even ng, we stopped at one of these smaller groves where we could get dry

ﬁre . b n in wood for our Near y, Jua dug a hole an apparently dry n in h ad all ca o , and a short time we a sm well yielding very good water . t h o us M arch 8 . It to k three hours to get breakfast and break camp this morning. The negroes are proving more and more laz y

and if . sh tless Richard is supposed to have charge of my belongings , b ut he did not take the trouble yesterday or the day before to dry anyof th e things that got soaked in the saddle bags when his mule went down in the swamp . This morning I found the hammock in a a n dreadful state and the tool kit f lli g to pieces . Josh as cook is so 1 34 COLOMBIA

t ﬁt is i careless that the kitchen ou disappear ng piece by piece . It is very difﬁcult to make them feel that they have any responsibility i whatsoever . The deserter Angel is also prov ng to be of less use

v t th ere is e er , da b u i s y y, " some excuse for him as he the only one mu . He o al ar at s that is not o nted is only sh d with p g , the worst excuse

for a shoe that I have ever seen . These sandals are mad e with a hole ad a at the toe so as to mit thorns and insects , very soon f ll to pieces

and become of little use except to delay the wearer . For a while

l one r Angel was wi ling to drive of the oxen , but today he prefer ed

to march a mile or two in the rear of the caravan . n h ad i i We have occasio ally Ind an paths to follow , but this morn ng

h ad ‘ l i s we once more to break our way through the ta l pra rie gra s , u n i the g ide getti g his bear ngs by groves of trees across the savanna . ss was f u al o it The gra req ently t ler than our heads as we r de , and w rk was hard o jb eating a path for the oxen . i w ' Th s noon . e crossed the river Cravo . The banks at the point w w r “ e o ua . here c ossed , were covered with the fresh spo r of a jag r

i a we - an al Th s is as ne r as have gotten to yre ly dangerous wild animals . In the jungle of the Cravo we encountered several settlements of . u a hornets that ca sed a tempor ry stampede among our animals . s After pa sing the Cravo , the plains , wet enough before , become m i markedly more swampy . Al ost the only fourfooted an mals s in i een the past three days are a few deer , single or in pa rs , and

. we r very wild This noon had a fresh breeze from the no thwest ,

t h e ﬁrst wi westerly nd that we have experienced , and a sign of the

approaching rainy season . About sundown we camped near a water hole where the mos

q uitoes held high carnival . Rice said they woke h im up every half u u d - and e ho r , but by p tting on my hea net k eping my hands under M n a d . a e the bla kets , I m nage to sleep ny of the forest tr es are now in u d i l ﬂowers bloom , the most conspic ous one , covere w th ye low , e e looking from a distance like a giant Chrysanthemum . W have s en

a few orchids. ’ March 1h u a are g . The g ide s ys we now a long day s journey

d n a h i r i . r . r f om Limbo Acco i gly , we got an e rly start t s mo n ng o n t h e a a s a The country c nti ues to have s me appear nce , m ll groves of alm and re o as a si ss detached p s other t es, an cc ion l oa s , very long gra

1 36 COLOMBIA

M arch roth r s r . As a precautiona y mea u e against the snakes last evening I lighted a ﬁre in the grass a hundred yards to lee ward

us so ﬁercel and W r of , but it burned y worked up to indwa d so fast n that it threatened to burn us i to the lagoon . We had to work until late to put it out .

otI ox r and Juan went on an this mo ning to explore , returned with the cheering information that th e rivers are so swollen that it is impossible to pass them except by swimming . The banks of the streams are under water and there is from four to six feet of water in u so st uﬁa s the j ngle , that the problem of getting our cro s is a serious

us and one . Between Limbo , to the south and west of our camp , is a stretch of two miles of drowned land crossed by three streams

r varying in depth from four to ten feet . To the no th lagoons and swamps stretch away interminably . The only direction in whi ch it

m os s a . see s p sible to proceed is ea tw rds, whence we came We must r wait for the ﬂood to subside before we can fo d the streams . Juan oﬁered k w th e l to ta e one of the men , s im stream and wa k to Limbo

h e and n for a canoe . T is se med to be the best plan A gel was deputed d to go with him and return with ai as soon as possible . n To make matters worse , our provisions have mysteriously give “ ” Arauea coﬁee u out . Josh bought in eno gh for a month , but it hi m too lasted only three days . We have trusted implicitly, not

l n s l . u rea izi g how rapidly he was wa ting the supp ies Our s gar , rice , u h and beans are all used p . In fact nearly everyt ing is gone except d All n an a s . julien e , salt , a few p ckages of dried oup the venison

r ﬂoods and ﬁre s e was lost yeste day . The here the which the guid h as bee n start ing from time to time have scared away all the game .

ﬂ in overﬂowin There are a number of ducks y g overhead , but the g of th e river seems to have disturbed them so that they have lost track of their feeding grounds and do not light anywhere . After wading in the swamp up to my waist for an hour I succeeded in shooting two

n s . ducks , the o ly ones that had the kindnes to come within range Towards noon Richard and I started oﬁto see what could be

t n ﬁnall . b o two i sho for din er After wading a ut m les, I yshot two horned screamers . They were standing in a swamp with a doz en k others of their ind . The largest bird measured six feet eight inches and from tip to tip of wing had double spurs on each wing . No one AR AUCA TO LIMBO 1 37 knew whether they were good to eat but we took the risk and found the meat coarse and very strong . It used up nearly all of our salt .

h . T is evening we expected Juan to return , but he failed to appear

M arch 1 th i w 1 . Th s as one of the hardest days we have had yet .

k as - r and i n Brea f t consisted of warmed over ho ned screamers jul en e ,

t e neither of which we could eat . About noon Juan and Angel turned from Limbo with word that there was no canoe to be had and that the old trail is impassable , but that by working hard they could make a new trail so that we may get to Limbo this afternoon . We se nt Josh with them to hurry them up and assist in the labour of cutting a path through the jungle and making a raft to take the loads u t across the swollen rivers . O the streng h of being promised the

mi a nd im in oranges , lk, cheese of L bo the afternoon , we divided our las t piece of chocolate between us and rested in our hammocks as patiently as we could .

- s The water fowl , egrets , gray herons , carlet and white ibis , are extremely wild and ﬂyrapidly in ﬂocks far over our head s . The sun was frightfully hot during the day and there are no shad e trees on

b e any of the dry land . The food supply is getting to a very serious

r e problem , as the ho ned screamers have not prov d digestible and

f b reeez the julienne makes us sick . Our greatest com ort is a e which blows gently and almost continuously from the northeast or north

and i ﬂies and e uld west keeps away the l ttle mosquito s, which wo n otherwise make life u bearable . ’ u as r About fo r o clock it began to look though no one would retu n ,

o o so it became necessary to secure s me fresh meat if possible . N t a duck was to b e seen ; the ibis ﬂew very high overhead ; macaws

l o chattered in a grove ha f a mile away , but I lacked the strength t

and e w e swim the lagoon wade the swamps that lay b t e n , so they had

b e u A u l to given p . large jabir stood solemn y in a swamp until I ‘ u r ﬂ w h T wo e o . got within a h ndred ya ds of him, then slowly chattering lapwings the size of quails (Belonopterus cayennensis)

h n and o came wit in gu shot , although scarcely worth the p wder, they i F prov ded a couple of mouthfuls for supper . inally I saw a large i gray heron wading in a lagoon , and by crawling pa nfully along over

r bu ned stubble for a hundred yards , succeeded in getting within gun H s h im. e d as w hot of ma e a poor dish the meat as very strong. We 1 38 COLOMBIA

used up the last of the salt this evening cooking our three strange birds ; ﬁlled up on dried white b ean soup and went to sleep to dream

of havin g appetizing food set before us. Herons and horned screamers so are all very well in their place , and is julienne and dried soup , but

they do not give one much strength . No one returned from Limb o . a o We learned afterwards that Josh re ched the town soon after no n , and spe nt the rest of the day eating and sleeping while we were almost

starving .

The river has fallen nearly a foot .

M arch 1 2 111 s was h ad . La t night cool and I a slight chill , but

For fortun ately there was some whiskey left . breakfast we had

all . more be an soup . The salt is gone

It is an effort to walk thirty feet . We were quite played out this

morning and too weak to undertake stalking in the swamps for game . It seemed as though all I could do was to doze in the hammock which was hung be tween two partly dead trees .

o b About no n Josh appeared with a boy from Lim o bringing milk ,

- s r . oranges , strips of roa ted jerked beef, and f ied plantains Never did

so d . r food taste goo , and never was it more welcome We ested a bit

t a e after eating ; hen Juan returned , the oxen were lo ded and we b gan h the worst twelve hours of our entire march . The river ad by this time fallen a couple of feet and Juan had succeeded in ﬁnding a feasible means of getting us to Limbo .

a b ar Ju n , the boy from Lim o , Josh and Rich d each took charge of an ox and attempted to follow an imaginary trail over the drowned

h ad a ox un s land . Josh charge of the C lico , carrying the g ca e , a h w all m and . ad bro n bag with yclothes, the tool bag Before he gone d i m t h e l d an . a quarter of a ile , girths s ippe the load fell nto the swamp

e was r h im Josh call d loudly for aid , but Richard so ang y at for loaf

r at us s ing all day yeste day Limbo and letting starve , that he refu ed a an to help him . Acting as rear guard , I came to his ssist ce . The

h ad ox was a in load completely disappeared under the , who st nding u two feet of water . Josh righted it with a mighty shove , p shing the w M riﬂ ox over on top of me and ducking me in the s amp . y e dis

ox ﬁ appeared and could not b e found for some time . The was nally ad o reloaded and went nearly thirty feet before his lo fell ff again . In the meantime Richard had h ad to return to our late camp for a

1 40 COLOMBIA was so great where the tree trunk was four feet under water that one was al a in great danger of losing his b nce and falling into the stream . We then suspended a rope across the stream from the branches of t h e d forest trees and with a crotche stick rigged a rude trolley . Ou

a ua and h ad the left b nk J n Josh , aided by poor Richard , who not

as s been well fed as they for the past two days, fa tened the heavy ad o m l ur . lo s to pri itive trol ey The embarking stage , if so I may call it al t wo l , consisted of the most perpendicular trunks of sma l trees. m s u Bracing hi self between the e trees, Juan tied the b ndles one by

T no mc r m: Aﬁ A HE PHOTOGRAPH PLATES C ss C o GU TA .

one s and to the cro s piece , while Josh stood in four feet of water held d as the loads on his head until they were ma e f t to the trolley . Ou I the right bank Rice and , aided by the boy with the bleeding leg , pulled the load s across and deposited them in the mud . Several - m were partially submerged in mid stream , but we anaged to avoid wetting the photographic plates . After the loads were safely over , A we proceeded to make the cattle swim the stream . fter our biggest “ ” ox h ad , the great white yak , safely swum across , he decided that

d . he preferred the other bank , turned , and caused a small stampe e ARAUCA TO LIM BO 1 4 1

We finish ed this task about dusk ; but the stuff still h ad to b e carried ’ a u fift h ndred and yyards on the men s backs through the miry, flooded jungle to a dry spot where the animals would stand to b e n loaded . They plunged about in a frightful man er whenever they u m was fo nd the selves sinking in the mud . It an hour after dark be fore we got fairly started . Hardly h ad we gone half a mile when we came to the rushing w F was aters of the river Totumito . ortunately the river not much k more than three feet deep . All got safely across in the dar ness ” l se ad except Ca ico , who lo again turned turtle in the middle of the r stream . The fresh iver water served to wash out the stagnant swamp w ater which had soaked into the load earlier in the day . After a struggle lasting twenty minutes the load was righted and we went ou e , Juan frequently losing his way and the wet loads repeat dly slipping and turning . Although the distance to El Limbo from the Totumito was less

t us . n han three miles , it took nearly six hours The egroes were helpless ; the guide , furiously angry at their incapacity , shivered with cold . The boy from the ranch went home alone to get his leg attended to . Josh and Richard showed up in sad colours . While under our e s n yes cro si g the rivers , they worked fairly well , but in the darkness

e they gave out completely , refus d to budge for an hour at a time , and t ook a most terrible word thrashing from Rice , who spared no known language to get them to move . It was my job to keep the guide from going too far ahead and n leaving the carava stranded for the night on the savanna . If I had not had some whiskey in my saddle ﬂask , it would have taken brute force to prevent poor shivering Juan from disappearing into the d k as hi ar ness and going to Limbo fast as s legs could carry him .

m s e o He was We greatly i s d Rafael , our g od Venezuelan peon . a

fine - type , faithful, hard working, and thoroughly capable of carrying fin ll out h is instructions . We a yreached the hospitable ranch about ’ one ma nificent o clock at night and sat down to a g feast of beef, nd f il a . plantains, m k , rice , co fee It h ad taken us nearly thirteen hours to make a total distance of t hree miles and a half .

h 1 th M arc . n e t 3 We have really fou d a haven of refuge , and y 1 4 2 COLOMBIA

such is the reputation of this place and so far out of the world is it considered to be that its name of The Limbo ” is supposed to be ’ most appropriate . Everything depends on one s point of view . b This ranch elonged for twenty years to General Vargas , who hid here in a huge wooden trough when the Government soldiers came m . and to arrest him General Perez bought it a few onths ago, sent

his majordomo to get it ready for him . The steward has done a good job and h as already gotten t ogether a score of milch cows which

are milked every morning . We were awakened at daylight by the

a r bleating of c lves, and a few minutes later great gou ds of foaming k milk were brought to our hammocks . Brea fast followed shortly

and f e . after , we fairly stu f d h as The majordomo is not strong in the legs , but an active mind . He sits all day in his hammock and a good part of the time is on t h e H watch to provide for our needs . e presides over our meals from a ﬁllin respectful distance , and orders the men to keep g up our dishes un H til we have to cry enough in a thoroughly convincing tone . e directed that our mules should be allowed to roam freely over the

ranch in order that they might get well fed and rested . The oxen

not b e he would trust so implicitly , and gave orders that they should w tied each day where there as good fodder .

not h ad u We have it npleasantly warm here , and the temperature ° o has varied less than at any other point , being ab ut 75 in the early ° morning and not going over 86 during the day .

u a f and sun We np cked all our stu f today dried it in the . Bundles that were not intended to be opened until we reached Bogota h ad been w completely drenched in the swamps and rivers . Everything as as A wet as water could make it . few coloured cravats sufﬁced to a n st i a whole bag of clothes .

n h ad a e The o ly rations we left , a few p ckages of julienne and whit

en m d h ow bean soup , were pres ted to the majordomo , who little drea e sick we were of the very sight of them . Josh and Richard spent the t n a en ire day huddled under bla kets in their hammocks, presenting m e us us sorry spectacle . Juan busied hi s lf waiting on and helping h as se vi in every possible manner . Angel entered the r ce of the u a r m e . s m jo do o , and propos s to stay here and fatten p Rice dres ed

th e ﬁsh - e a wound of the bitten boy , diagnosed a cas of pleurisy in

1 44 COLOMBIA

n - able to co sume . Rice and I ate enough to day for a family of eight people . When not eating we spend most of the time sleeping .

are - There three sad looking cowboys here . They are more or less in rags and are the most unhealthy lot we have yet seen . One of m He the rode to Tame today and expects to return tomorrow .

us has agreed to purchase some supplies for , as we have decided to t urn south from this point .

M arch 1 th A 5 . fat pig was killed this morning and we had a w ul l n n onderf uncheo , co sisting of garlic broth , roast pig, fried pig, ’ e m boiled pigs f et , boiled plantains , fried plantains , rice , hot ilk , and ff As l co ee . usua , we fell asleep immediately after eating and were

now lost to the world for two or three hours . We are planning to start tomorrow and hope to reach Bogota in a month . We were due there today .

n r v About sunset the Lla ero retu ned from Tame , bringing pro i H ' our a . e was us coﬁee s sions for c ravan able to buy for , rice , ca sava ,

arbanz os r and a . g (a kind of d ied pea) , stale buns and p (crude sugar) Although we bought only enough to enable us to provide for an

2 emergency of a fortnight , our bill was $ 44 . We were relieved , how

a was ever , to learn that this c lculation made in Colombian paper

far money , which we have so been unable to obtain . We paid the in bill with three dollars Venezuelan subsidiary silver . The alcalde of Tame sends word that he h as received orders from President

u r Reyes to accord s eve y facility for continuing our journey . We have decided not to got to Tame , for we are led to believe that the

o w soldiers of the liberating army did not g through that to n , but went directly from here to the town of Casanare (Puerto San Salvador) . One of the pleasant features of our entertainment here is a basket of delicious oranges in the middle of the morning . Altogether we have received more elaborate hospitality than anywhere else on our

a . journey , with the exception of La Calz da and Boca Suripa It may b e merely a coincidence that the former is owned by a Colombian and the latter by a gentleman who lived in Colombia for fourteen n years . One is almost tempted to lay down the rule that Colombia s ar Venez uelans e xce t a e more lib erally hospitable than , p for the f ct that the owner of Guaratarito is a Colombian and the course of semi d star vation to which he treated us is still fresh in our min s. ARAUCA T O LIMBO 1 45

arch 1 6th a M . We were aw kened this morning by a considerable s n n commotion cau ed by Josh , who declared that duri g the ight h his best pantaloons ad been stolen from his clothes bag . It hardly and h ad seemed likely , both Rice and I thought that he lost them in H o s . e s me other way , as he is extremely carele s refused to be com

forted by any such suggestion , and made such a rumpus that the majordomo decided to quiet him by holding an impromptu court of

h as . hi justice . The ranch but one chair T s and my camp chair were placed in the middle of the ranch yard away from the shelter and of the buildings , and Rice and I were requested to sit there wit A n a ness the proceedings . po cho was spre d on the ground be fore us and all ri , the employees of the ranch were ordered to b ng their clothes and whatever worldly goods they possesse d and deposit them n and on the poncho for examination . A gel Juan were included in

this order . We tried to laugh the matter off and protest against such an in

ui itor w s ial s s . r as q proces , but all to no purpo e The majo domo positive that the trouse rs had not been stolen and was anxious to

clear his house of any such imputation . I shall not soon forget the scene ; the ragged cowboys gathered around the pile of garments on

u l as was the gro nd , the negroes watching each ro l narrowly it opened ,

and a se and o w the em ciated de rter Angel , in fear terror lest s meho u the g ilt should be fastened on him . Josh had openly accused Angel of r the theft , not da ing to accuse Juan , who was a strong man and a

ﬁh ter g , and who would probably have knocked him down . One by one the rolls of clothing were untied and the few articles

x of apparel which each possessed were laid out for e hibition . Angel was was the most eager to have his opened , but no one more pleased than Juan when his roll was opened and Josh declared that the

s s un b e n was d trou ers were not there . The la t b dle to ope ed covere ad with a white kerchief and be longed to the he cowboy , the husband of H . e d s t the cook is the most truste per on on the ranch , nex to the and h ad e our majordomo , was the one who b en to Tame for provi

n . n O osh with sio s Imagine our surprise whe this roll was pened and J ,

an e e . 0 exclamation of delight , s ized upon his lost blue s rge trousers N was n one more astonished than the i nocent cowboy , who most em H phatically denied all knowledge of their be ing in his posse ssion . e 1 46 COLOMBIA

h is was shouted to wife , who peering out from the kitchen door , to

h ow e n l b e know thes pa ta oons came to with his clothes, and she “ replied frankly that Juan h ad given them to her that morning to ” was e keep for him . It then rememb red that that worthy pilferer h ad changed the position of his hammock last night and hung it as ’ close as possible to the spot where Josh s clothes bag lay . r d u Nothing fu ther was nee ed to fasten the guilt on to our g ide ,

d see was it an we looked to how he going to take , but in the meantime he h ad left the little circle of the court and was quietly going about

n s n ad n his busi es , atte ding to the s dling of the oxen as though nothi g hi m l h ad . a was happened As we needed for sever days more , it

e it u e deemed b st to say nothing more about , although Josh clamo r d m was d d for justice . The poor majordo o greatly isturbe that such a u thing could have happened nder his roof , but the others were natu

a see rally much relieved . It was lmost pathetic to Angel jump with joy when the trousers were found and the guilt ﬁnallyattached to some one else . In the course of the morning Rice told me that while we were n camping in the swamps, waiting for the Ca o Guata to subside , he h ad discovered a serious loss . We spent one day going through our

outﬁt h e entire while all the men were away except Richard , and w r h ad as as leep . Purely as a matter of fo m Rice opened a package that he carried in his breas t pocket and which h ad not been separated

as w from him during the entire journey , he al ays slept with his coat h ad hanging within a few inches of his head . In this package he

d m o h ad carrie a gold chain , a fa ily heirlo m, which for a charm an

ai n was American gold eagle . The ch , wrapped in a bit of chamois , placed in a leather case which closed with a loud snap . The case was d r s e wrappe in a cove ing of oil skin , fa tened s curely , and the whole thing tied up in a silk handkerchief . There were altogether four or

ﬁve fastenings and wrappings to be undone . Some night while Rice w u as ad d as so nd leep a thief h taken the bundle to pieces, remove the

i and and d as cha n charm, tie the whole thing up again exactly before so that Rice h ad no idea anything h ad bee n stolen until the day we overhauled the luggage . Although we felt morally sure that Juan -oi -the -clever-ﬁngers was u a a the g ilty party , we thought it dvisable to wait until we should re ch

CHAPTER VII

EL LIMBO TO Pom:

’ M arch 1 6th Rl We left Limbo shortly before one o clock . The sky was partly overcas t and a light breeze was blowing from th e n w in orthwest . Today we saw t enty deer , more than any one day and n during our entire journey . They were extremely wild , ran whe we were more than half a mile away from them and could hardly see

was n riﬂe t them without the glasses . It impossible to get withi sho without taking more trouble than it was worth . We soon began to see the foot- hills of the eastern cordillera of

For n b f Colombia . early six weeks we have een on the plains out o h l u . see sight of the mo ntains It gave one a t ri l of pleasure to a hill ,

ﬁve n e d as h even hundred feet high , in the dista ce , and it s eme thoug it must b e a mirage . h ’ About t ree o clock we crossed the river San Ignacio , which has

o h ad o e a good sandy b ttom , but such very steep banks that we s m difﬁcult T h e yin getting the loaded animals down and up again . w was ater not over four feet deep and the current not strong . Then

m ma niﬁcent was we entered the ost g savanna that we have seen . It

ﬁve a alm n h about miles cross, ost perfectly ﬂat , covered with bu c

a and our ﬁrst i e gr ss little mounds of earth . From here we got gl mps th e - to of pe aks of the Andes over the tops of the foot hills . As was

n a a be expected , the cou try here looks very much like that ne r B rinas , d an it b ears the same relation to the mountains and the plains . There are more scattered clumps of palms and more evidences of ai a b e frequent r ns . There is certainly much vegetation that c nnot v accounted for by the o erﬂowing of the rivers . “ ” Owing to the court this morning we made a late start from El

and a as na San a as is Limbo did not re ch C a re , or Puerto S lvador it a d u a t was i now c lle , ntil f er dark . Our reception anyth ng but cor a s da b ut . us u a o a di l Juan took to a b ilding which he s id was the p ,

1 48 EL LIMBO TO PORE 1 49

the people who lived there declared that they h ad no room for us nor w any food and that none could be obtained any here . We replied h ad h ad h ad a that we nothing to eat for twelve hours , been in the s ddle

and n . for over nine hours , proposed to spend the ight right here

inall This did not seem to interest them . F ywe had to take matters

own a into our hands , open the gate , ride into the y rd , dismount and

ad no proceed to take possession of the house . To this they m e

d us objection and before long most politely serve with beef, plantains, ff i h . l s n os eggs , and co ee We cou d not make out the rea on for our it ab l e . m se p reception It may have been that we carried ar s , or becau f a a we arrived so long a ter dark , or because the ch r cter of our guide i s so s . well known . Whatever the rea on , we were most unwelcome

T H E NOS o r 1 111: NA E LLA CASA R .

M ar ch 1 7th . I went to rest last night more convinced than ever

O that I must sleep with one eye pen , and during the night my pre

a . 2 A H our caution was rew rded About . . a slight noise among

. u as a clothes bags woke me I got p , as quietly possible , and struck n He h e light sudde ly , which revealed Juan prowling about . said and was all was thirsty after a drink of water . Our bags are locked , but we cannot sleep with the keys in our hands and he is perfectly capable of taking the keys from our coat pockets and returning them w our n us . as no n without waki g However , he k ows that we are on

u 0 . g ard , I h pe he will endeavour to restrain his kleptomania The village of Puerto San Salvador is on the left bank of the 1 5 0 COLOMBIA

C as n v ﬁft w a are Ri er, here about six hundred and yfeet ide with a d . a eep , rapid current During the W rs of Emancipation , the Colom

For bian patriots found it at times their only refuge . a considerable

was ad al At e period it the he quarters of Gener Santander . pres nt

r an ﬁeld the village has only twenty houses lying on fou sides of open ,

O N 1 111-3 or E PLAZA CASANAR .

M called by courtesy the Plaza. ost of the houses have thatched roofs

e S i and thatch d or pl t bamboo sides , but one or two have adobe f w e . are e walls . There is one shop which is now clos d There a l cocoanut trees . The jungle surrounds the vi lage very closely . f The chief importance of the port is as a cof ee depot . Bags of

' coﬁee m m are brought fro Ta ara , Ten , and the various plantations on r and b un oe s m the easte n slopes of the Andes , shipped in g fro

v a M here i the eta and the Orinoco down to Ciudad Bolivar. The canoes are small and have higher b ows and stems than those on the

a a Ar ue and Apure rivers .

osada ff so The p is practically a co ee warehouse , if one may give digniﬁed a name to a small adobe building with a thatched roof. The construction of the roofs seems to be the same here as in Vene

1 5 2 COLOMBIA

was l w amount of money . One talking in bil etes and the other as “ ” h satisﬁed talking in oro, and bot were completely by a Venezuelan “ ” fuerte .

ass -w After leaving the Casanare , we p ed through a well atered country containing numerous groves and a few marshy places where

w ocas we sa numbers of carrion birds called b . This wooded region

s e is in great contra t to the open savanna which we cross d yesterday .

s o mal e We pa sed two trees this aftern on covered with s l . rath r dry

A N N MIDD Y H ALT ON r m: LLA OS or CASA ARE .

and blossoms having no fragrance of a very light lilac colour . Th e

o - w trees had no leaves and l oked almost ghost like . They gre about f w ﬁt . s h d een feet above the ground I a a new variety of palm. It a

m r truncated leaves like a wine pal , and bore red be ries, that looked k se . like cherries , in a cluster re mbling a bunch of grapes The trun of the tree was between three and four inches in diameter and the top

was ﬁfteen of the highest frond not more than feet above the ground .

no There were two or three specimens in the grove , but we saw

m . others . Pal ettoes were quite abundant

s The birds are more like those near Barina . The large scolding EL LIMBO T O PORE 1 5 3

ﬁrst e b do e blackbirds , s en at Cara obo , not s em to frequent the

m . o lower plains, but are again beco ing common T day I saw a

- tiny humming bird about the siz e of a large bumblebee . Cattle are a seen in larger numbers from hour to hour , but we saw no deer fter

r e crossing the Casanare . Liza ds began to app ar again today , the

ﬁrst we have seen since leaving Barinas . They do not seem to be w common on the lo er plains . It looks as though the edge of the n l ﬂora and Lla os , the region between the hil s and the plains , had a

r - fauna of its own . The plains seem to end ab uptly at the foot hills , but in reality there is a gradual rise from the level Llanos to the edge l of the hil s . A The breeze this morning was from the nort hwest . t noon we saw showers to the southwest . The people say the heavy rains are about to begin . v ﬁrst e This afternoon we obser ed the p bbles since leaving Barinas . So long have we been away from stones of anysize that they looked

ﬁrst a m like curiosities at , but we soon beg n to cross strea s with

a . rocky beds like those near Guanare . We are appro ching the hills Today we saw the ﬁrst travellers that we have met in several

o weeks . In the hope of sho ting a little game , either a deer or a a macaw , I was riding well head of the caravan when I met three men

an l and a boy moun ted on mules d horse s . They were quite a armed

n a e by the two gu s that I was c rrying, and stopp d behind a clump of trees to arrange their knives and revolvers before venturing to ride

a l n . b y. It m de me feel ike a briga d ’ h ye l About o clock the vil age of Corozal appeared in the distance ,

osada and we soon drew up in front of its p . The innkeepe r came

us m He out to the gate and refused ad ission . said he had neither

us and room nor food for , that there was no food to be had in the

i we v llage . One or two villagers gathered around and inquired for

d de alcal e . alcal il a the They said that there was no in this v l ge , but ’ We that he lived a day s journey from here in Chire . ( found out

l s ofﬁcial afterwards that we were actual y addres ing that at the time , and that he had received orders from the Governor to attend to our

t a e enter ainment , but for some re son or other desir d to shirk his responsibility . ) Again arguments seemed to be of no avail and we were obliged to order the innkeeper to take down his bars and pro 1 5 4 COLOMBIA

As was us . e u n vide with necessities to be expect d , we fo nd ple ty o of good food and an abundance of ro m , but we could not help wondering what caused a repetition of our unwelcome reception of

yesterday . T wo There seems to be no shop here . Colombian cloth mer chants are spending a few days at the inn and have a room where

their goods are displayed . They come from the vicinity of Cucuta and have quite a supply of cotton cloth made in eastern M assach u and setts . They carry little besides cloth , needles, thread . I bought a spool of thread this morning for which the charge was twelve

i oﬁred dollars . Hav ng no bills I e in payment a Colombian nickel

1 and Al coin dated 897 having a face value of twenty centavos . n though it is an attractive coin and apparently genuine , the mercha ts

t e refused to receive it and said it was wor h nothing . I protest d

r w that it was Colombian money , but all to no pu pose . They ould l as not even al ow that it was worth much as a paper dollar , which

o a for t wo has the value of gold . S I p id my thread with Venezuelan silver coins worth They were not familiar with real such small Venezuelan currency , but were willing to accept the as they know that Venezuelan silver is at a par with gold .

Near the posada is a stone wall enclosing a paddock . It is about

r four feet high , built with g eat care , of nicely matched pebbles each

o a o ﬁrst ab ut as l rge as a fo tball , the that we have seen since leaving

Caracas .

M arch 1 11 r e 81 . The g ass is all dri d up and the beasts are having a hard time trying to pick up anything to eat . This morning came “ ” ﬁrst the rain of the season here , gentle showers from six until — al nine . We left Corozal about half past nine . The innkeeper, a t l , “ an an n thin m with adenoid face and a very prying dispositio ,

us t asked four dollars for our enter ainment , but accepted two as a compromise . w u see The plains stretched a ay to the left as far as the eye co ld , i s and the hills were fairly close on our r ght . The soil eems to be poor

- A o . and barren , but the fo t hills are fairly green second range of b ﬁrst h as t ills , twice as high as the , the same general nor h and south direction . At s d Rl noon we pas e Sanjon , a heavily wooded ravine thirty

1 5 6 COLOMBIA

The small ones are six for a dollar and the large ones are one dollar ” “ ’” ﬁve ! each . We took dollars worth

A as a z an ﬁeld little to the e t of the m in street lies the pla a , open and Ou as . b ut covered with gr s weeds its west side is a deserted , h u s on its north side a few s r bs , on the east a little gra s hut , and on the b i south a new ut with adobe walls . To th s last we were conducted d a o an the l rger of its two ro ms was put at our disposal . Here the

e and loads were dump d our hammocks were to have been slung , but

u e the room had a queer odo r . We notic d in the room some candle sticks and what looked like a bier . As there seemed to be no church in the village , we thought this might be a chapel until we were told th at there had been a wake here the night before . It seems that the

and owner died of smallpox , his daughter is dying with the same

r d t t ou . disease in the nex room . We prefe re to sleep of doors Five

r l or six deaths have occu red here recently from sma lpox . Crawling around the yard is a little girl two years old with a twisted spine and an infectious disease on the soles of her feet . She

far n is absolutely neglected except so as pu ishment is concerned . Soon after our arrival she crawled into the kitchen and was driven u - out by her nnatural mother with a good sized leather thong , laid on

are t without mercy . The other children in rags , but this poor infan

e e l . s and is naked and disown d , not desir d to ive Our hostes is ill un i us ul eria able to prov de with food , but fortunately there is a p p in

- us the village where a fat , good natured Indian woman serves hot o p tato soup with wooden spoons .

M arch 1 t h A i 9 . few drops of ra n fell last night , but not enough r to d ive us indoo rs . In fact it would have taken a fairly hard rain to have made us sleep in the house . Our one desire this morning

off was to get as early as possible , but during the night we lost our ’ mules and by seven o clock only two had been seen and these could

e . not be caught , as all the rop s were broken It took considerable ph ilosophy to wait patiently until the missing mules could be found as e and saddled . For a time it looked though we were destin d to stay in the smallpox village for several days . The missing mules ’ were found ab out eleven o clock . f v r Soon a ter lea ing the village we crossed the iver Chire , a rapid ﬁ ﬂ w n ne o i o . stream of , clear water , g over a r cky bed About noon I EL LIMBO T O PORE 1 5 7

t saw a mirage to the east that appeared to give an inver ed image , not very distinctly but still sufﬁcient lymarked to be noted as differ ent from any seen before . The usual form of mirage on the plains h as been a raising of the trees from the ground so as to make it appear as though there was a pond or lake between the observer and the horizon .

We saw several bushes of lantana but all of the thornless variety .

l t wo The plants were quite smal , not over feet high , and widely scattered . Lantana does not ﬂourish here as it does in the Hawaiian d Islan s .

ms Wnsrwmzn momCa .

- The foot hills we passed , although rising abruptly from the plain and ﬁve n e attaining a height of to six hu dred feet , seem d to be com posed almost entirely of pebbles and small well-rounded b oulders part ly covered with a little soil and some grass . One isolated hill lay on the left of the road between us and the plains . They are not dis n sected by erosion to anyextent . The a gle of the slope is just about n l r as great as rou d stones wil stand , yet there are ve y few boulders on the plains that appear to have rolled down from the hills . The largest pebble or boulder that we saw was not over three feet in its

So we can greatest diameter . far as judge the second range of foot 1 5 8 COLOMBIA

hills app ears to be of entirely different construction and bears marks

wa of being considerably eroded , but we could not see of what it s

composed . The banks of the streams which we crossed show pebbles

u no lying in layers nder two feet of soil . We saw ledges or large

rocks. l d The road is well travel ed . We were passe today by a man and ﬁve i a boy with a string of mules going to the annual fa r at Pore .

ai s z . The mules were of f r i e , but not attractive The owner asked h eighty dollars apiece for them , but we thought they were not wort

more than forty dollars . We may have to b uythem to take our outﬁt u l l a over the mo ntains . We met severa smal herds of oxen l den with

f ee a ox f ee 05 co f , e ch carrying two bags covered with a sti f hide to k p

man was the rain . Generally one in charge of every three oxen . ” The people whom we met said Buenos Dias with great care in the pronunciation and quite markedly unlike those we met near Arauca “ ” who said Buen Dia . h t This afternoon we reached the river Ariporo , which as cu its way th rough the middle of a large hill composed of pebbles . The m river has a ﬂood plain a quarter of a ile wide at this point , and embraces many islands . The course of the river is changing rapidly and a new path has recently been cut through the woods on one of the larger islands . One branch of the river is three hundred and ﬁft At h yfeet wide . present the current is not over t ree feet deep , and m e but is so rapid , the bottom is so rocky , the ani als were frighten d we and did not like th e ford at all . As are near the hills it is not surprising that the Ariporo at this point should resemble th e Guanare and the Santo Domingo rather than the Casanare or the

Bocon6 . Our trail today contained more charming views than anywe have At t seen since leaving Carabobo and the falls of Tinac o . imes the path would unexpe ctedly plunge down into a densely wooded ravine as and wind up again through the trees on the opposite side , to p s over small savannas that slope gently down for a couple of miles to o the great plains on the left , and on the right end abruptly at the fo t

- Ou s a of the well rounded hills . the distant plains we occa ion lly saw

z a a ranch or two . With the hori on cle r, our view over the Llanos w ﬁne ould have been very extensive , but there seems to be a dust in

1 60 COLOMBIA

s s an . n in many week , enclo ed with adobe wall The only mo uments l and are wooden crosses of various heights , mostly rather s im eight or ten feet high . The innkeeper was much disappointed this morning that we w a were unable to pay her in paper . She ould not ccept gold as she “ could not change it ” and Venezuelan silver seems to be no longer desirable .

osada so The p was actually clean , but we have slept out of doors u much of late that I had my cot placed in the co rtyard , only to be aroused in the middle of the night by a shower . We seem to be

l a as a fo lowing the rain in its career to the southw rds , at e ch place

ﬁr t h h ad we are told it is the s rain of the season . T is morning we h more s owers .

M a r Leaving oreno at ten , we re ched the village of B ito at noon . It h as about twenty houses scattered along both sides of a single h street . The clay near here as a reddish tinge and some of the houses

On se F have pink adobe walls . the fences we saw rude cros s . rac tically all the inhabitants of Brito h ad gone to the fair at Pore and d h an s . the houses yards were clo ed One gate , owever, was open , and our tired oxen suddenly turned in and sought the shade of a

a i t r grove of pl nta n rees, greatly f ightening the woman and girl who l were in the house , the only inhabitants left in the vil age . After knocking down a few trees with their loads and walking through one

a end of the hut , the wayward oxen were brought b ck on the road an d started on the last stretch to Pore . On M the road we met the alcalde of oreno with two of his friends ,

r one of them the Secreta y of the Province . They were very cordial u and gave s a hearty welcome to this part of Colombia . The alcalde told us that he h ad received orders from the President to do every thing in his power for us and regretted that he had not been in Moreno on our arrival . During the afternoon we met numbers of men and women

r i a retu n ng from the fair . We saw in the dist nce two or three small

lie on a villages that appeared to the edge of the pl ins , where the

- - gentle th ree mile slope from the foot hills ends . The hills on our f s right this a ternoon , like those yesterday , are apparently of pebble h y and e . or small boulders , about hundred feet in height EL LIMBO TO PORE 1 6 1

at h as s r The he b een very oppressive for the la t two or th ee days, w even more so than on the lo er plains . The wind is very hot and con

tinnes to blow from th e nort hwest . — ass a a e s l We have p ed a de d gi nt ant ater, but have een no ive ones . For two or th ree days past we have heard the song of skylarks a resembling those heard in the Haw iian Islands . We have seen

r ot umito no ho ned screamers since crossing the T River . Ab out half—past h ye we saw the red -tiled roofs of Pore in the dis tance and a long line of telegraph poles stretching eastward towards M an the eta River . Half an hour later we entered the little town d

ﬁni h ﬁrst t s ed the se cond part of our journey . The par ended with t Rl m and the car at A paro the second ends here with the oxen who ,

and r s born rea ed on the plains , are not equal to the ta k of climbing

the hills and crossing the Andes with their loads . Two of th e oxen

have stood the two hundred miles very well . One is almost played

and a an out the fourth looks as though he might drop de d at ymoment . ul men We found Pore in the throe s of the fair. F ly half the ﬂ n l in uence b e r . appeared to be u der the genia of wine , er , or ha d liquor Our h ad a n coming been nnou ced by travellers who , riding more w h ad d u d e a s . rapidly than , p sse during the day We receive a noisy a u welcome . The best house in the place , a new dobe struct re with - and was e a red tiled roof , had been ostentatiously swept out plac d at our A ﬁn l n . e u disposal yb ilt Syrian of almost giga tic proportions,

and l - a with black hair beard , wearing heavy boots and we l m de

as s d clothes, acted master of ceremonies , and eeme to be the most

ua e He pop l r p rson in the crowd . came forward at once with a bottle

ﬁer of yspirits of which we had to partake on very empty stomachs , a A s we had had nothing to eat since early morning . few minutes sa a M u later the genial Prefect of the Province of Ca n re , Don ig el

A ﬁne ﬂowin Gonzalez lvarez, a old patriarch with a long g beard ,

m us a . appeared , to welco e in the name of the Colombi n Government He said he h ad recently received two telegrams from President Reyes h im t t instructing to do every hing for our comfor , and he placed m e hi s lf entirely at our service . Our ﬁrst duty was to visit the telegraph ofﬁce where as soon as possible we sent 06 a cable to New York announcing our safe arrival

O e a l inﬂuence The p r tor was pretty wel under the of the fair , and the 1 6 2 COLOMBIA

tru s e a was ﬁn ins ments did not e m to be very lively , but the mess ge ally e off s nt . This is th e ﬁrst time that we have been in direct telegraphic n u commu ication with the rest of the world since we left C racao , nearly four months ago . It seems strange to be more closely in touch with the world off here in eastern Colombia than when we were in

Caracas .

1 6 4 COLOMBIA

In the course of the morning Juan came to say that he desired to

o l l off h g back to Arauca and wou d ike to be paid . T is is as far as

r h im he ag eed to come . I went to the Prefect and told the story of

s and and our various los es , he promised to have Juan arrested

- ﬁ searched . Our guide is such a well known desperado that at rst

ﬁnall no one dared to arrest him , but yfour strong men were found who were willing to escort him into a room adjoining the principal

h i w al cal de as o . s store , w ch owned by the l cal After ome struggles ’ se d was m i he was arche and in his belt found Rice s iss ng heirloom, r i w the gold chain with the Ame ican gold eagle . Th s as all the evi

e i t and was k dence ne ded to conv c him , he sent to the stoc s in the old

Spanish jail here . The two gold ounces which were stolen from me

Arauea u h ad in were not fo nd , which is not surprising as he an

' n oﬁ opportu ity to leave them with his family . The Prefect ers to

an h as an punish him in yway that we desire , but he been such excel len t guide and done his work so well that we are willing to forgive

kl a u him his eptom nia , charge up the gold o nces to his wages, and call n won our it square . In ma y ways he has admiration , for he is cer t ainl se e yone of the cleverest persons in the country . To him strip and wade into the lagoons on the Llanos in order to ﬁnd a way for a all the carav n to cross , having no fear of the small igators that infest

u z . n those waters , was eno gh to make one reali e his courage The o ly

al a r thing he re ly fe rs are the wild Indians , whose natu e he knows H l as . e a only too wel , he is of Indian blood himself took his rrest i l e very philosoph ca ly , although it seem d to annoy him to think that

i e he came so far with us after hav ng secur d his booty . During the day there have been several cock -ﬁgh t s pulled 06 near

s h as and our door, on which ome money been wagered considerable A a excitement wasted . dance h ll across the street is doing a big

i o r bus ness . There are a great many temp rary grog shops and nea ly i A every one is more or less under the nﬂuence of liquor . score of St reet pedlers are doing a small business with various trinkets and ” r articles of apparel . I t ied to buy a red imitation silk handkerchief

w - v for t enty ﬁe dollars . The pedlers did not care to take Venezuelan f a was silver , so I o fered a Colombi n gold ounce , but even that

. Finall declined , the pedlers not desiring anything but paper money y

r a our f iend , the big Syrian contractor , succeeded in ch nging the gold PORE 1 6 5

He l us into bills . tel s every one prefers American gold to any other l l kind . Eng ish gold is next in demand , fol owed by Spanish or M exican . Their own Colombian gold pieces are least valuable of all . of t The height the fair is over, and the excitemen closes this evening wi th a free circus on the plaz a .

s u We tried today to sell our oxen and buy ome m les , but quite

unsuccessfully . It is said that two of our oxen are about to die and

us no one wants to buy the other two . The mules that passed the a oti ered l as other day on the ro d are for sale now at sixty do lars , but it

ﬁve ff u are will take at least to carry our stu over the mo ntains, we

not anxious to purchase them . Although one hears much of the activity of the Ge rmans in South America we have seen no German merchants since leaving Tinaco M in northern Venezuela . any of the merchants in the interior on

the rivers Apure and Arauca are Syrians, but the majority are

z mestizos, Vene uelans and Colombians .

March 2 2 d Mu . ch rain fell during the night and it has rained

s all day more or les . The appendicitis patient is improving slowly,

though Rice thought he would surely die last night . A u was now h ndred years ago Pore quite an important town , but the ancient church is in ruins and the two-story houses which formerly

r n su rou ded the plaza have all disappeared . We explored the ruins

-ﬁv this morning . The church was about one hundred and twenty e

feet long , but very little of it now remains . Heaps of rubbish and hummocks overgrown with bushes and small t rees indicate where

houses once stood .

an v The old Spanish jail is still st ding , ha ing been well built of i hewn stone . We v sited the cell where Juan spent las t night . It has

u a w a small door, not q ite four feet high , at one end and a b rred windo

at the other . There is no jailer and there are no locks to the doors, so that th e only wayof conﬁning a prisoner is by the old Spanish v stocks . These consist of two pieces of hea y timber twelve feet long , with h oles for half a dozen pairs of legs and a device for locking the h ends so t at the poor wretches could not escape . One can lie on the ’ ground in comparative comfort while one s legs are conﬁned in these

n . old stocks , but to sta d is impossible , and to sit , not very comfortable The holes have been worn smooth and polished by the ankles of count 1 66 COLOMBIA less unfortunates who have been detained here during the past cen tury . The jail has no other furniture . The Prefect decided today h riﬁ am d to send Juan back to Arauca in charge of a deputy s e . I gla he did not have to stay long in this old jail , where thousands of bats have been holding high carnival since time immemorial and have made the ﬂoor unspeakably disgusting.

SPANI S roc xs xx 1 11 1: AI L AT P SH J ORE .

Ou one corner of the deserted plaz a is a forlorn-looking church of recent construction . It is a narrow oblong building with no tower a ad and is alre dy in a dre ful state of decay . Services are held very infrequently . The roof leaks and a great colony of bats is in full possession of the premises . The shrines are neglected and the un fortunate saints whose images inhabit the solitude appe al strongly ’ On m to one s sympathy . another co er is an old building , partly

e r offi restored to s rve as the Government teleg aph ce . In general all that remains of Pore is one long street and three cross streets con fift taining in all not more than yhouses , most of them adobe with F fi thatched roofs . rom the plaza one gets a ne view of the distant m t r ountains and of the great plains stretching away to the eas wa d .

1 68 COLOMBIA

and t us u n send them wi h by way of the famo s , or rather i famous, i l s u Paramo of Pisva , the pass by wh ch Bo ivar cros ed the mo ntains . u l The price is two h ndred dol ars , gold , but he agrees to take our u r fo r oxen in pa t payment at twenty dollars a head , although he m r H declares that two of the are going to die tomo row . e left this

0 a r afternoon to get the mules and we h pe to st rt tomo row . h ad i r l In the evening we a long h sto ica discussion with the Prefect .

1 8 1 8 u a a In , d ring the Wars of Em ncipation , the Sp nish army under i General Barreiro invad ed th s region . The patriots h ad been sub l a s a dued throughout Co ombia except in the Ll nos of Ca an re . When

a a all a a e the Spanish rmy re ched Pore , the inhabit nts disappe r d , and

r was a a e a . e Ba reiro pr ctic lly starv d out of the pl ins These p ople ,

se l a m and a as we have en , ive from h nd to outh app rently never store so u s t up any food , that it m st have been comparatively ea y to defea was the Spanish general in this manner . It probably almost impos sible for h im to keep his army provided with food from the plateau of m Sogamoso for anylength of ti e . M d M r r . a ch 2 3 . ore rain in the night and this mo ning Rice ” continues to have large practice and is kept busy performing minor

O ch icﬂ r . a l perations, yfor strictu e Nevertheless Pore is gr dual y settling down into that condition of absolute quiet and dullness which it enjoys during the three hundred and sixty days of each year when

ur c n the fair is not in progress . O friend the Prefe t u derwent a

minor operation yesterday and is not feeling well today . The appen r dicit is patient is much better . The Sy ian contractor failed to put

d a in an appe arance with the mules and we have lost another y. A former member of the National Congress who h as been several “ times to Bogota gives us the following itinerary From here to

unchi a a N , one or two days ; thence to Labr nza Grande , two days of “ ” d r l t z bad road (for road rea b id e pa h) , rest one day in Labran a M u o Grande ; thence to La Salina , one day ; to ong a one day ; to S ga moso half a day ; rest there one day ; thence to Rio Piedras one day ; to Tunja half a day ; to Cascad a one day ; to Choconta one day ; to

Zipaquira one day ; thence by train three hours to Bogota . Twelve ” ’ or thirtee n days in all . But this is not the way Bolivar s army went and our route will probably take longer , how much longer no one as s e th e see ms to know , nobody in this vicinity has ever pa s d over PORE 1 69

and dangerous unfrequented Paramo of Pisva. Considering the fact that we planned to be in Bogota in ﬁfty- four days from the time

o - e we left Carab bo , and it is now the sixty s cond day since we left

t -ﬁeld r off hat battle , it is annoying to lea n that Bogota is twelve days even for those who travel with less of a cargo than we and who go t h e

u d z n c stomary roa via Labran a Gra de . h T arch 2 . h M 4t No mules . We are getting tired of Pore . e

a r and a Prefect feels pretty b dly this mo ning , asked the doctor to c ll H uffii him l . e s c entl us on ear y recovered y, however , to show a copy of the Dia rio Oficial of January 2 8t h which contains an executive decree published over the signature of the Secretary of the Treasury “ granting to Doctors H i ram Blingha m and H amilton the privilege fi fi u scie nti c out t . of entering the co ntry with their , duty free The only condition imposed is that we must not stay in the country longer than is necessary for our mission and must take with us out of the

' ﬁ r k country all our out t except food st uﬁs. It is ce tainly very ind of the Colombian Government to take so much trouble on our behalf

and r t s us our new to do eve y hing to make it ea y for , even though

id ifiat i diffiul a patronymics make ent c on c t . It is not str nge that the officials should suppose that Rice followed the Spanish custom of ’ 1 writing his mother s family name after that of his father . i w u s It rained hard again this afternoon . This da ly do npo r help u se s s to realiz e what we escaped by crossing the Llanos in the dry a on . Had we not succeeded in getting over the worst of the rivers and u swamps before the rains commenced , it wo ld have been next to our o tfit e th e impossible to get u across country . Our exp riences at Cafio i u ind finit l Guata m ght have been m ltiplied e e y. In one of our rooms here is a large case said to contain a piano r a M l t from Hambu g aw iting shipment to oreno , where ives the riches n s i a r man in the cou try . It is a d to have cost him ten thous nd dolla s ,

r M gold , and came by way of the O inoco and eta rivers . There are no carts here and we cannot help wondering when it will reach its

n and l u desti ation who wil t ne it when it arrives . h arc 2 t . our M h 5 . No mules yet We fear that contractor has ’ heard of the Prefect s illness and is purpose ly delaying returning with

He z the mules. must reali e that when they come the doctor will l s d eave and the Prefect will not be plea e . The Prefect is convalescing 1 70 COLOMBIA

h i s but still kee ps to s cot and ends for the doctor frequently . He says “ today that if the Syrian does not return by evening he will send a special messenger after him and see why under the sun he is delaying ” us so . long In other words , the Prefect is feeling better . The dis

ensar so as h as p yis not well attended it been , but Rice is not sorry for there are few interesting cases and most of the patients come merely for the fun of being given ad vice free . so a s We have had me r in before , but la t night the heavens broke loose and smas hed all records with a t erriﬁc downpour and a tre mendous amount of thunder and lightning . I do not remember ever

s so a to have een it rain hard , except once in the Hawaii n Islands ,

! r when I was staying in Hanalei on the Island of auai , whe e it is said “ ” that rain drops are as big as peaches . When we leave here we r will have to c oss the Pauta River, a wide , rocky stream with a danger M ous current . any people have been lost in attempting to ford it in s so and ul the rainy ea n , loaded m es are frequently lost in the rapids .

as t h u r Perhaps it is just well that e m les have not yet ar ived , for it

b e may impossible to cross the river for a day or two after these rains . In our journey across the Llanos we have talked with a number of

i e r as intell gent p rsons, and all ag ee that the seasons are about follows

Feb ruar The dry months are December, January , and y, when no r M rain falls at all . The rains commence in the latter pa t of arch ,

s hr M a u increa e t ough April and are very heavy in y, J ne , and July .

- u s so u e There is a let p in Augu t , that A gust , while not dry , is more lik r ul April , but in September the rains retu n in f l force and continue so i in October , dim nishing rapidly in November and stopping entirely

ﬁr t about the s of December .

March z th se 6 . The Prefect is feeling very much better and nt

0 11 a messenger this morning to ﬁnd the Syri an and his mules . The ul r contractor co d not have been very far away, for he appea ed in less was than four hours after the messenger sent . This afternoon an Italian who owns the house in which we are h as staying brought h is daughter for the doctor to see . She a croo ked

ﬁ r w nge and Rice offered to straighten it out . She is to decide tomorro whether she cares to stand the pain and it looks as though we might is be detained another day . The town of Pore growing more and s a a more tire ome , but we changed our bo rding pl ce today and here

CHAPTER IX

P ORE TO NU NCH IA

rch 2 h a a Ma 8t . We were re dy to start soon fter breakfast this d morning, but Don Sylvestre wished to send word ahea in order that H prope r preparations might be made for our reception . e said it was impossible for him to go this morning as he h ad so many things to attend to . As a matter of fact he spent the morning in agreeable ’ ﬁnall conversation . We yleft Pore about two o clock . There were

- many thunder showers in all directions this afternoon , but we escaped

. us. a wetting Don Sylvestre and his uncle , the Prefect , rode with Both were extremely attentive and the latter took particular pleasure a a a H in pointing out v rious medicin l pl nts in the woods . e rides a large mule that ambles along like a camel and is nearly twice the

r . siz e of any of ou s It suits his dignity wonderfully well . His servant , a mountain Indian , runs along on foot , carrying on his ’ back the Prefect s travelling wardrobe . The load must weigh sixty po unds .

ar ar Our cargo mules e an interesting lot . Three of them e white . One of these carries a load of two hundred and thirty pounds but does not mind it in the least and has a trick of trotting briskly some dis a r and tance ahe d , tu ning around looking at his companions as much “ as W ! z to say , hat a slow crowd you are Then he proceeds to gra e until the next mule reaches him , when he will trot briskly on again for u . r o a couple of hundred yards Luis, the a riero , r ns ab ut behind his l i ” mules like a co l e tending sheep , barking and shouting hoop ato , “ ” ’ h t um and ot c uc b ol . , the usual muleteer s jargon The Syrian contractor places great conﬁdence in Luis and assures us he is an d “ ” excellent muleteer an a trustworthy citizen ; not like Juan . We offered hi mthe use of two American pack saddles that we had brought

us with from New York , but he declined with thanks and prefers the simple pad to which the mules are accustomed . It requires great 1 7 2 PORE T O NUNCHIA 1 73

e d ad and xperience to fasten heavy loa s securely to the p , unless the two sides are very evenly matched they continually need righting .

r d u When the ar iero sees a loa listing to one side , he r ns alongside ’ t h e ul s d m e , throws his coarse woollen poncho over the bea t s hea , k n w d a ties it in a not u der his ja , and proceeds to a just the lo d . As t h e mule can see nothi ng and is un able to shake off the poncho he is w li t il ng to stand very quietly, even more so han if he were tied . Some of them have a strip of cloth fastened across the forehead in such a manner that it can read ily be slipped down over the eyes to s v l a All ul a er e as a b inder inste d of the poncho . the m es have le ding r e are d and - are op s but these almost never use , the well trained beasts a l l owed to pick their own path .

o e The country south of Pore is sparsely w od d . The hills that one s r ees to the westwa d seem to be forested , in distinction from the r M ather barren hills of pebbles north of Pore and oreno . The s e s econdary range continues to be very jagg d , as though in proce s o f s ﬁlled rapid dissection . The streams cros ed today are with pebbles and boulders and their sides show that the plain is of a like f . s a . n ormation We cros ed m ny small gulches , mostly dry The la d “ ” s eems to be the waste of the Andes . Before long we reached the extensive ﬂood plain of the Pauta

n . River, with its giga tic trees and thinly scattered jungle Suddenly , t o r e r a ara uat os our su pris , we hea d the mimic ro r of the g , or howling m ﬁr rt . st r a onkeys Since hea d on the b nks of the river Po uguesa, t his has been a frequent sound whenever we have been near a river

r th e ﬁrst jungle in the early mo ning . This is time that we have r s heard it in the afte noon and so close . We oon found a large dead t h y Oi ree in which were e or six of these interesting howlers . a red c r i e c innamon colou , not very large , bearded and hav ng an app aran e o f s a run being extremely wi e , they m de no attempt to away and it l wou d have been quite easy to shoot one . A baby monkey on its m ’ other s back ad ded a touch of family life to the picture . a r t a Shortly before six we re ched the Pauta, a la ge stream wi h m ny i a and in i sl nds rapids . We crossed it at the same stage ts career as t h e a h as u Gu nare and the Ariporo . It a strong c rrent over a very r An n ocky bed and we had an exciting time at the ford . India who ’ lives in the forest near by came to our assistance and led the Prefect s 1 7 4 COLOMBIA

H th heavily laden servant and the mules across one by one . e says e

river was impassable yesterday morning . ’ We reached Desecho , three leagues from Pore , at seven o clock . u and A wonderful dinner was ready for s we did it full justice .

-oi - - h ad a l Although this is a most out the way spot , we m ny de icacies , M far t including a bo ttle of excellent edoc . Desecho is by the bes t ranch we have seen . The buildings are in good repair and kep

ﬁrst n u clean and tidy . It is the ra ch house we have enco ntered that

H n v x mr. P ne r r AND P W A D a T E P o r c s c HIS NE HE S I s snc o .

h as and - barred windows panelled doors and shutters, a well swept

t a o and . cour y rd , g od linen , turkish towels There is also a con venient bathing place in a large irrigating ditch near the house . n Such luxuries were unheard of in any of the ra ches seen in Venezuela.

Furt h e rmore ﬁft , there is a little library which contains forty or y

z e volumes , including a do en Spanish classics , some po try and history ,

k and s s a volume of Schopenhauer , a few wor s of travel, several treati e

on the Spanish language . Colombians pride themselves on speaking

the best Spanish in So uth America .

1 76 COLOMBIA

sa i and o s r ddl ng g od breeching to give one a moderate ense of secu ity. We reached the summit of the ﬁrst range of foot -hills about three ’ w o . as e clock The view sup rb , our altitude above the plain be ing

a thousand feet . The Llanos of Casanare stretched away like the far l ocean as as the eye cou d reach . As far as we could see with our as s and s u glasses to northe t , ea t , southea t , we co ld make out the

c a r s a as ai har cteristic featu e of the Ll nos , great gr sy pl ns alternating r with forested iver courses . To the westward lay the second range o f i ul e l v h lls , a beautif gre n va ley inter ening. Both these ridges run and practically north south . While we were resting on the top of the

r a us idge , the Prefect , who accomp nied from Desecho to Nunchia, e recit d a romantic poem which he had written some time ago , inspired H ﬁ . n by this very view e is a e old b oy.

a so as ﬁrst al The second ridge is not ne rly steep the , although sever

u . are r h ndred feet higher Both clea ly volcanic . They are charac

t eriz ed u r s t by huge irreg la blocks of lava more or le s wea hered . The summits of se veral of the peaks are formed by the edges of strati

ﬁed an -ﬁv lava tipped up at angle of thirty e degrees . Erosion is in d rapid progress an the disintegrating lava is making good rich soil . Two house s at the left of the road near the summit were attrae t v l m hr l A i e yplaced in the idst of t iving ittle plantations . few speci

- o - a z mens of night blooming cereus , with buds ab ut one qu rter si e , d th were growing on a stone wall near the roa side . From the top of e

second ridge we saw the Llanos far to the southward . The familiar alternating lines of savanna and forest continued as far as one could a i a a i e u u . see nyth ng . The air was un s lly cle r The v ew of the p aks

a niﬁc nt of the Andes was m g e . The descent on the western side of th e second range of hills is

e A a . xtremely steep . rocky path winds through dense tropic l jungles ’ The path h as been deeply eroded by torrential rains so that one s

k e u and ne s are frequently in danger of being cr shed against its sides, t h e cargo mules h ad to step very carefully to avoid smashing their

loads against the rocks . ’ k a About six o clock we came to a little opening, a ind of terr ce , i u from which we got a charming v ew . In the immediate foregro nd hi the ll fell away very rapidly , almost precipitously , although it was not so steep as to prevent the natives from cultivating tiny planta PORE T O NUNCHIA 1 7 7

u t ions on its side . In the middle foregro nd lay the little town of

unch ia e N , with streets running at right angles , lin d with thatched or tiled roofed house s and a galvaniz ed - iron roofed church facing the

unch ia r green plaza. N lies at the junction of two rivers , the la ger

a . of which , the Tocaria , was plainly visible for some dist nce To the north the ﬂat top of a ridge showed how much work the river h ad f a d . ar one by erosion In the dist nce , the Andes rose tier on tier, mingling greens and blues in a way that reminded me repeatedly of

a a and . the Haw ii n Islands of Jamaica Continuing the steep descent , un h i At o u we crossed the river N c a . the ford it is ab ut one h ndred

and hr . feet wide , from two to t ee feet deep Ten minutes later, after a - a and passing through little plantations of sug r cane , m ngoes , plan

z tains , we reached the pla a . It was the evening of Good Friday and a crowd of about two

hundred persons were crowded in front of the church as we rode up . For the moment their attention was distracted from the approaching

l e us i m celebration , and they gathered c os ly about as we d s ounted in

- A front of a well built house that had been placed at our disposal .

few minutes later an extraordinary procession started from the church .

F e r and u irst came thre or four boys making a wei d continuo s rattle , F l a . cal ed the death rattle , with cl cks ollowing them were two boys and s u with large candles a third carrying a small cro s , then fo r more

carrying a large cross and others carrying candles. These were

' followed by six men carrying a decorated coﬁm in which lay a wax

ﬁure cruciﬁed r r n - and r g of the Lo d , mo e ca dle bearers men ca rying

ﬁure t - e a g of the Virgin in a shrine ; followed by pries s , candle b arers , w and n r . as women , a large crowd cha ting the holy se vice The night d and r d all as ark , the p ocession ma e a profound impression on it

moved solemnly around the plaza and returned to the church . It w as a most realistic represe ntation .

r h v a ch 0t . M 3 Hea y rain during the night . The Prefect called for us early this morning and we went with f in . a re him to bathe the river Tocaria The bathing pl ce , much d r uent e s . q by the town people , is a thi d of a mile from the p laza The ﬁ i water was cool and invigorating. A ne current and a deep swimm ng

hole made the bath most amusing . There is a conveniently arranged thatched bathing pavilion for the ladies of the town at a sufﬁcient 1 78 COLOMBIA

distance from the spot where the men bathe . The path from the

town to the swimming pools is well worn . Wh Bathing is quite fashionable in Colombia. yit should appear u ﬁ to be so neglected in Venez ela is an interesting question . The rst person whom we met in Venezuela who seemed to be fond of daily was F a baths Don rancisco Parada, the Colombian at La Calz da de

a e k . P ez , where we rest d for a few days six wee s ago The next bather M was . s Dr iguel , a Venezuelan , but born and rai ed in Colombia . At El Amparo we never saw anyone bathing on the Venezuelan side of the river except ourselves , although every morning a score of w r Colombians came do n to bathe on their side of the A auca . We

e e l notic d in Pore that s vera of our friends took daily baths , and at

oi s Desecho the bathing is made much . We al o have noticed that

s a while the upper cla s in this part of Colombia are more cle nly , better a dressed , better educated , and more fond of luxuries than the s me

s as cla s in the similar regions of Venezuela , the lower cl s appears to b e n a more destitute , ragged , u kempt , and wretched th n those of the same social rank across the border.

s The view from our front door is charming . It looks acros the grassy plaz a and the thatched huts to the steep green slopes of the se condary range of foot-hills and the path over which we came on u F k u . riday . The pea s rise thirteen h ndred feet above s h i and i a Nunc a is a town of importance is the Prov nci l capital . h as a It two priests , a bl cksmith , a carpenter, a tailor, a shoemaker, a

- and r - e saddle maker , two telegraph operators , a cou t hous , which is

more than can be said of anyplace we have seen for two months . There are almost no ruins here and the town appears to be fairly l prosperous . The shops contain little besides cotton cloth , alcoho ic i a n liquors , prov sions such as cassava , pl ntains, buns , and ca ned

al s eciﬁcs as s mon , and a few p , such copaiba oil , for snake bites and

u . s s b un oes other tro bles We are told that during the rainy ea on , g a a are able to come up the Toc ria river to a pl ce four miles away , i from which goods are easily brought to Nunch a . As the river has

' naw ab le o s at not been g for s me months, there is almost no busine s

present . We should have left Nunchia this morning except that the mules n must be shod . The blacksmith is ill and his assista t is not only

1 80 COLOMBIA

One of our callers was an energetic young Colombian who plans

to take orchids to New York . He hears that they sell there for

-ﬁve sa c twenty dollars apiece , and ys if he an sell them for only two r H dolla s he can make money . e has half a dozen men collecting

plants in the mountains west of here . M ar ch 1 5 1. e s 3 It rain d in torrents la t night . I have h ad an exciting Easter Sunday aiding Rice operate on th e ’ s an . r k i gangrenou h d To interpret , run the p iests itchen , boil n struments and and dressings, give chloroform , kept me fairly busy.

- The priests have a nice , clean two story house , with a galvanized iron

T m: oor -mLLS or 1 11 1: N S r aou UNC IA F A DE N H .

w — roof covered ith thatch to keep it cool . We took their dining room

h a and v e for an operating c mber , found the table ser ed our purpos t ff so w ex remely well . The priest had su ered much that his nerve as all gone and he made a great fuss about taking the chloroform . u O d D ring a large part of the peration , he chante the mass in a rich

r a ba itone voice , much to the astonishment of the attend nts who had

e never before seen any one under the inﬂuence of an ana sthetic . The operation lasted nearly an hour and we had only half a tea w spoonful of chloroform left when it as over . ’ The fame of Rice s skill as a surgeon spread rapidly and in the afternoon our room was again turned into a dispensary where tooth PORE TO NUNCHIA 1 8 1

uli and m s p l ng , heart lung exa inations, and a large crowd of spectator u e s . kept busy As at Pore , quite a number of people who hav nothing at all the matter with them came for the fun of being ex ’ min as r a ed . free , much to Rice s annoyance I acted inte preter and am a s . gener l a sistant Besides extending my Spanish vocabulary , I M f getting quite a smattering of the prevalent local disease s . ost o the troubles , Rice says , are due to the fried food that they all eat . This afternoon we h ad a case of ﬂoat ing kidney and one of e xoph th al mi sub scri c . goitre As Rice makes no charge , the Prefect took up a p

r s tion today to pay ou board bill for the past three days . The priest are to pay for the remainder of our stay .

A ril rst p . This dispensary business is getting to be a great nui ll san . a ce Were it not for the fact that the mules are not shod yet , and o s h ad b e that the f od is not as bad as ome we have , it would ’ difﬁcul t . to keep one s temper There is no chance to rest , for our and door is besieged from morning till night by the lame , the halt , the blind , people with heart ache , stomach ache , and liver com

. T h plaint . They come from far and near in a steady stream e

h We l priest had a bad nig t but shows very little fever , and hope wil not detain us many days .

ril 2 d e A p . The little blue mule has developed a case of cattl ” n plague and must be abandoned . The Sava na mule died a month ago after crossing the Rio Ele . O a h as a One of the telegraph perators , a ple sant young fellow , wife who enjoys a tendency towards hypochondria and some nervous h . s s e indigestion Rice advi ed pumping out her stomach , to which d agreed to submit . The operation was almost tragic . She struggle ’ h u s frantically , bit Rice s gers , creamed as loud as she could , and us w gave a circus before it as over . This afternoon we had another exciting performance dressing ’ He the priest s hand . lost his nerve completely , insisted on having and his face covered by a napkin , screamed , groaned , howled ; rather to the amusement of his fellow priest and of the Holy Father of the “ see district , who came down yesterday from Tamara to what the ” d an a a . P a re S t heretics were up to However , the is very pleas nt and this evening invited us to a nice little supper with some wonder M ful adeira . 1 8 2 COLOMBIA

A r d u u e r . u p il 3 . The s al disp nsa y this morning After l nch we started to make a call at the telegraph oth ee and were invited to stop

ou of n M e ce h as r at the h se Se or Jesus aria , for whos children Ri p e u . s sc ribed We found quite a little feast prepared for . As we had ﬁnish d n t b ut just e a hearty lunch it was not easy to eat a y hing, still

more difﬁcult to refuse without hurting their feelings . Nevertheless we have been desperately hungry so often we are tempted t o stuff whenever we get the chance . i e to T ob ian Th s evening we were invit d out dinner by Don Carlos ,

r man the ichest in the town , a great friend of Don Sylvestre and the

s owner of a large ranch near De echo . His wife is a comely lady of h H odd c . e forty years, and they have several attra tive c ildren had invited us to occupy a vacant room at his house soon after our rr o t e us a ival , but as we were comf r ably settl d in an unoccupied ho e ,

r it did not seem worth while to move . Don Ca los has a charm

ing establishment kept in excellent order , and provided with many

Oi s . r u comforts The dinner was su prisingly good . co r e his wife

and daughter were not at the table , but remained in the kitchen

s to see that the food was properly served . In nearly all the hou es

S e where we have p nt a night or had meals , the housewife has done it the cooking or attended to , but has never brought it to the table or sat down to eat with her husband .

A ri i h l . p 4 Heavy rains during the night . This morning we were called before breakfast to see a little girl who was said to be ﬁt u dying . She had been taken with a cataleptic d ring the night

and Rice thinks she shows symptoms of exophthalmic goitre . She

is about six years old . The priest is rapidly recovering and Rice declares him out of H . e danger . We had quite a talk with him this morning claims to have suffered much pe rsecution during the revolution of 1 900 and

1 0 2 was e 9 , when he driven to s ek refuge among the wild Indians near

M R unch ia all the eta iver . When he returned to N he found left of a w the ecclesi stical establishment as its four walls . Everything else h ad as been stolen or destroyed . Notwithstanding his courage a

a a s e mission ry he makes great fu s when his wound is dress d , always h as u b e a a his face covered , and shouts loud eno gh to he rd quarter of a mile away .

CHAPTER X

NUNCHIA 1 0 THE PARAMO or PI SVA

A r 111 ﬁ ll il . na u i p 5 We yleft N nch a at noon today , this being our eighth day in a place that we h ad not even heard of two weeks i ago . The l ttle blue mule had to be left behind . We were unable to ﬁure hire another or to buy one at a reasonable g , so we appreciated

ff us ﬁne it all the more when the priests o ered to loan a , strong mule

are that belongs to the church . No one can say that they not grateful

a for what Rice h as done for their sick brother . Don C rlos T ob ian accompanied us out of town for an hour according to the polite n af us e Spa ish custom . Soon ter he left we b gan to climb a terribly w . as c i steep bridle path It worse than the steepest , wettest , ro k est

se un mountain trail that I have ever en even in the mo tains of Oahu , ” l o I and I do not wonder that the people cal it a camin muy feo . t

is impossible to give a good idea of it in words . I had to dismount a u twenty times this fternoon to help my m le up or down the slippery , rocky steps . The path repeatedly descended ravines four hundred feet deep and immediately climbed out again . The poor cargo mules n had a hard time sliding down slippery clay ba ks , picking their way across rushing mountain torrents and clambering up moss-covered n stone stairways which it did not seem they could possibly surmou t . After a long climb we came to an exposed pass where we could

- ﬁv overlook both ranges of foot hi lls and see the Llanos . About e ’ o clock we reached the top of a ridge from which we h ad a distant M it s view of the little village of orcote on a hilltop to the westward , i l huge church looking in the distance like a tiny v l a .

n a all u us t The A des loomed up gr ndly abo t , but directly in fron l s lay a fearful y steep decline , the path a eries of long ﬂights of rocky stairs winding at a perilous angle six hundred feet to the bottom of a deep gorge . As it had been raining and the mossy stones were very s i was b e l ppery , I did not care to ride down , but it almost as bad to

1 8 4 NUNCHIA T O T HE PARAMO OF PISVA 1 8 5

o h and a obliged to g a ead lead the mule , expecting that he would f ll any moment . As we descended we entered a dense tropical forest with gigantic

a and . creepers , tree ferns , and rare pl nts orchids It was the kind of jungle that one reads about in the old books on Braz il . We looked t carefully for snakes but saw only one , a small , black snake two fee long which my mule almost stepped on before it escaped into I t the fern . seems difﬁcult to believe that this is the ﬁrst snake we have seen

r a since leaving Ca ac s . A b o u t half-past six we passed through a small coffee plan t at ion climb ed , a long steep hill and reached M orcote . We were pleasantly received by the Corregidor, who knew we were coming , and at once took us to t h e school h o u s e , w h i c h h e placed entirely at our s d i s p o a l . It is a small adobe hut with

a - a gr ss thatched roof, two tiny windows, a T HE Sc noomaousr: AND POPULACE or M o nc or e . rough wooden door ,

u - dirt ﬂoor , two t mble down benches , a rickety table , some farm tools and l a smal frame with a few old newspapers . As a guest of the Municipality of Morcote it does not become me to offer any furth er

h s . comment on the condition of the school ou e It is , in fact , credit h h h h able that t ere s ould be a sc ool building , as t ere are not more 1 86 COLOMBIA

than a dozen huts in the town . But such is the pe rversity of human u l u nat re we prefer to sleep outside instead of inside of the schoo ho se , although the night was damp and very cool .

A n l r M and u [ i 6th . The idge on which orcote its great ch rch are

e u and situat d is q ite narrow there are deep valleys on each side .

Altogether it has the most sightly location imaginable . We spent s a in ome time exploring the extraordin ry church , which is good repair .

It was built of stone by the Spaniards , and is an object of pride to e u un hr very one in the country . It meas res two h dred and t ee feet

T HE CH U RCH or M oncors .

ﬁf - in length and tythree feet in width . One cannot help wondering ﬁll a whether it has ever been ed with worshippers . It has an attr ctive

and w tower , built mostly of brick , brick is also used for the windo

u l se r frames and the corner of the ch rch . No priest ives here and

se . vices are held but ldom Like the church at Pore , broken images and bats are in full possession . Th ere is a stone twenty inches square in front of the schoolhouse that is a treasured relic and may be connected with the building of th e u ch rch . It bears the inscription on the opposite page . The cargo mules found the travelling so bad that they did not ar ’ rive until nine o clock this morning . Luis , the arriero , says he

1 88 COLOMBIA

A ril th M and p 7 . The Corregidor of orcote most of his people

e u 06 l gather d to see s this morning. The vil agers ran along by our mules and accompanied us part way down the steep hill in a spirit of

r l genuine cou tesy . The path plunged down into the val ey and we

a entered dense tropical woods . The tr il is unspeakably bad but the mules have taken good care of themselves so far and have had no very

d l ma niﬁc nt b a . a s s e fal s We p s ed everal g trees in the forests , trees whose roots rose from twelve to ﬁft ee n feet abo ve ground and occu

a ﬁft en pied a sp ce from e to twenty feet in diameter at the base . The

and a branches were full of orchids other p rasites . We passed an ’ orchid gatherers camp .

we ss ﬁve After a long , steep ascent reached the top of a pa thou a H a s nd feet high . ere were two wretched little huts, and lthough it was beginning to rain we preferred to push on down the trail rath er

than seek such questionable shelter . We had slid down a hundred feet or more when an Indian woman came running after us through us the woods beseeching to return . In her hands she carried a gourd containing six eggs which she offered to cook for us if the doctor would only go back and heal her sick children . Rice consented to

a i b ut do wh t he could . As we al ghted in front of her a hard thunder

storm broke loose .

The hut measured only eight feet by ten , but had a loft reached by

a primitive ladder made of a notched log. Pieces of decaying jerked

u af and ﬁlled beef h ng from the little r ters , the place with a frightful

e two and odour , although it was entirely op n on sides only protected against the winds on th e north and east by walls made of banana

o l leaves . In this wretched ab de ived two women and three children , ll in . A s one of them an fant in arms had some illne s or other , and were examined in turn by the doctor who wrote prescriptions for each . M l eanwhile the rain continued to fal in torrents , the little clay kettle wi h st andin o . ot t boiled and the eggs were co ked N g all their poverty , h they had t ree or four pieces of pottery , of a most attractive pattern , made in this vicinity . At the end of three quarters of an hour the rain held up and we and proceeded to slide down the steep trail through clouds , mist , rain , crossing and recrossing a brook that rapidly became a torrent and

made it constantly more difﬁcult for the poor mules to proceed . No NUNCHIA TO THE PARAMO OF PISVA 1 89 sooner had we reached the bottom of the descent of over a thousand u feet than the path began to climb another mo ntain . After eight hours of this alternate climbing and sliding we reached th e valley us of the Paya . In front of to the northwest , as we looked up the l n val ey , the mountains rose tier on tier u til lost in the clouds some A . t where near the Paramo of Pisva our feet , on a terrace several a l hundred feet above the river , lay the little town of P ya , where a smal body of Spaniards endeavoured in 1 8 1 9 to detain the march of the Ou our Liberating Army . right rose a great ridge over which the soldiers of Santander made the ﬂank movement which enabled the l e u patriots to win the battle , while on the left the val ey widen d out ntil it reached the range of mountains that lay between us and Labranz a

Grande .

As ed we approach Paya , we were met by a crowd of citizens on our and e us foot and horseback who were expecting arrival , had s en d s u escending the sides of the valley . They e corted s with some ceremony across the little plaz a to a house on the corner that had a Josada an been placed at our dispos l . There is no [ in yof these was u and mountain towns . It S nday evening the usual holiday crowd

e . of drunks gather d , eager to satisfy their immoderate curiosity The house is rented by a citiz en of Labranz a Grande who is engaged in ff developing rubber , co ee , and other industries that should succeed

M us in this vicinity . Like the Corregidor of orcote he invited to

e r s and take our meals at the pulp ria or village tave n at his expen e , u sits in silence watching s eat and supervising the service .

A ril 8t h . p Paya was once larger than it is today , as one can u M h ad readily see from the r ins . We were told in orcote that it h ad thirteen thousand people . Our host here says it actually two thousand ; but its population probably never numbered over ﬁve ﬁf M n . A t hu dred t present it has less than yhouses and huts . ost of them are of adobe with stone corners and grass roofs . A couple of two- story houses are still standing and a few of the more important

- buildings have red tiled roofs . Our luggage got very wet in the rain yesterday and the mules very tired , so we spent the day resting the

r mules and drying ou clothes .

r us This afte noon our host , Don Jeronimo , took to visit the old a b ﬁve u Sp nish fort near y, where tradition says h ndred Spaniards 1 90 COLOMBIA

l e - were defeated by Bolivar . As the fort is quite sma l , a sixt en sided a - st r , each side measuring twenty one feet , the fort itself only one s was hundred and twenty feet in diameter , it eems more likely that it ﬁv u defended by one hundred men than by e h ndred . In the fort is l the remains of a well . The stone wa l that surrounds the fort is from

u ﬁve s fo r to feet high on the inside , with a stone platform that enable i i a man to stand breast high be hind t . The l ttle enclosure is sur rounded by a moat that is at present ten feet deep and ﬁft een feet b l an across . It is situated on a i l that commands the town of Paya d

Loo xmo N W mom Y ORTH EST PA A.

th e b ut u also the road to Paramo of Pisva , is in its t rn commanded and by hills which rise back of it to the north east . The story goes that Santander took his soldiers along this ridge and lay in ambush a a in the densely wooded valley on th t side of the fort , while Boliv r

ad e m e a feign d attack in front followed by a hasty retreat , which enticed the Spaniards from their breastworks and gave Santander the opportunity to capture the fort from the rear .

The view is charming . The valley seems to be extremely fertile , but at present only supports a scattered population that live on little clearings in the forests . The country looks as though it might b e

1 9 2 COLOMBIA

u ing slowly over rocky ridges , and fording mo ntain torrents . In general the road was not as steep as yesterday . At times we passe d a b solitary huts built of dobe , with stone corners , as seems to e the custom hereabouts . Some of the mountain Indians have primitive

l - wooden rol ers for grinding sugar cane , worked by a hand windlass l not unlike a smal capstan . Almost the only animals we saw today th u were a few cows grazing on e sides of the mo ntains . f ’ We left Paya a little be ore eleven . Shortly after one o clock we climbe d up to a great terrace something like the one on which Paya is situated . The views on all sides were simply glorious and im possible to describe adequately . The mountains were very green r far as and forested to thei tops as we could see . The terraces in the w valleys were distinctly marked . The valley as deep b ut not wide

et are and its sides steep , y we saw no waterfalls , as there few rocky precipices and the watercourses are heavily wooded . Occasionally we caught a glimpse of the foamy white torrent of the Paya rushing along deep down in the valley .

s we About du k rode into the little village of Pisva , a collection of t t u thir y or forty adobe hu s , with grass roofs , inhabited by mo ntain A Indians who have a somewhat unsavoury reputation . few indi vid als f u were standing in the door of the principal shop , which o fered

a and for s le crude chocolate , stale bread , green plantains , raw sugar, a cheap cotton cloth in extremely limited qu ntities .

I asked to be directed to the alcalde , for whom I had a letter from

T h e the Prefect . shopkeeper replied sulkily that he had gone away ,

n r and se but a woman sta ding nea him , not in the cret , contradicted l was u him , said the a calde at home , and told me his ho se was a little

For was and farther ou. giving this information she promptly severely reproved . It was easy to see that the Indians were extremely suspicious of us ; several even closed the doors of their huts as we ’ was ff came along . The alcalde s hut in no way di erent from the l others , but just as dirty and smal . The door was open , however, and after some calling his wife appeared from a smaller h ut in the

us d an s . a back yard and bade enter make our elves at home The b re ,

ﬁlth was ﬁlled our dark, windowless , ylittle hut soon completely with

o luggage , hamm cks , and cot , and there was barely room for the raw hides on which Luis and his assistant arriero sleep . Soon after dark NUNCHIA TO THE PARAMO OF PISVA 1 93

H the alcalde appeared . e had presumably been hiding in the bushes until he had an Opportunity of sizing us up . His welcome was not

ofﬁcial o cordial , but he pretended to read the letter and so n provided us with se veral bowls of soup .

A ril 1 0th . p Pisva , like Paya , is situated on a terrace about four hundred feet above the bed of the river . There is a thatched church M h . w ich is in good repair , although no priest lives here any of the huts seem t o be unoccupied . During the day a number of Indian

hr l carriers passed t ough the vil age , some of them stopping to buy

PIS A Loo e o Wnsr wa nn . V ,

fi fift ee n b re sandals that are manufactured here and sold for cents , or fift T h d . e hats made of the same material , sold for ycents alcal e

- has a few hives of bees , and wax making is one of the local industries . h During the nig t , the church mule , which at some time in its career has had its ears clipped like a fox terrier , and seems to avoid the society of its fellows , left our mules and wandered so far into the forest that it was noon before it was found . How to secure fodder for the mules is becoming quite a problem . The grass here is so rank and poor that when they are tethered out to graz e during t h e 1 9 4 COLOMBIA

suﬁi cient and night , they fail to get food break away from their stakes u difﬁcult if they possibly can . We have fo nd it very to buy maiz e . Luis is terribly discouraged over the fearful roads and refuses to go on unless he can get some Indian carriers to help h im. The alcalde d ” promises to furnish ai tomorrow . It seems impossible to make i any k nd of progress over such a trail . No wonder that the Spaniards i thought Bol var could never bring an army this way. w a in u While e were w it g for the mule to be fo nd , the alcalde

brought me two specimens of iron pyrites , taken from a hill near

. s th e here , which he thinks are silver ore Josh spent la t night in d as hi s u le . Open , mule ref sed to carry him or even to be Josh has been so lazy and sulky of late that we thought he h ad decided to remain in the country and were somewhat surprised when he ’ appeared about one o clock with his mule . i The usual collection of inval ds came to Rice this afternoon,

u oﬁri w e n s . bringing eggs , s eet cassava , and crude s gar as g

r 1 th A p il 1 . We took pains last evening to have the mules tied a t h particular c re so as to get an early start , but in the night the church mule again broke his rope and Josh ’s mule disappeared like

o wise . It meant another delay , but both were found before no n , and their riders were able to overtake the caravan that started out about ’ u e s ten o clock . Luis s cceeded in securing the s rvices of four Indian who are to accompany us to the ﬁrst stopping-place on the other side

of the pass . The caravan is now led by an old Indian and a boy carrying light a ad loads , followed by a strong , young Indi n carrying a heavy lo and leading one of the cargo mules which has a particularly fragile cargo d including the photograph ic plates an the theodolite . I try to keep

near him so as to aid in case of trouble . Richard is supposed to be

not far behind me with the camera , and then come the other four

. r a pack mules each in charge of an arriero Rice brings up the e r , tw although Josh is likely to be a mile or o behind him . From Pisva the road continues to wind along the eastern side of An u a t the valley . ho r fter leaving the hamle the trail divides , the

a s P ancot e z u left p rt going acro s the valley to , a village of a do en h ts , P c each with its little patch of cultivated ground . From an ot e a trail a goes over the mountain to Labr nza Grande . We took the right

1 96 COLOMBIA

T ovacar - Beyond , the trail , only a foot path , became much worse , and we had repeatedly to stop and move large rocks or fallen trees in

order to enable the loaded mules to pass . It was slow work . The m and men had no axes but only their short achetes , no crowbars

except the branches of trees . The foliage about here is as much as possible like that in the mountains of the Hawaiian Islands : a drip u ping wet tropical forest . The slow condensation of vapo r goes on continuously . ’ l e About four o clock we reached Pueblo Viejo , a co lection of thre

little hovels , the very last habitations on the road to the Paramo of

Pisva . One contains primitive sleeping quarters for the three women A and the boy who live here . nother is barely large enough for our i l cargo and the men . The third s a ittle pigsty with a thatched roof

an . in very bad repair , but without sides or yshelter against the winds As the sty is not muddy and seems to have fewer ﬂeas than the other

use and out huts , Rice and I have decided to it ourselves keep the pigs . At one end of this settlement is an arrangement for extracting th e juice from sugar-cane that is as primitive as anything one could well

imagine . It consists simply of an upright carved post with a hole

it . in . Into the hole a stout lever and a stick of cane may be inserted u and Press re is applied to the lever the juice , forced from the cane , ’ runs down the front of the post , carved to resemble a man s face .

From the tip of the beard it trickles into a bowl beneath . I thought

h ad . I seen primitive methods before , but this beats them all h ad As there was absolutely no food to be at Pueblo Viejo , we

ﬁrst Rl were obliged , for the time since leaving Limbo , to use the provisions which the cowboy bought at Tame . The women here keep very busy , one weaving a hat , another spinning cotton , while the third k attends to coo ing whatever provisions the travellers bring with them .

A ril 1 2 th r u p . Fo a wonder the mules were all easily fo nd this ’ morning and we left at nine o clock . The trail plunged at once into of the thickest thick woods . Although it has not rained for several w as and . days , the path a brook the trees dripping wet It would be

almost impossible to exaggerate the difﬁcult ies of the march . We had to dismount frequently and the men worked very hard to get the a mules up the rocky , slippery trail . In places it was simply steep , NUNCHIA T O T HE PARAMO or PISVA 1 9 7

a w - w narrow st ir ay of moss covered rocks , with a stream of ater ﬂow ing down and jagged rocks projecting from its dripping sides . Day before yesterday the alcalde of Pisva sent six Indians to repair the w difﬁcult orst places . The chief yis that the path is too narrow for the loaded animals and at places is so steep and slippe ry that the

and an loads have to be taken ofithe mules carried up by h d . Even so the bags are getting terribly scratched and torn . At an altitude of seventy-five hundred feet we halted to allow the At - e u caravan to rest . the stopping place was a tr e surro nded with i our n i l ttle crosses , and each one of India s made a l ttle rustic cross ofierin while resting, which he deposited as an g to the genius of the f place that had permitted them to come this ar in safety . Portu

nat el . y, we have escaped any serious accidents About noon we left the dense forest behind us at an altitude of

- n u ed a am . ni ety seven h ndr feet , and came to the edge of the P r o

u s . A a Here we fo nd a ruined shelter four feet quare small sw mp ,

ff . fairly dry now , o ered good grass for the mules The worst of the w b ifﬁul as ut d c t m s . ascent over , a new yim ediately presented it elf The path entered a swampy region where the poor mules narrowly escaped be ing mired in thick treacherous mud . They be came t u ex remely nervous , plunged abo t in the bogs , and , although wearied ’

an . u by their long climb , were very hard to h dle Abo t four o clock we

a n reached a small plateau c lled Saba eta , where there is a wretched u and u s a of little shelter , about fo r feet high fo r feet qu re , built the l n trunks of a wild a oe that seems to be peculiar to the Par amo . O a neigh bo uring hillock we pitched a tent for the ﬁrst time since leaving

Carabobo .

The Paramo of Pisva is a portion of the cold , damp wilderness

a that occupies the summit of the Cordillera . Its main ch racteristics

o r ru are bleakness , damp chilly fogs, s lita y ponds , a sc bby growth of “ a u des on dw rfed and thorny plants, puddles of water , slo ghs of p little hillocks covered with coarse grass , and the absence of almost all i animal l fe . The little lakes in the clouds would be most attractive

u u aramo were the s rro ndings not so bleak and dismal . Properly the p begins and ends at the tree line . It is difﬁcult to reali z e that the hills which rise above the general level of the plateau are in reality peaks

a a of the Andes , twelve and fourteen thous nd feet above the se . 1 98 COLOMBIA

’ Josh s mule refused to carry h im today and looks as though it ’ a u h was going to die . Rich rd s m le as been falling away rapidly and M is now but the ghost of its former self . ymule seems to be fairly well and in good spirits and I have great hopes of getting him safely

r . Go i to the end of the jou ney In his report to the vernment , Bol var d all n a h is m state that he lost his a im ls and many of en. It looks as though he told the truth .

r 1 th A p il 3 . Soon after supper last evening a dismal chilling i d a n n an a u . was r i set kept up for sever l ho rs The cold intense , damp , and penetrating . We spent a miserable night , the most dis agreeable of the whole trip . I kept on all my clothes except my boots ad w and put on in dition two heavy s eaters . The three thicknesse s of my Jaeger blankets and four thicknesses of an army-blanket could u o t . so u not keep the cold It was penetrating I woke p repeatedly . u u None of s slept m ch . After midnight the clouds cleared away and a r At a - the st rs became wonderfully clear and b illiant . h lf past ° six the t hermometer registered 37 F but a thin skim of ice over the rain water in the cooking utensils showed that it had been lower ur d ing the night . Three arrieros slept in the little shelter , while the

r other Indians went off to a small cave nea b y. Some of the mules were allowed to go loose in order to find what grass and shelter they u our l . m co ld Two of the stayed by tent most of the night , nibb ing u it w a r n se . as clo aro nd It a pathetic f rewell pe forma ce , for they both collapsed in the course of the day and h ad to be abandoned in the a m h ad diflicult fire P ramo . This orning we great yin getting a a d as h was and was st rte , everyt ing drenching wet there very little h wood to be ad . From the dreary plateau of Sabaneta the trail climbed steadily and u higher and higher over slippery paths treachero s bogs , deeper ll into the mountain wilderness . A day long we followed a path along B r u r the ridges in a northerly direction . ynoon we su mo nted a idge s and apparently were looking down on the Sogamo o side of the Andes , b ut e i d l us the d ep , heav ly foreste va ley that lay beneath to the west

r w a was wa d as in reality part of the Orinoco system , lthough it almost i u impossible to realize t . The wind blew the clouds rapidly p the valley and abo ut us. Our Indian s pointed out one of the lakes we passed as being the

2 00 COLOMBIA

shelter and close th e rawhide door to keep out the cold night

wind . e us u The family shar d with their s pper of cracked wheat , gruel , d m ed an di inutive boiled potatoes , to which they add a roast fowl

. H which we bought Rice was not able to eat anything . e had a

frightful headache all day long and was very sick this evening . The

r negroe s did not put in an appea ance . We feel as though we were at last in a position to appreciate the tremendous difﬁcult ies which were overcome by the soldiers of Boli h ad var and Santander . They to suffer a combination of h ardships a that has rarely been equ lled in military history . The length of their march ; the poverty of the coun try ; their inadequate equipment ; the loss of all their sad dle and pack animals ; intense heat and penetrating cold every twenty-four hours ; a region infested with mal aria ; a season a a of torrential r ins on the Ll nos and of snow , ice , and hail in the

a w Paramo ; a route that led them through d ngerous s amps , across

ﬂooded r n ﬁnall rivers , over bu ning plains , into tropical ju gles , and y h u over a mountain pass t irteen tho sand feet high . Seldom have h men been called on to overcome such obstacles . Add to t ese the

a - n f ct that they were half starved , their o ly food for weeks at a an time being freshly killed beef , and that they were approaching n and a e emy that outnumbered them , one c nnot but marvel at their

courage and admire the tenacity of purpose that upheld them . CHAPTER XI

FROM THE P ARAMO or PI S VA TO PANTANO DE VARGAS

’ r th n Ap il 1 4 . About nine o clock this mor ing Josh and Richard

came limping alone down the valley . It had been quite impossible

For for them to keep up with the procession yesterday . several a ﬁnall u hours the Indi ns had helped them along , but ygave it p and a left them behind . They lost their ro d and spent a wretched night

ﬁr h e . ad on the Paramo . They had neither , shelter nor food They used up their matches on cigarettes and h ad none left when night

fell . Their mules had given out during the day , lying down in their

r u tracks , utterly unable to come a step fa ther , and had been nsaddled

and left in the mountain wilderness . ’ We were able today to appreciate some of the joys of Bolivar s s a oldiers when they . descended from the P ramo and came into the

ﬁe lds -fed beautiful valley of the Sogamoso , with its fertile and well inhabitants . It prese nted a scene of great beauty this morning .

Every available square rod seemed to be under cultivation . The ’ l - u se . labo rer s hou s are we l built , mostly of adobe with red tiled roofs Threshing ﬂoors are abundant and occasionally we saw a group of men , women , horses , and mules engaged in threshing and treading ll out wheat or barley . The road was actua y wide enough for two

ad a a l lo ed animals to p ss , notwithstanding the stone or dobe wal s on each side . So rich is the land and so dense the population compared with

se anything we have en yet that a new element came into the view , walls and small enclosures . High up on the sides of the great valley , fences are built of bundles of fagots laid between small poles . They

inﬂammab le s h look rather , but erve to keep out the numerous s eep that roam wherever they can to pick up a living .

ﬂowers New , new birds , and new sights were a great relief to the ’

b ut . eye , most pleasant of all were the signs of man s industry We

2 0 ! 2 0 2 COLOMBIA have been so many weeks without this that it seemed as though we

. sun had come into a new world The air was very clear , the shone

and u l dreari brightly , the charm of the great c ltivated val ey after the can ness of the Llanos and the Paramo never be forgotten . How it must have cheered the hearts of the weary soldiers of the Liberating Army ! About noon we came to a little wayside tavern or Ch iche ria as it is s h called here , and bought ome delicious bread and c eese , the best A bread we have tasted since leaving New York . crowd of Sunday

Ch ich eria idlers were drinking and gambling in and about the , and although they were very curious they gave us a cordial welcome and seemed to know who we were . Rice was besieged all along the road m u by the la e , the halt and the blind who had heard of his wonderf l h i a n cures in Nunc a . They c me ru ning down the sides of the moun tains to accost him and get one of his wonderful prescriptions . Poor

r n s ed Rice , wo n out by his recent ill es , would have lik to escape from

' r suﬁe rers th e the unfo tunate , but they knelt on road in front of his d mule an wept until he gave them one of the magic pieces of paper .

ﬁfteen Some , hearing of his approach , had come ten or miles to be cured .

th e Socota , a pretty little village on the northeastern slope of great

ed us and t valley , almost entic to leave our road rest here . but we

o ue va turned s uth instead and reached Laguna Seca , or Socha N , as ’

o o . m it is s metimes called , ab ut four o clock The alcalde was po pous and oiﬁcious e d , but s eme to be hospitably disposed , and placed his

our . lodgings at service His home is in Socha Viejo , where he occupies a house in which it is said Bolivar had his headquarters after coming through the Paramo . The Sunday crowd in the plaz a was rather drunk b ut not dis

e an n u us orderly , although it manifest d i ordinate c riosity regarding w - that as most annoying . I sat on the door step of our lodgings to n rest in the fresh air . In fro t of me stood a solid wall of inquisitive

s nd citizen whispering a watching . They seemed to think it rude to

a and . talk above a whisper , but most amiable to st nd stare A gentleman of leisure who lives on the Opposite corner invited ’ us th e st l , at alcalde s reque , to take our mea s with him while we

- o a and are here . His dining r om is cold and d mp we were almost

2 0 4 COLOMBIA

have been . Rice told the mother that the blindness might have

been cured had the trouble been treated in time , but that there was w — . as us no hope now It a rather harrowing half hour for all of , a except the two fowls , who m de themselves quite at home cackling

ﬂoor and scratching in the dirt of our room . The al calde asked if he might bring the doctor a number of poor

n a people , who were ill enough to be sent to the e rest hospital if they ’ iﬁ ” u cert cate . co ld only get a doctor s As there is no physician here , he said it seemed providential that these unfortunates could at

last be furnished with the requisite pape rs . Rice told him to bring i n . them along . Presently four wretches were ushered Not till then h were we told that they were lepers . Rice examined t em and de clared that they h ad nothing worse than sundry disgusting skin w d . o ar s diseases . But they were not pleasant guests T evening

one of the chief citiz ens of the town was brought in for examination .

He , too , was supposed to have leprosy , but his trouble turns out to be

only an eruption of the skin .

r h ﬁ A il 1 6t . n w e . as p Another clear , day We rose early , but it

nearly four hours before the caravan was ready to start . No one who h as not been through it can understand how it can possibly take so i . t long to catch , saddle , and load a few mules Such del beration exis s

am . a in no other part of the world , I sure Even Polynesi ns when they have something o n hand to be done move with comparatively

- lightning like rapidity . Truly the main requisite for travelling here

is patience . ad The ro from New Socha to Old Socha is a fairly wide trail ,

and s an rocky steep in places , quite impa sable for ykind of wheeled u a t n vehicles , but so m ch wider th n any hing we had seen for a lo g ’ me t a time that it seemed like a king s highway. We m ny people on

the way , most of them in rags and tatters . The view to the west across the great valley of the Sogamoso was

niﬁ nt s x and mag ce . There were very few trees to be een e cept poplars

- an occasional eucalyptus . We saw se veral old fashioned ploughs in

use . , the same pointed sticks that have served since time immemorial u With one hand on the plo gh and the other goading his yoke of oxen , the farmer scratch es the surface of the ground sufﬁcient lyto plant

w - 0 e . his cr ps . We pass d on the road several ater power gristmills FROM PARAMO OF PISVA TO PANTANO DE VARGAS 2 0 5

Two wretched women ran all the way to Old S ocha in front of us t his morning, by order of the alcalde , to be examined for leprosy . o They had no trace of the dread disease , but one l oked like a witch h b and the other ad a syphilitic nose . They were outcasts ut not r w lepers . The people hereabouts seem to be quite ca ried a ay with h as b ad k the idea that every one who a s in disease is a leper . We w al sa no actu leprosy in this valley .

a d us u e The alc lde ro e with to his ho s in Old Socha, where he

us un gave some hot chocolate and b s , and explained that we were in us H the very ho e where Bolivar wrote his dispatches . e then kindly accompanied us for a short distance out of the village before announ u i - . b cing his intention of ret rn ng We halted to say good y, when he us d ﬁft gave to understand that we owe him some money ; namely , y cents for our arriero because he h ad slept on the ﬂoor of the hall with la our H our . e luggage , and one dol r for own board explained that

o ur and so u own room was free al corn for our mules , in ret rn for ’ “ ” Rice s free dispensary and the diagnosis of numerous leprosy As th ase . e no c c s a matter of fact even inns make harge for a room , I t b ut only for food . is the custom of the country to give shelter urt h rm r whenever it is requested . F e o e we had been entertained as h ad guests at a private house . The alcalde craftily waited until he had got all the medical advice free and could not possibly get any more before he said a word ab out these ridiculous little charges ; ut b . petty graft , annoying, not serious In the middle of the afternoon we came in sight of the town of

' At a Tasco . a dist nce it seemed to be most attractive with its white

. On was walls, red roofs , and white church towers the hillside above w a cemetery enclosed with a circular adobe wall . As as to be ex ’ ect ed a a p , however , Tasco s attraction v nished on closer acquaint nce r and we did not st0p . Fo weeks every town that we have seen h as

a so me nt a stay of one or two nights , sometimes more , we quite e njoyed the novel sensation of h urrying through the village without even alighting for a meal . We knew it was still some distance to

as ad a Corrales , but the ro was so much better th n anything we have i h ad since leaving the plains , we determ ned to risk going as far as possible before dark .

We saw many evidences of the religious feelings of the people . 2 06 COLOMBIA

o n ﬂowers Roadside crosses , s metimes made of palm bra ches and ,

. Ou l probably erected on the last Holy Day , were common the wal s “ ” “ s M u of hou es , the words Viva aria or Viva Jes s occasionally appeared . Imposing roadside gateways are becoming a conspicuous feature in n . of the la dscape There is little individuality their design , the only di fference between the gates being in the care with which they i a t z . al are m de , the present sta e of repa r , and their si e In gener , the and i th e e al r u posts l ntel are of adobe , gate its lf of vertic ba s of ro ghly

d . no hewn woo Sometimes there is a gate when there is fence , but in this country of many sheep , fences and walls are very frequent .

Most of the gates have rude crosse s attached to them . ’ five fine h acienda About o clock we came to a , large or farmhouse , surrounded by rich fie lds of maize where scores of labourers were i h i ’ t fin s ng the day s work . Luis hought we had better stop here for h the night , but we were refused s elter in truly civilized fashion . It

ﬁrst d us al is the time that such a thing has happene , and it made re ize ﬁnd that we are at last out of the wild s . Hoping to a roadside tavern T h we went on as rapidly as possible . e road wound along the side

o of the great treeless Sogamos valley , continually traversing lateral ﬁnall ridges , climbing and descending , until yit descended rapidly to the level of the river in a gorge of great natural beauty. We crossed w the stream on a high , narrow bridge ith no railing on either side .

conﬁned w The roaring torrent , bet een precipitous hills , was very impressive in the moonlight . Beyond the gorge we came out on a little meadow where the river was lined with a few stately poplars .

Altogether it was a romantic scene . ’ We reached Corrales between seven and eight o clock and found one of our two arrieros at a wretched ch ich eria frequented by the u u d . us an lowest class of travellers The odo rs were too m ch for , we ’

ed b e a . ask to taken to the lcalde s As it was after dark , he was sus picious and not inclined to do more for us than to direct that our a and mules should be sent to his pasture , for he is the loc l stableman , ﬁlt h o r . that we should g back to the dirty , ylittle tave n Luis arrived an hour later . It was then discovered that each arriero thought the l other had three mu es while he had only two , and in the darkness the best white mule with the most precious part of the luggage had

2 0 8 COLOMBIA

E Y - T H V ALLE BELOW C onnamzs .

se e for some di as or other , leprosy perhaps , but Rice was so dis

w our u d s gusted ith s rroun ings , the way the last alcalde had robbed u , and the extremely inhospitable reception by this one last evening, that he declined to make any examination for less than “ ten dollars ” a as gold , paid in adv nce . That ended his career a travelling physician , and we had no more patients . The travelling free dis

ensar u . p ybusiness had become a great n isance , but at last it is over

r t h w l - A il 1 8 . p The alcalde , in bro n woo len poncho , high crowned

ﬁb re our panama hat , dark blue striped trousers and sandals , attended

n n ff us o t departure with dignity this mor i g , but did not o er to escort u H of the town . e came in fact solely in his character as livery stable

furnish us e keeper , to with two hors s for the negroes to ride from here to Boyaca and to collect the charges for the pasture of our mules .

We met many pack trains today , mostly of mules laden with salt from the government mines at Zipaquira . We passed many diminu sheep , sometimes tied or hobbled , sometimes shepherded by tive boys and girls or haggard old women . The word shepherdess has a romantic ﬂavour and is not at all appropriate to the horrible old hags

our that tend sheep here . Rice and I agreed that we had never in FROM PARAMO OF PISVA TO PANTANO DE VARGAS 2 09

M lives se en so many ugly women as we have today . ost of them are

w . in wretched rags . All seemed to be hard at ork Some women

ﬁe lds were helping the labourers in the , while others were spinning

wool by hand in the manner seen in the valley of Paya , where the

women spin cotton . Between eleven and twelve we saw women

caldo bringing black pots of , a kind of vegetable soup or potpourri ,

ﬁe lds o to their husbands who were at work in the , and to the scho l o children at recess . With each pot they brought a w oden spoon and a shallow bowl of native pottery picturesquely marked with green

and blue enamel .

P ort reros or paddocks are very frequent , and every inch of ground between the rocky , barren hills and the swamps in the centre of the valley seems to be utilized for agriculture or pasturage . Judg ing from the extreme ﬂat ness of the valley and the abrupt way in

s v which the hills rise from its edge , it look ery much as though it s must once have been a great lake , in fact in the rainy eason much

m a of it beco es a l ke .

T H E AT N BS A PLAZA O .

The chief features of the landscape are the t all poplars and adobe

are At fences . The mountains bare of trees . times the view reminds

r F u one of Southe n rance , particularly on acco nt of the long lines of poplars . Shortly before reaching Nobsa , a dilapidated old town , once 2 1 0 COLOMBIA

e . important but now quite decayed , we saw a barb d wire fence It looked entirely out of place ; the adobe walls seem to be so much more apprOprt at e . From Nob sa the view of the city of Sogamoso on the east side of th e t h u h valley is quite attractive . The glis ening w ite towers of its ch rc es ad rise above the green trees that sh e the streets . We should like to i l visit t , but as we are endeavouring to follow the principa route of s a th e army we must pa s it by and likewise S nta Rosa , the capital of

ndama us. the Province of T u , which lies on the hills northwest of

T H E V EY 0 1? 1 11 1: S oc mroso W Non n ALL , BELO s .

Passing through Nobsa we came before long to a cart road wh ich u o President Reyes is b ilding from Sogamos to Duitama . We h ad i u heard great tales of t . To our intense s rprise we found it to be a

ﬁne ed w really macadamiz road , twenty feet ide , well constructed and ll laid out with considerable engineering ski . The section nearest

s ed d Sogamo o was not complet , but for several miles we rode in a mira w F tion over a highway that ould have been a credit even to rance .

Few can it country roads in the United States compare with . Trees had been planted on the hillsides above it to prevent landslips . It was well drained and the grade was very easy . Work is still progress ing and it gives an earnest of better davs for Colombia .

2 1 2 COLOMBIA

He ad brothers in their explorations . is said to have m e a fortune He by his discoveries in the Amazon region . was recently pe rmitted to return to Colombia and is once more enjoying the beauties of his fertile native valley . We are to visit his estate tomorrow . h ﬁve A 2 0t . m Accompanied by four or gentlemen of Duita a , ’ n including the road engineer and one of the President s u cles , we visited today the vale of Bonza and the battle - neld of Pantano de

Vargas . A h as w new road been built along the edge of s amps , while the

d l . F old one , still use by horsemen , goes over a hil rom its top we At i got a ﬁne view of the valley . the foot of the hill l es the Casa de ﬁn - Bonza . Here we entered an enclosure where a number of e look ing cows were being milked and where we were met b y a few gentle men who h ad gathered for th e purpose of showing us the points of

od . historic interest in the neighbourho The house , which is be ing repaired and restored to its original splendour by our friend the

azo v Am nian explorer , is that ery Casa de Bonza where Bolivar had his headquarters during the days preceding the battle of Pantano de

two Vargas . It is of stories , built around three sides of a court , the fourth side left Open to allow all the rooms to take advantage of the u h be autiful view across the valley to the so th . It was once t e home e of a Spanish marquis who espous d the cause of Independence .

o a After s me light refreshments , including huge gl sses of fresh , “ ” ilk off n warm m and ponies of three star Hennessey , we started o “ ” u our historical picnic . Among those who had joined s at the villa were three worthies from the town of Paipa . One of them , a stout an u old gentleman with imperial , was the perfect co nterpart of many s - l a outhern planter , while another , a huge , broad shouldered , a most

n wit t h e deformed gia t , was the of the party and centre of consider

l . a able rail ery With a large he d set close to tremendous shoulders , i thick l ps protruding from under a heavy moustache , and a straggly , H d d i . e wiry beard , he looke l ke Vulcan ro e a splendid white horse like the general of a great army .

ﬁrst Thus escorted we went to the spot called Corral de Bonza , where the Spaniards had an outpost from which they were driven t some days before the more impor ant battle of Pantano de Vargas .

e a known Crossing a bridge ov r the Sog moso , now quite small and as FROM PARAMO OF PISVA TO PANTANO DE VARGAS 2 1 3

h the Rio Grande , we were told that at the time of the battle it was muc swollen and Bolivar required over forty rafts to ferry his soldiers

across . It was not a long ride from here to a little adobe h ouse said to ’ have been Bolivar s headquarters during the battle of Pantano de

Vargas . The house is occupied by a modest gentleman of moderate a a me ns , whose resources were somewhat strained by the invasion of dozen historical enthusiasts , but he did nobly , and although the assignment of scrambled egg was about one teaspoonful to each

111: P r x r P A AT R L N ZA T c c RTY COR A DE BO .

o pers n , we all had plenty to eat , especially as the humorous giant

a O - e of the p rty pened his saddle bags and brought out cold potato s ,

s n s . We t h e ardi es , and hunk of boiled beef were shown spots on

e a so ﬂoor said to have b en m de by the blood of wounded ldiers , and a large wooden se ttee on which gallant Colonel Rook of the British

Legion was laid when he had his arm amputated after the battle , and on which he died . More interesting than these relics was a manuscript which had y b . been brought one of the gentlemen from Paipa His father , Don ’ a ll Elias Prieto Villate , lately deceased , m de his life s work the co ect ing of evidence for an authentic history of the two battles of Pantano 2 1 4 COLOMBIA

de Vargas and Boyaca . His admirers claim that the manuscript was begun the day after the battle and ﬁnish ed shortly before the old - v H w ﬁ . e as gentleman died , a year ago , at the age of eighty e born a couple of years after the events took place and says in his preface “ ” that he began collecting data about the battles at an early age .

a l The manuscript is full of interesting particul rs and minute detai s , and as the old antiquary took pains to record the sources from which

f n e a he derived his in ormatio , it s ems to be more reli ble than any u other acco nt .

' - ’ ' T 11 13 B Ar rrn rru n or P AN I ANO DE V ARGAS .

After lunch Vulcan put on h is spectacles and read aloud to us

page after page of the precious manuscript . The reading threatened

so to take up the entire afternoon , we had to interrupt in order to

- spend some time on the battle ﬁe ld and se e things for ourse lves . The road from Duitama to Tunja “via Toca is at this point e x w w t re me lynarrow by reason of a steep hill on the east and a ide s amp ,

h o v rv V . T e e the Pantano de argas , on the west Spaniards to k up a n ﬁe rce l stro g position , but the British Legion attacked so ythat the result was a drawn battle . In the darkness , however , the Spanish

General Barreiro decided to withdraw to Paipa . Bolivar was thus

e left free to march to Tunja and thus get betwe n Barreiro and Bogota .

CHAPTER XII

FROM PANTANO DE VARGAS 1 0 Bon d

' T HE battle-field of Pantano de Vargas ofiers none of the difficulties that we encountered at Carabobo . The country is ope n and rather fild w i barren . The e of action as quite l mited and there does not se em to b e much chance for a variety of opinion . We completed our study of the battle-field late in the afternoon and went to Paipa over

r a in r the same o d that Barreiro followed his etreat . It passes over ﬁe ld l the barren hills west of the of action , descends a hil where h as r e l erosion laid ba e b ds of wonderful y variegated clays , and

se e traver s a valley , celebrated for its hot springs , b fore it reaches the k outskirts of Paipa . Our ind friends from Duitama and Casa de -ﬁld Bonza returned from the battle e by the way they came . The three ’ us from Paipa escorted over the route of Barreiro s retreat .

ma niﬁcent n se hacie nda In the valley we passed a g cou try at or , i built in the Spanish style in the m ddle of a treeless plain . The estab i h m nt w l s e as complete from stable to chapel . The various build ings were most picturesq uely grouped and joined by covered

. was l C passages It a marvel ous combination of courts and loisters , pillared balconies and graceful arches ; the whole covered with rich red tiles that harmoniz ed wonderfully with the many-coloured clays in the surrounding hills . The sky line was perfectly fascinating .

A e h acienda n mile b yond this are the hot spri gs of Paipa . They k are heavily charged with sulphate of sodium . Rice tried to ta e the

e temp rature of the water , forgetting that his thermometer did not ° a 1 h 1 F . e re d above 5 T e result was a broken bulb . It s ems curious

that there is no thermal establishment here . In a cold , damp climate

h . like this , one would t ink that hot baths would be well patronized A small plant which once did a good business providing sodium sul phate for the factories that make be er bottles for the brewery in Bogota came to grief in the last revolution and is st ill in ruins as the so ldiers

2 1 6 FROM PANTANO DE VARGAS T O BOYACA 2 1 7

i si niﬁcant ﬁrst r left t . It is rather g that the sign of mode n business enterprise which we have seen in this country should be the ruins of a an factory destroyed in the course of a revolution . Is there ybetter answer to the question why these countries are still far behind in the ? race of civili z ation Until capitalists can be sure that revolutions

few w are a thing of the past , ill have the temerity to erect factories i or import machinery l kely to be the sport of soldiers . President m Reyes has a hard proble on his hands , but seems to be solving it so can admirably , far as one judge by the new roads and the general

evidences of quiet and prosperity . us d - Our Paipa friends piloted to a very goo hotel , a two story

' ﬁair a as a where we have m de ourselves comfortable as possible , con side ringthe fact that our baggage animals are miles away and we shall

have to use the bedding provided by the hotel . In other words , it will

all . be scratch , scratch , scratch night long Luis , Josh , and the pack

a n . mules left Duitama this morning, taking the main ro d to Tu ja

We expect to overt ake them tomorrow . This evening we met a German who says he originated and

r He e managed the sulphate of sodium plant at the hot sp ings . s ems

much discouraged although he talks of renewing business soon . He is the second German we have seen since leaving nort hern Vene

z uela . , the other being a commercial traveller at Nunchia The Soup habit continues in full force ; the custom of the be tter v t wo class of inns hereabouts being to ha e one soup for breakfast , n soups for lu ch , and three soups or stews for dinner . The latter meal ﬁv generally consists of e courses .

A r z p il rst . As we left Paipa this morning the country people M were thronging into town for early mass . ost of them were on f w ﬁ a foot ; a very e were riding. One ne lady was on the most g ily was appointed side saddle or sofa saddle that I have ever seen . It shaped like a small se ttee and was upholstered and bedecked with

many tasse ls .

a l h aciend Occasion l y we passed an attractive a . The road is for T h the most part quite level and rather monotonous . e hills on each side are bare of trees and se rve mostly as pasturage for large ﬂocks

of sheep . Birds are infrequent . The general aspect of the region

e is not one of wildness . The plateau plainly b ars the marks of an 2 1 8 COLOMBIA ancient civilization that for centuries has cultivated the available

. is lands . We are now on the main highway of the plateau It t a passable for car s from Bogot , north to the frontier at Cucuta , so

e s we are told . Although a large part of it is macadamiz d , it is u ed ch ie ﬂyby pack trains and we met only one cart today . Just before ” reaching Tunja we passed a treasure lake that is being exploited and dredged by American capital . It is said to have been here that the ancient Indian kings of Tunja took their annual gold baths and w th re objects of gold into the lake . ’ ﬁv n We reached Tunja about e o clock . From a dista ce it is

t . a picturesque , as it lies on the slope of a hill facing the nor h Its m ny

ﬁne church towers are very conspicuous and it looks like a city , but

s a e filt h t oo on clo er acquaint nce th re is too much dirt and , many bad smells and unpleasant sights . The German we met yesterday directed us to a clean little ” - H boarding house kept by two worthy old maids . e said the hotels here were proverbially bad and the little boarding-house was much ifli fidi the best place to stay . We had some d cultyin n ng it and by the time we reached its portals were followed by a crowd of fiftyor

- sixty half tipsy Sunday loafers . Accordingly it was not strange

s e that the proprietre s , who stood like a dragon by the door , refus d to have any parley with us or ad mit us to shelter. We were then directed ﬁlt h to the Hotel Boyaca , but the yard was yand its looks were against w A it e . , so went in search of another inn small hotel was pointed

us out to on the plaza and we tried to get accommodations there , but

wa were refused . It s not surprising . We had neither of us been ’ n ﬁrst s h in a barber s ha ds since the of January , and our curl , thoug F e . long and picturesq ue , w re not civilized urthermore , four months of roughing it had not improved the appearance of our riding togs . l We did look rather like brigands , a though we long ago packed away h our guns . There ad been almost nothing to shoot since we left

Pore . In addition to our disreputable appearance the rapidly increasing crowd of Sunday drunks at our heels was enough to make any respect

us. able hotel proprietor chary of Suddenly , as if in protest against ’ 5 our treatment , Rice mule , the one with the clipped ears , lay

w e in t h e e do n like a cam l front of inn , greatly to the amusem nt of

2 2 0 COLOMBIA

sufferer and put his heel into a splint , a heavy shower came up and l e . delayed us for a couple of hours , making the road very s ipp ry

i ’ When we were readyto start , Josh took R chard s quiet little nag , u while Richard with my camera mo nted the other beast , who soon

. e began to slide , plunge , and rear on the muddy road The performanc FROM PANTANO DE VARGAS T O BOYACA 2 2 1

l s e nded by horse , rider , and camera fal ing with a cra h into the gutter. i It looked l ke a bad accident , but luckilyno one was hurt , not even

the camera . We reached an excellent inn near the famous bridge of Boyaca

in the middle of the afternoon . It is just sixteen kilometres from

Tunja .

r 2 d d Ap il 3 . There are three roads from Paipa to Bogota an the

. s south . One , the best , goes through Tunja Another pas es west of

Tunja and is separated from it by a high ridge . As Bolivar by

ﬁrst se r occupying Tunja had control of the of the , Barreiro endeavou ed

a t to reach the capital by the next best . The two ro ds meet a the r bridge over the Boyaca river . The abutments of the old bridge a e

l ﬁne e u stil to be seen , but a new bridge has b en built a hundred feet p s as stream . The stream is not large and is ea ily forded at this se on

r w of the year . Its banks are pa tly covered ith tall ferns and thick

bushes . It is a most romantic spot . Hills covered with ferns and dense foliage rise steeply on both

s t w side of the li tle stream of the Boyaca above and belo the bridge . It must have been almost impossible to climb the hills on either side

ﬁr ﬁ in the face of any kind of e . Barreiro reached the bridge rst and

stopped for lunch . As a result he had hardly got his army across

before they were attacked by the patriot troops . Patriot horsemen found a ford lower down the stream and attacked the Spaniards on ﬂank and rear as they were attempting to defend the passage of the

bridge from the heights on the south side of the stream . The British Legion then made a bold attack on the centre and caused a com

l t ﬁ r e e . of ce s and s p rout Barreiro , his a large number of his oldiers were taken prisoners and the Colombi an War of Independence was

practically over . According to the old antiquary of Paipa , Bolivar was at breakfast in Tunja during the battle , and arrived here barely ’ in time to receive Barreiro s surrender . ﬁh t The g was short , sharp , and bloody . Had Barreiro defended the lower ford and entrenched himself on the hills he might have held the position long enough to make good his retreat to Bogota . He did have some light artillery on one of the hills and it required no little bravery on the part of the British Legion to make the frontal

a . e ttack However , the Spaniards had b en badly demoralized by the 2 2 2 COLOMBIA

CHAPTER XIII

FROM THE B RIDGE or BOYACA r o Boc orli

A ril 2 11 osada p 3 We left the p after lunch , crossed the

and . a new bridge climbed out of the vallev The ro d is good , but the l hil tops have much of the characteristic aspect of a paramo , stunted

and k . ul vegetation , no trees , a chilling blea ness Our cargo m es seemed to have recovered entirely from their mountain climbing and ’ reeled otf ﬁve kilometres an hour on the macadamized cart road with i d fﬁc ult . t little y After passing this little paramo , we wen down into

l and a another valley , sti l in the Orinoco system , came to a be utiful region dotted with numerous farms and giving every sign of being a

ar prosperous agricultural district . F ahead we could see a rather T w forbidding mountain pass . o thousand feet below it in a valley

urme ue - a nestled T q , a medium sized town , but the ro d crept along the edge of the valley and did not descend to the town . an in l We stopped at excellent cal ed La Cascada . The ordinary

S e h is ﬁrst traveller from Tunja to Bogota p nds night here , unless he has to travel slowly with pack mules . The people of the inn were unusually obliging although we reached there some time after dark .

' r 2 - ﬁir n Ap il 4112 . La Cascada is a one story a a built arou d a t t pretty cour in which are blossoming viole s , poppies , various kinds of geraniums , pansies , roses , daisies , lilies , verbenas , iris , and carna tions ; altogether quite a gay and festive sight . ’ The popular drinks in this region are Hennessey s one star brandy ,

uam o ch ich a lager beer brewed by Germans in Bogota , and g p or , a ﬁlth ynative barley beer drunk in immense quantities by the lower classes . Soon after leaving the inn we climbed the cold paramo to an alti

few tude of nine thousand six hundred and ﬁftyfeet . There were e all tre s to be seen , but sheep were abundant and nearly the women

2 2 4 ’ ‘ FROM T HE BRIDGE o r BOYACA T O BOGO I A 2 2 5

we met were S pinning wool b yhand in the ancient manner . Black sheep are in demand , as the natives prefer black wool for their w ﬂ k t o r oc . ponchos . Nearly thirds of eve y are black

xt b r We passed an e raordinary number of egga s , in fact the road i se emed to be lined w th them . Their little thatched shelters appeared

m . at al ost every turn Some had loathsome diseases , while others appeared to have nothing wrong with them . Their whining requests u us . followed for miles Another c ltivated valley , another stream , bi l more barren l s or rather treeless mountain tops , another paramo

- e at a height of ninety six hundr d feet , and we left the basin of the a l Orinoco and descended gr dually into a sti l more fertile valley , part o f the plateau of Bogota. u Two wandering musicians with g itars , whom we overtook , kept up a weird instrumental duet as they walked along mile after mile .

At ﬁrst it was rather pleasant but it soon be came very monotonous . s The mules would not walk fast enough to get ahead of the noi e , and it did not seem to b e worth while to wait and let the noise get ahead f F t u r o us. or nately , the energetic musicians stopped at a tave n t h h when ev reached the wretched village of Hato Viejo , w ile we pushed on to Choconta . O ur appearance makes the proprietors of respectable hotels shy of us . The cross old woman in charge of the inn at Choconta said d h all s . the room were taken We insiste on aving quarters , however , us t and at last she assigned a cell that had neither light nor ven ilation .

s - o This we refu ed point blank , and were given a very go d room and

inn us good food . The crowd that gathered in front of the to watch unload was rather insolent and allowed their curiosity to get the better of their manners . We are not getting very favourable impres sions of th ese interior cities .

A ril 2 ih e p 5 . We have repeatedly noticed the abs nce of games

t u . since leaving nor hern Venezuela , where bowling was very pop lar But here at Choconta we saw both men and boys playing the old fashioned ball and cup game . The plaza has a public fountain where water-c arriers go to ﬁll their casks by means of bamboos with which they guide the water from the upper part of the fo untain into the cask . Near the fountain it u s the pedlers of green fodder . They have to keep a watchf l eye 2 2 6 COLOMBIA

’ on the water-c arriers hungry donkeys who stand near by waiting for ﬁl d their casks to be le . The people we se e are roughly divided into two classe s : hard

and l th e working peons , generally polite ob iging, who toil all day in

ﬁe lds ad s or carry heavy loads on the ro s , topping only for their ” ” soup from eleven to eleven -thirty ; and the townies or smarties -w who feel quite superior to their hard orking countrymen . They

ud e are very r e , s em to have nothing to do except to laugh at one ’ n ff a other s witticisms , never o er to help an arriero who is in trouble

a n with his loads , and are altogether the most dis greeable perso s we

rn v have met on our jou e . w n h . The arrieros are not attractive in appeara ce , but t ey ork hard n Their costume is early always the same , a coarse woollen poncho h w reac ing below the elbo s , cheap cotton pantaloons rolled up above the knees out of the mud in the highway , sandals to keep the soles of “ ” e - their feet from getting cut and bruis d , and high crowned panama

a a hats . Each c rries a whip m de of six feet of rawhide with a yellow d n woo en ha dle nearly a yard long .

As we were leaving Choconta this morning , we saw a man carry ﬁ rst . ing an umbrella , the seen in several months Somehow it looked strangely out of place . When it rains , the poncho which every one

0 5 wears here to keep heat and cold , dust and showers , protects

ff so everything but the hat . Those who can a ord to do have little oil-silk slips with which they cover their hats as soon as the ﬁrst drops begin to fall . We left Josh and Richard at Boyaca to wait for horse s which we n e gaged for them in that vicinity . They have not caught up with us yet , but it is quite a relief to be free from hearing their hourly

. On complaints . They are not enjoying Colombia the Llanos negroes are rare and we saw none in the villages east of the mountains . Although our men attracted considerable notice it was of a pleasant

o inh ab i s rt , quite in accordance with the friendly disposition of the l t h e tants . But here on the plateau many people are real y rude , and poor blacks are frequently hooted at in the streets of the cities . In Corrales a crowd of boys followed Josh wherever he went and de i mob lighted in annoying him . In Duitama and in Nobsa a howl ng

e w followed him about all the time . In Ven zuela he as very proud

2 2 8 COLOMBIA

ul ’ li at times the mud was up to the m es bel es . Before long we off turned sharply to the right , leaving the main cart road , in order to reach the Northern Railroad which has recently been extended

b e a beyond Zipaq uira . It was quite exciting to so ne r a railroad and we almost jumped from our saddles when we heard the shrill

t off screech of a steam whis le not far . It turned out to b e a steam

h . t reshing machine , much to our disappointment

r During the afte noon we had heavy showers , the roads grew worse , d an one of the pack mules threatened to give out . Rice and I went ahead with the other four and left Luis to coax the tired animal along as best he could .

After climbing over a steep ridge , we entered Nemocon . It has ” e three or four hotels , but we were direct d by some wag to a very

oseda . i humble p kept by two old ladies They were most obl ging , “ however , and made no pretence that their establishment was ocu ” h ad d inn pado . Hardly we reache the when a smart young horse man rode up to Rice and in a few words of broken English told h im “ ” r e and ff our man had hu t himself , laugh d immoderately rode o .

He was gone before we could question him . As Luis did not arrive we were forced to the conclusion that he h ad probably been kicked by the tired mule and taken refuge in some roadside tavern .

l and r e The rai road station ya d is not yet complet d here , but a ’ in work tra leaves every morning at six o clock for Zipaquira , whence there is a daily train to Bogota . This we might expect to catch tomorrow were Luis here with the other load . As it is we are within hearing of the train and yet seem destined to remain for an indeﬁnite r period . Josh and Richard have not appea ed but they have money enough to reach Bogota alone .

A r ar n p il There e ma y evidences of prospe rity in Nemocon .

o ada The barroo m of the little p s is crowded every night . Large

n h h a a qua tities of c ic are brewed daily in the b c k yard . All the local peons are hard at work under Colombian overseers building t h e rail road station and the yards . Considerable other building is going A on . Two new hotels have just been completed . new transpor t at ion company has opened oﬁices here and advertises to take d n A ﬁrst goo s i to the interior . photographer , the we have seen

av t since le ing Valencia , has opened an establishment nex to the FROM T HE BRIDGE or BOYACA T O BOGOTA 2 2 9

s church on the plaz a . There is actually an atmosphere of busines in the place . o m We waited s me time this orning for Luis to appear , hoping

ad u At as that he had not been b ly h rt . noon , we could get no word m kit of h i from pe rsons who came over the road , Rice took his of ﬁ surgical instruments and went back to see if he could nd him . Two hours later Luis turned up from the other direction . It seems he h ad b l us was not hurt at all , een only ha f an hour behind yesterday and had passed right by the wretched little posada in which we were s h ad stopping . The mi chievous populace told him we gone on to

us Zipaquira and he tried his best to overtake , only to discover even ﬁni h d t uallythat he h ad passed us . Hardly had Luis s e his tale when Rice returned from his fruitless search and with him the two n negroes . We fou d that the work train would carry passengers but

not luggage , so we left the negroes to spend the night at the inn and

rode on to Zipaquira with Luis and the pack mules . We left Nemocon about half-past four and reached Zipaquira at ’ eight o clock . The road was very bad but quite level . It runs ar through a pretty country . Large eucalyptus trees e the most

noti ceable feature of the lan dscape . It gave me a queer feeling to dismount in front of the hotel at

Zipaquira and realize that the long ride was at last over . I felt loath ” h ad to part with my mule , Blackie , who carried me faithfully w through treacherous s amps and over slippery mountain trails , i ﬁv never stumbling and always willing to go . O the e mules bought

in e . Valencia , she was the only one able to p rform the whole journey At the end she was perfectly sound and h ad neither back nor girt h

- sore . She cost eighty eight dollars in Valencia , but we thought our

- H selves fort unate to sell her to day for thirty dollars . ad it been a feasible I should have liked to t ke her home with me . T h e hotel at Zipaquira deserves its reputation of being the clean

est and most attractive in Colombia . The guests were numerous

and th e but extremely polite courteous towards two ragged , long

haired foreigners .

A ril 2 th . n r p 7 Luis , our faithful Colombia a riero , brought the - H b . e loads down to the station , where we bade him good y was

ﬁrst as and ur thoroughly reliable from to l t , always cheerful co teous 2 36 COLOMBIA

us a u to , ltho gh heartily despising the poor negroes , whose inability a to do nything well was not lost on him . They joined us at the sta t w ion , coming down on the ork train from Nemocon . The distance from Zipaquira to Bogota is about thirty miles by ﬁ train , but the rst class f a r e i s o n l y s eventy cents . I tried to buy tickets with

gold coin , but the gold ounces were re

fused by the clerk . Surely it is a strange custom that makes gold and silver to be

looked at askance . While w o n d e r i n g

w was hat I to do , I overheard some one addressing a w e l l dressed gentleman in the crowd by a name that s o u n d e d e x t remel yfamiliar . It turned out that he was formerly a na ti ve of Arauca for whom I carried a let ter of introduction n ’ from the Colombia BLAC! IE AND HER M AS TER ON 1 111: LAST D AY S M n t r h A l i s e Was m M RCH . at g H ton . e proved to

d us difﬁc ult be a friend in need , for he at once helpe out of the yand persuaded the station master to accept our gold .

The excess charges on our luggage were very small , less than a

diﬁerent couple of dollars ; rather from our last experience , on the M German Railway at Caracas . any of the passengers had ridden a and down to the Zipaquira station and sent their horses , s ddled

2 32 COLOMBIA

ﬁnd of the other hotels and out whether they had room for us. We thought that in this way we might se cure a room before they had seen

what we looked like . These must have been warned by something ’ h in the clerk s voice , owever , for all with one accord declared their

us . un inability to receive It was long past l ch time . We had had a very early breakfast and it may be imagined were so mewhat tired

us an ' ivin h and rather hungry , but it struck as a huge joke , this g at t e end of our journey only to be told that there was no room for us any

T H E A AN GA N OGO A M I L I . ER C E T O , B T

Fo unat el M H i k . rt e m e where in a city of inhabitants y, ajor , ’ é d Aﬁaires the American Charg , most hospitably came to the rescue , opened the legation to us and gave his two undesirable fellow - citiz ens e a room . After lunch at a neighbouring caf , we spent the rest of the day reading the letters that had be en accumulating since December .

A ril 2 8th ﬁlt h p . After four months of dirt and , it is very com f r l o t ab e se . to be in a carefully dusted house , free from in cts No

se e as i z hou ever seem d so clean the legation , nor has civ li ed food

s . B ever ta ted so good It appears that ogota is really full of visitors , as the National Assembly or Congress is now in session . The hotels FROM THE BRIDGE OF BOYACA TO BOGOTA 2 33

r F . are ve y small , even the rese has only eight or nine rooms Bogota is not accustomed to taking care of many travellers at one time .

off . April 2 9t h . We paid the negroes today , and sent them home

None of us seemed particularly sorry at the parting . While at Valencia we spent seven hundred dollars for mules and supplies . This does not include what we paid for the larger part of

outﬁt n our , which was bought in the States , nor for our transportatio to Valencia . Since leaving Valencia we have paid out nine hundred

. e dollars , gold The largest items of exp nse were wages , oxen , and r mules . In Venezuela my account book shows ve y few items ending in In eastern Colombia such items increase rapidly . After and s s we crossed the mountains reached the valley of Sogamo o , item ending in and are fairly common . The charge for pastur l T h e ing an anima over night was often only three or four cents .

a -ﬁve average charge for meals along the ro d was twenty cents,

osadas twenty cents at the smaller p and thirty at the larger ones .

o u r and ﬁft een Our journey to k one h nd ed days , instead of sixty w h ad r i days as e estimated when we left Ca acas . How l ttle those who have always lived within the bounds of civilization know of the

and vexful delays incredible obstacles of the wilderness . One of my letters reached the very kernel of our needs when it closed with “ : and the words Patience courage be with you from day to day .

u difﬁcult ie s and The nforeseen of the way , the prevalence of disease the interminable delays , required all we had of both qualities . Our estimates had been based on the experience of travellers who had gone from Caracas to Bogota by the regular overlan d

. San route This passes through Valencia to Carlos , leaves the r San n n B Llanos nea Carlos , e ters the A des near arquisimeto , and follows the plateau between the Eastern and the Central Cordillera via M m erida, Cucuta , Santa Rosa , and Tunja . This route fro “ Caracas to Bogota is described by Colonel Duane in his Visit to ” Colombia ; by the anonymous author of Letters written from ” 1 8 2 2 and 1 8 2 and So Colombia who passed over it in 3, by others . far as I am able to discover we are the ﬁrst travellers who have

o r Ar auea attempted to g from Ca acas to Bogota by way of Barinas , , and the Paramo of Pisva . Naturally some parts of the route have been describ ed by previous 2 34 COLOMBIA

writers . The section between Caracas and San Carlos may be u d A fo nd depicted in Duane an many other books . bare itinerary of the road from San Carlos to Barinas is given as an appendix to ’ “ ” d un CO1. Francis Hall s Colombia ; but I can ﬁn no other acco t of

r z e this pa t of our road . Codaz i and other authors of g ographies have described the general aspe ct of the country and given statements se in regard to the cities , but the journey itself does not em to have

ﬁnd an a been delineated . Nor can I yaccount of the ro d from n d Bari as to the Apure River an Arauca . Baron von Humboldt tr San F a crossed the cen al Llanos from Cura to ern ndo de Apure , but did not penetrate the western Llanos . Our route from Arauca to

El b e i Lim o , as I have already said , is describ d by Br sson in his ” H El Casanare . e also depicts the larger part of the road from d . a an Limbo to Pore But he did not attempt the P ramo of Pisva , I ﬁnd can no description of our route from Pore to Pisva , the Paramo ,

Laguna Seca , and Duitama . The road from Duitama to Bogota is well known and is described M lli n o e a . by , Du ne , and others

2 36 COLOMBIA

a is very striking . It reminds one of Jap n , where the men are inclined s a to abandon their picturesque dres for convention l European attire . ’ se ff One es the same di erence in the ladies dress , although women do not appear often on the streets . Conse rvative ladies and those of

se - a the poorer clas s wear the old f shioned simple black gowns , cover

s ing their heads with black shawls or black lace mantilla . In marked

' A ms c Nonrrr O N ONE or 1 11 1: a c r ur Sme ar s . Boc o r , Loo

r e contrast to these are the followers of more mode n fashions , whos

a sm rt Parisian costumes , surmounted by gay picture hats , strike one so as curiously bold and out of place . It is long since we have seen ladies attired in anything but black that it seems almost immodest ,

- this display of colours and gaudy raiment . Some of the well dressed daughters of the smart set spend hours leaning out of second -story

- windows staring at the passers b y. We are told that it is a mark of consideration and respect to stare and make remarks , but to an Anglo

Saxon it is a disagreeable custom .

The temperature here is colder than we had been led to expect . BOGOTA 2 37

° It is generally be low 60 F There is almost no time in the day ° when the thermometer in the shade goes as high as 6 5 F Although ° o 0 F it does not g much below 5 at night , the air is so damp that the cold is very penetrating . As the houses are not heated an d it is not

ﬁft - comfortable to sit long in a temperature of yeight , it is the custom in to walk a great deal the streets in order to get warm . There are

t h e few carriages and the sidewalks are very narrow , so streets are

often ﬁlled with pedestrians . The corners of the principal thorough ﬁn n fares are the favourite loa g places . There one ca stand in the and middle of the street as long as one pleases , chatting with friends obse rving the passing throng . The practice of carrying walking

as s sticks is not as prevalent in Bogota in Caraca , where one almost At never sees a man without one . The streets are well policed . night the oﬂi cers carry riﬂes and signal to each other with sad -toned

whistles . It is an excellent device for avoiding trouble . No burglar need come within a quarter of a mile of a po liceman if he keeps his

e ars Open to their mournful signals .

One sees no coin whatever in circulation . There are se veral little

shops here that buy gold and silver. American gold is at a premium ; and n A u o c . ther foreign Colombia gold at a dis ount gold o nce , M an sh r exic or Spani , wo th in Venezuela does not fetch more i t han here . Amer can Express checks on New York readily w s t o o . ell at a per cent premium , b th here and in Caracas I have An not seen a silver coin in Bogota . American told me that as a joke he offered a newsboy a ﬁve -dollar gold piece in exchange for ﬁve s and a paper worth cents , but the boy thought it worthles it refused . A a curious thing is the lack of l rge bills . We have not seen any o f m a deno ination larger than one hundred dollars . As these are

- really worth only ninety eight cents in gold , one sometimes sees gen

t le men an s ul n coming out of the b k with their arms f l of ba k notes . Apparently the people enjoy the sensation of talking in the inﬂat ed f t erms o paper currency . One hears them express great astonish “ ” a m us ment or d iration that a mule cost ten tho and dollars . It is not half so interesting to saythat it cost a hundred dollars or that its

- real value in gold at present is only ninety eight dollars . Whether o r not this depreciated state of the currency has anyth ing to do with 2 38 COLOMBIA

it n , one sees ma y more wretchedly poor people clothed in rags in a Colombia th n in Venezuela . The market place in Bogota is much larger than that in Caracas

Fr i and has a wonderful variety of edibles . ut s and vegetables of every variety and description are here exhibited in enormous quanti

. F are a ties resh laid eggs piled up by the thous nd in great hea ps . Attractive native earthenware carelessly arranged in pyramids

appeals strongly to a lover of picturesque pottery . The crowds in

ﬁ T H E C API Boc o r . TOL, the markets were so busy bargaining that my presence there was in almost overlooked , although I found that I was the tallest person Bogota and attracted an unpleasant amount of attention on t h e streets . In Caracas whenever I visited the market I was sure to be followed through it by a crowd of loafers and boys . There do not seem to be nearly so many unemployed here and life is not quite so easy as in the Venezuelan capital . r and I n The shops are rema kable for their number small size . the region of the hat stores one can count in a single bloc k twenty o f establishments all devoted exclusively to s mbreros , yet not one o

2 40 COLOMBIA

T 11 12 C ATHEDRAL o s r m: PLAZA Bouvu ofiices of the national lottery are to be found here as one would expect . Next to the Cathedral is a chape l used ch ie flyfor marriages fi and funerals . It is remarkable for the number of ne old paintings t hat it contains . Some of them appear to have b een done in the

and a l sixteenth seventeenth centuries by Sp nish and Ita ian masters. A n mile north of the Plaza Bolivar is the Parque Santa der ,

th F a formerly e Plaza San r ncisco . It is attractively laid out and fi contains a ne statue of General Santander . Wonderfully restful and s fiure h as a u ro atisfying , the g a noble he d with a disting ished p fi le . In front of the gardens are two churches where fas hionable weddings and funerals are held . These holy sacraments are ce le b rat d fin difi s e almost daily in one or both of the e old e ce . During the funeral services crowds of well-dressed men in silk hats and frock coats swarm about the entrance to the church and exchange v the news of th e day in low tones . As an e idence of respect for the d deceased , if the frien s of the family are well to do , a long line of

s carriages containing nothing but funeral wreaths precedes the hear e . BOGO ’I‘A 2 4 1

ﬂ AND THE AP O Booor . C IT L,

It is the custom here , much more than in Caracas , to placard the

' a aﬁord de ths of such people as have friends that can the luxury , on - A the bill boards . poster two fee t by three feet announces in large letters the name of the deceased and the hour and place of the

u . Funerals e f neral are not long postponed , and as it is most ess ntial ’ ﬂowers to send and attend the funeral of one s acquaintances , it is

- well to scan the bill boards twice a day .

On r r t the no the n outskir s of the city is the Parque del Centenario , w as t o ma niﬁcent . as large city blocks , planted with g eucalyptus trees

It is reached by the tram car , now pulled by mules but soon to be t rifi e lec e d . The streets are lighted by electricity an d so are many ‘ r ofi of the houses . Curiously enough , the light is always tu ned “ d in an 6 P . M between 5 . , so that one is obliged to sit and rest the gloaming whether one feels so inclined or not . fi i A ne view of the city may be had from the mountains east of t . As one walks eastward and climbs the hill the houses be come poorer and b poorer until one reaches the slums , where ado e walls , thatched 2 4 2 COLOMBIA

filth and roofs , smells are the rule . The condition of the streets in diffiult this part of the city is simply shocking . It is c to see what filth w averts a pestilence , as the is washed by the rains do n through the city .

ﬁne Climbing past this , one comes out on a driveway wide enough

B é E S AN TAND oc or . PARQU ER ,

to enable one to escape the proximity of the hovels that line its side . This road winds into the picturesque gorge between the two moun At tains back of Bogota. the entrance to the gorge the road passes a spring to which the city water-carriers come daily with their red d h earthenware jars to get rinking water . T e sparkling stream that

2 44 COLOMBIA

e w to observe accurately . Cons quently hatever one records as hear w u say must b e received ith much ca tion . I have h ad great difﬁcultygetting boxes in which to ship books s purchased here . Packing ca es represent almost the total supply of i and u mported lumber , as all kinds of l mber are scarce , the boxes

a an d - are eagerly bought by c rpenters cabinet makers , so that an ordinary small pack ing case is worth “ one hundred dol ” lars , Colombian . We have only had one day of sun shine since our ar

rival . Heavy skies and a daily driz z le seem to be the order

of things .

M a 1 1 th y . This afternoon we had an appointment w i t h

President R e y e s . The executive man sion is very simple

and unpretentious. Seen from the street one would hardly take it to be more than a moderately interesting private for residence , except T a r: Ex n vr: M Ax 1 N B x rc u s 0 , ooor . the fact that there are a few soldiers on guard at the entrance and at the corner of th e

M Heimke street . Attended by our kind host , ajor , we entered with out being challenged by the sentries and went to the ofﬁce of th e A h Secretary General . few minutes later we were ushered into t e

o d us large executive reception r om , where the Presi ent received very d a an . a e cordi lly unceremoniously General Reyes is a tall , h ndsom BOGOTA 2 4 5

ﬁ d ﬁrml ne a . man of soldierly bearing , with a he yset on broad shoulders He h as been a great explorer and a successful soldier ; has travelled

and i h extensively in Europe and the United States , speaks Engl s H ﬂuently. e as ked us many questions about our trip and was ’ much interested in Rice s proposed exploration of the Vaupes .

ee u art icu The President spoke freely of the n ds of his co ntry , p larlyemphasizing the desirability of good roads and a ﬁrm Gov H M ernment . e a and is a great dmirer of President Diaz of exico , if his life is spared will undoubtedly endeavour to do for Colombi a M what the latter has done for exico . Not long ago he had a very narrow escape from an attack by three assassins who ﬁred on h im i M while he was tak ng his daily drive . ost fortunately he escape d u t and r d an . a nhur the conspirato s were caught , tried , shot It was

se t and wholesome example to since then there has been no trouble . “ As we withdrew the President gave us several packages of Pildo ” firm All ras Andinas , in which medicine he is a believer . the sol diers of the Colombian army take it daily when they are quart ered in unhealthy regions . A few davs ago we attended a memorial celebration held in honour of two brothers of President Reyes wh o lost their lives while explor ing with him in the great basin of the Amazo n some years ago . The first ceremony was the formal placing of magnificent wreaths on the monuments that have been erected to their memory in the Cathe

. A dral The rchbishop conducted the exercises, and the wreaths , w m brought in by soldiers , ere put in place by a com ittee of the

. i National Geographical Society The leg slature , the diplomatic

z s . corps , and many of the principal citi ens were pre ent In the after

m nne c e noon there was a eeting in the foyer of the T atro Colon , wher we listened to the reading of papers describing the work of the Reyes

n m a o brothers . They covered many thousa ds of iles in c n es , going up and down the great rivers of the Amaz on valley . Their prin i u and c pal discoveries were made on the Caq eta the Putumayo . One brother died of fever and the other is suppo sed to have been eaten by cannibals . The meeting was largely attended , every seat being taken .

a was as In the evening a gr nd concert given in the theatre , ﬁn W a al tribute to the memory of the unfortunate explorers . e 2 46 COLOMBIA received special pe rmission from the M aster of Ceremonies to appear b se in in the only decent garments we had . Every ody el was full evening dress . The audience presented a gay spectacle . In the ’ - - principal box were the President s daughters and son in law . Ladies are not allowed to sit in the orchestra here anymore than they are in

a e e e mu C racas , but s ats had b en plac d in the enclosure where the “ sicians l and usual y sit , as these were not technically orchestra ” l a i e . stal s , l dies were perm tt d to occupy them The music itself was far superior to that which we h ad heard at the concert in Caracas w and the audience as much more fashionably dressed . The sym phony orchestra played well and the soloists were enthusiastically

and niﬁc nt ﬂoral f received deluged with mag e o ferings . The piano

ﬁne n s was really a concert gra d , while the one we heard in Caraca was like a tin pan .

M a 1 2 h r t . y We a e making many pleasant acquaintances . The people whom we meet seem to have plenty of time in which to enjoy l ife and all practice the art of good conversation . Although it is the common boast of people in Bogota that in their city one hears Cast illian a am the purest spoken on this side of the Atl ntic , I dis o A app inted in not being able to use my Spanish more often . majority of the people we have met speak English and enjoy prae t i in u i ﬁnd s g it on s. It is qu te remarkable to that these residents of so isolated a capital speak English more ﬂuent lythan the residents of Caracas . Yet there are not more than a doz en English and Ameri n ca s in the city .

e ﬁi cient The Papal delegate , a delightful prelate , lives with his secretary in a splendid palace that was given him by the Govern ment two years ago . It appe ars to be the ﬁnest private residence

At s in Bogota . breakfa t there we met the members of the diplo matic corps and their friends . It was a very jolly occasion . Span

F e n . ish , rench , English , and Italian s emed to be used i discriminately Needless to say the breakfast was remarkably good and we appre ciated it thoroughl y . M We have greatly enjoyed the society of the British inister , a charming gentleman who h as lived much in Rome . Through his kindness I learned today of the existence of a large part of the cor respondence of Santander . The papers are in the possession of a

2 48 COLOMBIA

an t u t h e forgotten , however , that at elevation of hree tho sand feet in tropics it is possible to raise many more ﬂowe rs and trees than at an s d B elevation of nine thou an feet , so that it is not surprising that o

gota is unable to compete with Caracas for attractiveness . Bogota

d s has its weekly lottery rawing , but the tickets are not so everla tingly ’ thrust in one s face as in Caracas . M e . Caracas is more like Paris , while Bogota res mbles adrid In the same way Caracas is a far more impo rtant part of Venezuela

a a . a th n Bogot is of Colombia Bogot is of necessity more provincial .

So few t little happens , so strangers reach this secluded capital , tha it s inhabitants naturally have more curiosity . The people of Caracas

us i appeared to to be more fr volous , better dressed , and more pros d e rous an . a p on the whole , their houses more comfortable In Bogot the custom prevails of allowing shops to occupy the ground ﬂoor “ ” u t h e front , while the most fashionable people live p stairs in s e busiest streets . In Caraca society se ms to prefer to live in quiet r d n esi ential quarters rather tha in the heart of the shopping district . In Venezuela everyb ody that is anybody has been to Paris and

e F h sp aks rench , while here one hears very little about Paris , althoug

a s z r it is evident that the l die patroni e Parisian dressmakers . Thei

e a - o e dress s coming by p rcels p st are somewhat creas d in the mail , but it is the fashion to allow the crease s to remain as silent witnesses

of the foreign origin of the garments . It is whispered that the local dressmakers have the habit of mussing their new creations so as t o

make them appe ar Parisi an . The cultured people of Bogota speak more languages and speak e l them b tter than their friends in Caracas . If they are less trave led

a se e . th n tho of Caracas , they are better read and better ducated

Fur r ae thermore , they take genuine pleasure in acqui ing various com

lish ment s w n ms . p , riting so nets , and exchanging witticisms and epigra o Not infrequently one meets a gentleman who is something of a p et , l a r a . musici n , histo i n , soldier , po itician , and wit , all combined Such

a man is Don Jorge Pombo , an interesting Colombian who has for H a years collected books relating to the history of Colombia . e is

- genuine book lover and his boo ks are in remarkably ﬁne condition . Unfortunately for himhe is under the necessity of disposing of a large

part of them , and I hope to take a good many home with me . BOGOTA 2 49

This afternoon I expected to see the precious Santander manu u m scripts , but was unsuccessf l as the committee who have the in charge were not able to meet and the President of the bank where they are deposited was not to be found . The mail left this morning, but by starting early tomorrow and making haste I h0pe to over take it and catch the mail steamer . Rice h as decided to stay here and organiz e an expedition to dis cover the source of the Vaupes River and trace it to the Rio Negro

z and the Ama on . CHAPTER XV

BooorA r o CARTAGENA

a h M M y1 4t . The agdalena River is the great natural highway

of Colombia . It is navigable for over eight hundred miles , although n the sand bar at its mouth prevents its being entered by ocea steamers . Six hundred miles from the C aribbean are the rapids of Honda

of which do not allow the river steamers . the lower river to pass this

point , although the upper river is navigable for over two hundred

miles . As Honda is only eighty miles from Bogota it h as long be en

ad t the port of the capital . The ro be ween Bogota and Honda is

b ad as and h so , however , p sing over such high mountains t rough

a a a such deep v lleys , that a new ro d has been constructed to Gir rdot , M l a port on the agda ena one hundred miles above Honda , near the nﬂ n M co ue ce of the Bogota River with the agdalena . It is hoped in time to complete a railroad from Bogota to the Magdalena by way ’ d in M r. of this valley . This route is describe Petre s book . The other and older route is by rail to Facat at iva on the western edge u l of the platea of Bogota and thence by mule to Vi leta , Guaduas , and

Honda . The mail still uses this route as it is more direct and less M uncertain . The steamers on the upper agdalena from Girardot to Honda do not always make schedule time , so I hear . Every one a o d a dvised me to g by way of Girardot , saying that the irect ro d was simply impassable in places . Its terrors are very real to those who are unaccustomed to rough mountain trails , but I hope its difﬁcult ies will not prove any more insurmountable than those of At e o the Paramo of Pisva . all events I have chos n to g by the older

a as and ro d , every one agrees it is the more picturesque the one used

Facat at iva by Bolivar , at least that part of it which begins at , the terminus of the little railway .

The climate of Bogota has not appe aled to me . The sun has shone but little during the eighteen days that I have been here and 2 5 0

2 5 2 COLOMBIA

Soon after breakfasting we started 011 on our journey over th e mountains and valleys that lie between the plateau of Bogota and

. b ut the great river The road is less than eighty miles long, the grades are so bad that the mail takes four days from Bogota to h Honda . Travellers usually allow t ree days and calculate to spend a s seven hours in the saddle each day . The ro d goe northwest from

t ativa rt a m Faca for a sho dist nce along the plateau , cli bs over the hills and then suddenly descends with many sharp turns . Its char n acter varies according to the location . O the plateau the road is s wide and passable for carts , but when it de cends into the valleys it is very rocky and much too steep and narrow for wheeled vehicles . ’ n r In places the view is magniﬁcent . O one s ight after leaving the plateau is a “ table mountain ” which serves as an excellent land

a . mark for a dist nce of thirty miles As the road descends , the foliage

' becomes more and more tropical until one reaches coﬁee planta

- tions and ﬁnallyﬁelds of sugar cane . Mynew arriero is the fastest walker I have seen in Colombia and keeps the two pack mules jogging along ahead of him at a good o pace . In the course of the aftern on we passed the mail which left Bogota yesterday . The mail arrieros do not waste much time , u w and e s s run . ho ever , b fore long they pas ed , everybody on the

They soon met a long pack train bringing goods up to the capital . The road was narrow at that point and one of the mail-carrying mules got pushed 06 the road by a cargo mule loaded with huge crates and rolled down hill twenty or thirty feet before the trees and

He vines stopped him . rolled over and over on the letter bags , but u a the arrieros did not seem to regard it as an nusu l occurrence . It is easy to see why dresses coming from Paris by mail get well crushed before they reach Bogota . s e The siz e of some of the ca es of merchandis is extraordinary .

e h two u ﬁft u No mule is suppos d to carry more t an h ndred and ypo nds , so that a single case ought not to weigh over one hundred and twenty

ﬁv u e pounds . Yet it seemed as tho gh some of the loads must weigh difﬁcult i ac more . It is to real ze that all the pianos , heavy m hinery , v a parts of locomoti es , in fact everything in Bogot that is imported , has h ad to b e carried over these mountain trails on the backs of men and mules . 130 0 01 11 T O CARTAGENA 2 5 3

After a long winding descent into a beautiful deep valley we b ’ reached the little town of Villeta a out six o clock , after eight hours of very rapid travelling . We descended six thousand feet since morning. This is the ﬁrst day that I have ridden a horse in Colombia and a A e the sensation was not pleas nt compared with a mule . hors is u M not at all s ited to these rocky mountain trails . ore highly l strung , less wi ling to jog along at a steady pace hour after hour ,

r n A IMPORTING Goons o BOGOT . m d ore rea y to stop and walk and then dash on nervously , horses

urth r or . F e m e are to be avoided on these trails , they are not nearly

- so sure footed . Some one has called the mountain mules the camels ” sad o f the Andes . It would be a day for a camel that tried to follow in their footsteps .

11 M M ay1 5 1 . yarriero distinguished himself this morning by the d speed with which he got his animals loa ed . We left Villeta shortly before seven and made good time in the cool of the morning . The i l road lead ing out of the valley was fr ghtfully steep , in places litera ly h a rocky stairway . It is astonishing to t ink how many thousands 2 5 4 COLOMBIA of tons of merchandise have been brought to Bogota over such a a ro d . After a long climb we crossed a high ridge and stopped for

a Ber l luncheon at an excellent little inn c lled je . In the valley below

- lay the town of G uaduas . Beyond it rose another forest clad ridge which h as still to be crossed before one actually reaches the valley M of the agdalena. M ycompanions at lunch were an active cat that h ad an eye for every crumb that fell from the table , a melancholy pointer who dared not call his life his own , a downy little chick contentedly peeping and u u - wh o picking p cr mbs , and a one eyed hen watched the p ro

1 A s w 1 12 0 11 1 11 13 Ro a n 0 VILLET . ceedings until the cat and the chick both attempted to pick up t h e eat same crumb , when she ﬂew into a rage and drove not only the but also the poor old pointer out of the room so that her lone chick was left in full possession of the crumbs . On the road to Guaduas we passed a brown snake eighteen inches

ﬁrst long that h ad recently been killed . This is the dead snake I have seen in Colombia .

A ﬁest a r e u s religious was in prog ess as we pass d through Guad a . Rockets were bursting in mid-air and a picturesq ue religious pro cession wound its way from the church around the plaza . Travellers s u pend the second night here if they get a late start from Villeta , b t

2 5 6 COLOMBIA

’ e h ad been so swollen by last night s rains as to b e dangerous . Her

se us we found the mail , which pas d again last evening , and a score of travellers waiting for the river to subside and the ford to become an passable . It is extraordinary that there is no bridge here nor y

T H E BUSINESS CE NTRE or HONDA

canoes . It does not take a very heavy shower to interrupt entirely ’ lh ad m the tra e on the busiest ro in Colo bia . About one o clock the

river was pronounced fordable . That is to say , the pack mules could

safely wade across without wetting more than a third of their loads . It is just as important to have the under side of a bundle made water

proof as the upper side . Two hours after fording the Rio Seco we reached the banks of the M agdalena and saw the southern end of Honda and the docks

for the Girardot and Upper River steamers . The road runs parallel to the river for a short distance until it reaches a steel bridge which

h as e t rafﬁc . recently b en built , greatly facilitating the Directly opposite the town are the dangerous rapids which interrupt river

transportation . It is po ssible for boats on the lower river to come within three quarters of a mile of deep water on th e upper river in BOGOTA TO CART AGENA 2 5 7

b ut t h e rainy se ason when there is plenty of water , the task is not M no a an easy one . ost of the boats come farther than La Dor da ,

ﬁve miles down the river at the end of the rapids . ar ﬁll d Honda h as a very busy air . The streets e e with pack

e t rains loading for Bogota . There are many warehous s here and several large commercial establishments that give the town an ap ﬁrms pe arance of prosperity . As in Bogota the largest are German a o b ut t and Colombian . The hotel ccommodations are g od , the hea is considerable . oon a e s May1 8th . I left Honda by the mail train s ft r breakfa t i T h run ad - t h is morn ng. e to La Dor a , the usual stopping place for the Lower River steamers , is not long and the train passes through At a a dense tropical jungle . one place we saw through the trees freight steamer painfully making her way up th e rapids to Honda .

A 0 1 1119 5 1: or 1 11 1: RIV B LOW ND A ER E HO .

ad b ut In this way railro freight charges are saved , the process is

t h e s tedious and rather dangerous , so that regular pas enger boats i do not attempt t . l A r . t La Dorada is a dirty little vil age , but has good wha ves

Lo ez P e l zha one of these lay the mail steamer , the p , one of the largest 2 5 8 COLOMBIA

and ﬁnest boats on the river . There are thirty or forty boats used

t rafﬁc M a in the passe nger and freight on the lower agdalen . They “ ” are all stern wheelers of nearly the same type as those used on M r the Ohio and the upper ississippi . The large ones are of three ﬁft hundred and ytons register . As there are many d angerous All shoals in the river , the boats draw but little water . the machinery ,

b e . i fuel , and freight have to on the lower deck The upper deck s l reserved for passe ngers . In a long ha l down the centre are th e l dining tables , while the staterooms , practical y bare of furniture ,

T h e o are on either side . least said about the f od and the service

e n s the better . It is passable but not attractiv , and u less one carrie

T 11 12 LOP EZ P EN H A . ones own provisions the pleasure of the table will not be among At ﬁr the agreeable memories of the journey . the st meal certain formalities are obse rved . It is the custom for all to wait for th e

He n capitan to invite them to the table . the politely requests h is “ u g ests to be seated and gives orders for the meal to be served . M ll yfe ow passengers are all Colombians with one exception , a

2 60 COLOMBIA

railroad shops are in a sad state of repair and look as though they At would be of little use by the time the road is completed . present am b - I told the train goes as far as Providencia , a out half way to M l n ff h ede lin . It brings down qua tities of co ee and ides , the two t chief ar icles of export .

M a 1 8th all . e r y We sp nt day at Puerto Ber io loading cargo ,

' h i ﬂ oﬁ c e yc ee . There is another steamer here loading hides in two

large barges which she tows one on each side like wings . There are

ll ed a few shops here , we stock with both domestic and imported

goods . The only unusual things are little horn drinking cups , three

an and a inches in diameter and inch a quarter deep . They are m de

near Medellin and are very attractive both in shape and colour . M a 1 t r . y 9 h . We left Puerto Ber io early this morning There is

a kind of shower bath at one end of the upper deck . I enjoyed its

A A A M AGD ALEN RIVER STE MER . refreshing qualities this morning just before we passe d the carcase

of a donkey on which three buzzards were riding . The drinking

unﬁlt ered water as well as that of the bath is river water . There s were heavy rains in the night . Owing to the e rains the river is rising l rapidly and some of the vi lages are partly under water, while others , BOGOTA TO CARTAGENA 2 6 1

u s n . more fortunate , are b ilt on a slight ri e of grou d Wherever we stop the crew carry on a lively trade in cigars which are made somewhere up the river above Honda and which the sailors sell to the people

e along the route for eighty cents a hundred . We stopped s veral A a difﬁcult times for wood . t Ghusa the ﬂood m de it rather for the 1 0 e sailors to bring the wood on board . With the aid of a p they

F AT A LOADING U EL CHOS . manage to carry a good-siz ed load of large billets piled up on their shoulder and over their head . They complained this noon that th e o - wo d piles were infested with snakes , scorpions , centipedes , and

h th e tarantulas that had taken refuge t ere as river rose . But they

e u were very watchful and no one was bitten s rio sly . At ’ three o clock we reached Puerto Wilches , where engineers have again commenced th e construction of a railroad to Bucara

m t . M anga , an important interior ci y Albert illican , the orchid “ 1 8 0 hunter , who came here about 9 , says in his Travels and Ad ” “ ventures that he found here in this forest -wilderness several

a r ilway wag ons and about a thousand steel rails , all in a pitiful ” state of wreck and dilapidation . The original railway project 2 6 2 COLOMBIA

a . e r now st rted by Gen Solan Wilches was abandon d yea s ago , but is being rejuvenated under a new concession .

M a 2 0111 ﬁnd n r y . We did not it ecessa y to tie up to t h e bank

’ l much wate r - in i ast night , as there is so the r ver that navigation is r - fairly easy . This mo ning at half past seven we reached La Gloria, a typical river village . The river is rising but we got ahead of the ﬂood during the night and it has not reached La Gloria yet . Adobe u e n h ts with thatch d roofs , cocoa ut trees and a few canoes are the chief characteristics of this and every other village in this part of th e l r river . Occasiona ly we saw rafts, pa tly thatched over, on which a family were making a cheap excursion down stream . r At The river is continually g owing wider and more sluggish . times it looks like a large lake. Its banks are everywhere heavily

M N L I A O N G A E . LA G OR , A D L A

low wooded and the country is very ﬂat . Once in a while one sees a h ill. At noon we reached Banco , a busy little town , with an attractive A church perched on a bluff thirty feet high . crowd came down t n u o the landi g bringing pottery , large jars and small pots , jag ar and snake skins and sleeping mats . Hammocks are not common

A — e here . piece of native grass matting serves the poorer class s for

2 6 4 COLOMBIA

1 st a all M ay2 . We steamed ahe d through the night and made good time , reaching Calamar soon after six this morning. Several

us passengers left here to take the train that runs to Cartagena . Calamar is the cleanest loo king town on the river and shows t h e e ﬁect s ed a of an increas prosperity brought about by the new railro d . The promoters of this railroad hope to de ﬂect a large proport ion of the freight that is now landed at Puerto Colombia and brought

M r by rail to the agdalena at Bar anquilla . Ocean steamers can ’ land their freight at Cart agena directly on board the company s a n c rs , but the haul from Cartagena to Calamar is much longer tha

from Puerto Colombia to Barranquilla. If the silt from the M agda lena should ever succeed in spoiling the harbour of Puerto Colombia

- as it did that of Savanilla , this Cartagena Calamar railroad would h n ave a tremendous increase in busi ess .

A B ARR ANQUILLA H RBOUR .

- a At half past ten we re ched Remolino , an ancient town on the

- l . right bank of the river , ha f way from Calamar to Barranquilla The current in the river is hardly perceptible and one sees many ﬂoat ing water plants that give the river the appearance of being a ad l stagnant lake . I have re much of the number of a ligators in the

e . ac Magdalena , but have not s en one The captain says it is on h e count of the ﬂoods , and yet I should ave suppos d that we would

have seen them swimming in the river . BOGOTA T O CARTAGENA 2 6 5

a e an ul l - a l We re ch d Barr q i la at ha f past two , having m de exce lent l u a time from Honda , which we eft four days ago . The harbo r is i canal which runs parallel to the river . The wind was blowing qu te hard and we had considerable diﬁcult yin avoiding the many steamers “ ”

n . that li ned its ba ks There are several hotels here , but it is advisable to make a deﬁnit e bargain in regard to the price of room

A S 111 CA AG NA TREET RT E .

- l l and board . English speaking travel ers are very ikely to be over charged . h as n Barranquilla the appeara ce of being a busy , prosperous

cit b ut . am y, the streets are sandy and the heat is excessive I not sorry to learn that a mail steamer leaves tomorrow . There are se veral large German and English ﬁrms and the warehouse s appear to b e well stocked . In the Custom House I found a case of photographic supplies w that had been addressed to me at Bogota . It as plainly marked “ ” n a care of the America Legation , Bogot , but has be en lying here R M ! . . S P . . Co . for four months The agent of the , by which the e l goods were shipp d from New York , was unwil ing to aid me in

i n was any way , and , unl ke most of their age ts , exceedingly rude . 2 66 COLOMBIA

Incivili-tyis so rare in these countries that its occasional occurrence

h M r is all the more marked . T anks to the kind intervention of . P P . . n s Demers , the American Co sul , I was able to re cue my plates diﬁ ult y without too much c . In answer to my inquiries I was told that all goods destined for the interior must be sent in care of so me

r ul b e d one at the port of ent y , to whom sho d maile the invoices with directions to go to the Custom House and loo k out for the parcels

rw in when they arrive . Othe ise they will stay the Custom House

notiﬁcat ion until claimed by the owner . No s of arrival are ever

T a r: WA or C A AG NA LLS RT E .

e m a se nt out . It s e s extraordinary that no provision is m de to ac r quaint consignees of the a rival of their goods , but such is the case .

M a 2 2 d A s r y . swarm of locusts de cended on Ba ranquilla this h n morning . W ile not as numerous as the cou tless millions I saw up the river they seemed to portend disaster and to be the forerunners

ﬁr st . of the great h ost . This is their appearance here A - I left Barranquilla at noon by train . ten mile ride on the little

ad h an n railro brought me to Puerto Colombia , w ere E glish company

ﬁne r has built a pier a mile and a qua ter long, at the end of which ocean steamers are able to dock .

APPENDIX A

HIS TORICAL S! ETCH

T H E War of Independence in Venezuela and Colombia began in

1 0 At ﬁrst s 1 8 . the patriot cau e was successful and the Spanish

mials out and o c were driven of the larger part of Venezuela Colombia . B n ythe aid of the Lla eros or cowboys of the plains , who were a l staunchly loyal , the Spanish generals gr dua ly recovered the lost n l A territory u til there was ittle left for the patriots . mistaken u e . 1 8 1 policy , however , t rn d the Llaneros against the crown In 5 a number of almost inaccessible regions on the Llanos were the us only places where the Independent ca e still prevailed . By1 8 1 8 the patriots under Bolivar had recovered the larger part of the Ori

c l no o valley , but the Spaniards sti l held the principal cities , the h h ig lands and the higher plains of Venezuela and Colombia . A number of companies raised in Great Britain , consisting largely

a oleonic h ad r of veterans of the N p wars , by this time a rived . They l composed what is genera ly spoken of as the British Legion . They

e r joined the army of Bolivar , which hardly des ved the name , and which was making such sh ift as it could in the vicinity of Achaguas M r and antecal in the very hea t of the Llanos .

1 8 1 8— 1 an In the winter of 9 General S tander, the ablest of the a n Colombi n patriots , u dertook a perilous journey across the plains

n e s t h e a r from Casa are to the Orinoco to b eech Venezuel n Cong ess , A u an then sitting at ngost ra, to send army to the aid of the Colom ’ ri ﬂ : bian patriots . Santander s plan was b e y this The Spanish

v r ﬁr army was di ided into three g and divisions . The st division held a the se aco st of Venezuela and the principal cities , including Caracas

a and V lencia. The second division held the Venezuelan Andes , M with headquarters at erida . The third division held the plateau

and u - of Colombia g arded Bogota , the capital of the Vice Royalty. n e n The Spa iards had b en unable to hold the Llanos of Casa are , 2 69 2 7 6 APPENDIX A

lie A a n and s that immediately east of the ndes ne r Tu ja Sogamo o ,

and an there Santander had a force of upwards of a thous d men . A number of passes lead from th is plain to the plateau and it would

an r n be easy , said Santander , to throw a my u expectedly on to the s n T h plateau of Sogamo o through one of the u frequented passe s . e people of the country would be friendly to the Liberating Army and it would not b e a diﬁcult matter to drive the Spaniards entirely

M al from the plateau of Colombia and out of the agd ena valley . The greatest diﬁcult yin the way of the scheme was to get an army across the inundated plains in the wet se ason and across the Andes

in the time of snows . This very fact would make the Spaniards less suspicious of an attack and would favour the success of the enter

e n w pris , if the soldiers could sta d its hardships . This plan as

adopted .

z n Santander returned to Casanare to organi e his Colombia s , and Boli var undert ook the difﬁcult task of bringing an army of two thousand men through a country that had practically no provisions

ll and except cattle on the hoof, no roads, no bridges , swo en rivers

swampy plains .

On M a 2 1 8 1 i u and y 5 , 9 , Bol var left the vicinity of Achag as M n far as antecal , marching along the right ba k of the Apure as

s . a r k Gua dualito Here he met General P ez , gave him o ders to s ir mish in the vicinity of Merida and hold the attention of the royalist

o a General La Torre who , with s me three thous nd men , commanded e the s cond division of the Spanish army . Paez was not given enough

a suﬁcient men to make a battle dvisable , but only to prevent La

r Tor e from going to the aid of General Barreiro , who commanded

- the third division of the Spanish army, about thirty eight hundred

n s men , ear Tunja and Sogamo o in Colombia .

F s ad and rom Gua dualito Bolivar went ahe of his army to Tame , t hey followed as be st they could across the frightful swamps of the ﬁn n . all d r 1 th n Lla os of Casanare They yjoine forces on the of Ju e ,

1 8 1 n 9 , with the army of General Santa der , who had twelve hundred n ad A me in the vicinity of Puerto San Salv or . council of war took place on the fourteenth and it was decided to approach th e plateau o of Sogamos by way of the Paramo of Pisva , which was excessively and r and l k l u cold bar en not i ely to be we l g arded by the Spaniards .

2 7 2 APPENDIX A

u n city of Sogamoso nder the command of General Barreiro . Whe they heard that Bolivar and his army h ad accomplished the appar ently impossible task of crossing the Llanos and the moun tains in d s ff the winter , they procee ed to make ome feeble e orts to dispute

l and r r their further advance . Bo ivar his army soon recove ed f om the effects of their march and moved south from Socha through Tasco

r a towards Sogamoso . Barreiro hea ing of this dvance se nt out eight hundred troops on the r 1 t h of July to hold the heights that command a r m a bridge by wh ich the ro d crossed the iver Ga eza . Bolivar n succeeded in throwing a few men across the bridge , but fou d the Spaniards so ﬁrmlyentrenched on the rocky heights above that n a he gave up the attempt o Sogamoso . Taking a ro d to the west ward he passed through the towns of Corrales and Nobsa (or Santa and s Rosa) , reached Duitama , leaving Sogamoso in posse sion of off the Spaniards to the east of him , but threatening to cut them

1 from Tunja and Bogota . Ou July 8 the Spaniards abandoned Sogamoso and marched up the valley to Paipa where they took a l l un . On position between Bo ivar and T ja the twentieth , Bo ivar left Duitama and established his headquarters at Corral de Bonsa near the upper Sogamoso River . Bolivar decided to out-ﬁank the Spanish army on the night of the twenty -se cond and sent a battalion under Santander along the a road toward Paipa for th is purpose . Shortly fter they started a k heavy rain fell and in the dar ness they lost their way . The failure of this attempt determined Bolivar to se nd the out -ﬁanking force by way of Pantano de Vargas . Between the Lib erating Army and the swamp of Vargas was

s a the upper Sogamoso River , ometimes called Rio Gr nde or the

h icamoch a . was and C It swollen by recent rains , but rafts barges u ’ u were hastily constructed , and at fo r o clock on S nday morning,

2 1 8 1 e . July 5 , 9 , the army b gan to cross and took the road to Vargas r se o s Ba reiro , eing this movement of the patriots , pr bably suppo ed that Bolivar was attempting to go to Tunja by an unfrequented

- via . n s r e road Toca Accordi gly he ent his entire force , thi ty ight

u and s h ndred strong , into the hills the valley outh of the swamp of

Vargas . The cavalry were placed on the plain , and the infantry on the heights that command the road which is forced to pass very HISTORICAL S ! ETCH 2 73 close to the foot of the b ills by the extensive swamp called the P an tano de Vargas . ’ l se two u ﬁft Bo ivar s cavalry was compo d of h ndred and yLlaneros , h most of them without sad dles . W en they lost their horse s in the

Paramo of Pisva they naturally left the saddles beh ind . A few had r s m h ad saddles without stir ups : o e no bridles but simply halters . The royalist cavalry numbered six hundred and was well equipped

a a . s with all the necess ry ccoutrements They were armed with pistol , h n h ad s l . carbines , and abres , w ile the Lla eros on y lances Bolivar ordered the attack to b e made both along the h ighway wh ich was between the mountains and the marsh and also on the ﬁrst a a e h hills . When the comp nies re ch d the top of the hill t ey were

r d a r repulsed with g eat loss . The attack along the roa was lso d iven a and us u a . b ck Other attacks were m de rep l ed ntil Santander,

e h is reinforced by the British L gion , again fought way to the top of the h ills and with a bayonet charge attempted to dislodge the Span hi iards. The latter , however , were reinforced at t s moment by the

r ﬁve un se r and h m r a rival of h dred re ves , for a t ird ti e the pat iots w l as . r were driven down hill . Bo ivar unable to gain a foot Ba reiro then ordered a general charge of his cavalry. The story goes that ﬁfteen Llaneros who h ad been waiting near Bolivar for orders r a r attacked at a gallop the f ont of the Spanish cav l y who , marching l six abreast , occupied the whole road . The ittle band fell upon the royalist columns with such force and bravery that they threw the

ﬁrst m o few ranks into confusion , while the others , co ing on fr m

h e . e a be ind , increas d the disorder The hors men , hemmed in by dobe h ad diﬁicult r se walls , the greatest yin ext icating them lves from the disordered mass into which they h ad bee n thrown by the ﬁerce attack l . se r of the handful of patriots Bo ivar , eing that the c itical moment h ad a l arrived , ordered another general attack on the Sp nish ines ,

r r As n with the result that the oyalists fell back in diso der . the Spa iard s began to lose ground a heavyrain came up and prevented either a k d side from seeing the m noeuvres of the other . Dar ness fell an

d r covere the Spanish retreat so that there were no p isoners taken . kn o was Bolivar , not owing what disposition Barreir making of his

w n s forces , and being unable to get ne s of him in the dark e s and the h is m r rain , spent the night reorganizing ar y and prepa ing for an 2 74 APPENDIX A

r h ad n attack . Ba reiro retur ed to Paipa . The patriots apparently

lost as heavily as the royalists . It is claimed that t welve hundred

were killed on both sides . On w - l the t enty seventh Bo ivar returned to his camp at Bonsa. m un un His ar y now numbered but eighteen h dred men , two h dred

n as a a having retur ed to their homes in the Llanos of C nare . B rreiro remained at Paipa and both armies were in practically the same

un ar position as before the enco ter , although the Spani ds h ad lost conﬁdence and the Libe rating Army h ad practically gained a vic m d tory . After a few skirmishes the Royalist Ar y abandone Paipa M m and took up a position at otanita on the ain road to Tunja. Bolivar determined to reac h Tunja ﬁrst if possible and again

ar o a w marching by way of Pantano de V gas and the T ca ro d , he as

successful in arriving at Tunja before Barreiro . l Barreiro was visited by a clever spy sent by Bo ivar , who dis covered that the Spaniards did not propose to attac k Tunja but to

o a s se e m g to Bogota by a ro d that pa ses west of Tunja , parat d fro

that city by a range of hills . In this way they hoped to be able to reach Bogota and join forces with the troops held in rese rve there

a by the Viceroy . The spy having misled the Sp niards into believing

l ar un d in t h e that Bo iv intended to spend some time in T ja , escape

night and made his report to the patriot general . The next mom

1 8 1 l h is ing , August 7 , 9 , Bo ivar climbed the hills and was able with

ﬁe ld glass to watch the movements of the enemy to the westward . F two t rom the Spanish camp there were roads to Bogo a , one by way of Chiquinquira and the other by the bridge of Boyaca . Lack

th e ing a guide they took more frequented road by way of Boyaca . As soon as Bolivar saw them pass the fork in the road and realized

l o a h is arm t that they wou d g by Boyac , he ordered y to march to h e h ’ bridge as rapidly as possible . T is order was given at nine o clock

l - in the morning. Bo ivar remained on the heights until half past

e se e r r m un el ven , when he could the oyalist a myno longer , then o t

e u h ad a to ing his hors went to T nja , breakfast , and took the ro d ’ a l Boyaca . The royalists reached the bridge ahe d of Bo ivar s army h ad r m and , thinking that they nothing to fear from the pat iots who d e . they suppos d intended to remain at Tunja , stoppe for breakfast ’ At about two o clock the Liberating Army arrived in sight of t h e

APPENDIX B

BATTLE or CARABOBO

IN the year following the battle of Boyaca an armistice was a l M r signed by Boliv r and Genera o illo , who commanded the Spanish u m army in Venez ela . The ar istice was badly obse rved by both t was par ies , but the patriot army able to improve the interval of

repose better than the Spaniards . The Spanish Revolution of 1 8 2 0

d r e prevente reinforcements f om being s nt from Spain , while the victories in Colombia enabled Bolivar to secure many additions to m w his forces . The ar istice as formally declared to be at an end

2 th r 8 2 1 8 1 . on the of Ap il ,

Bolivar had some four thousand men at Barinas . Pae z was in m d co mand of three thousand Llaneros scattere over the plains , and Bermudez with two thousand men threatened the Spaniards in Eastern n w Venezuela . Bolivar o took up his headquarters at San Carlos and as P a an Paez sembled his cowboys at ao . Bermudez m de attack on Caracas from the east and his operations occupied the attention t i l of a considerable por ion of the royal st army . The Spanish ines

extended from Barquisimeto through Valencia to Caracas . Sending some of h is forces to attract the attention of the Spaniards as as l a in the west well as in the e t , Bo iv r proceeded to gather his

r h ad forces for an attack on the Spanish centre . The oyalists a

h ye a force of upwards of thous nd men , most of them quartered in

and about Valencia , while a small detachment held the town of ina uillo T q on the northern edge of the Llanos .

1 8 2 1 l t About the middle of fune , , Bo ivar left his headquar ers at San Carlos and marching east joined forces with General Paez

w On un 2 1 a who came est from Pao to meet him . J e the Sp niards a ina uillo and were driven b ck from their outpost at T q , they also retired from a hill called Buenavista on the road from Tinaquillo to Carabobo which they should have held at all costs as it com

' manded th e a eﬂ t iv l h ad ro d ec e y. Bolivar now about six thousand 2 76 BATTLE or CARABOBO 2 77

He men under his command . had open to him two methods of a v a a attack on Valencia , the direct ro d via Buena ist and the ro d from a un P ao . Both ro ds ite on the plain of Carabobo and there General La Torre in command of the Spanish forces placed his army as soon ’ as he learned of Bolivar s contemplated attack on Valencia.

P ao the diﬁicult h two The road is much more and illy of the , h ad a but the Sp niards remained in force at Buenavista , Bolivar would probably have been obliged to take the more easterly route , n u l ls which the Spa iards could do bt ess a o have held , although Bolivar now had a slightly superior force . The country is very hilly and so and covered with trees bushes that a small force , well posted , could a prevent a very much larger force from making an dvance .

On 2 1 8 2 1 l June 3, , Bo ivar held a grand review of all his forces t on the plain of Tinaquillo . Early the nex morning they formed i a in three div sions and started on the direct ro d to Carabobo . The ﬁrst division was commanded by General Paez, then a dashing

w -ﬁve young cowboy barely t enty years old , brave , fearless , and ﬁf d a r teen . he dst ong , the idol of his hundred Llaneros In a dition to his cowboys he had in his division the famous British Legion

a oleonic h ad composed of veterans of the N p wars , who been attracted ’ z l ise l and to Vene uela by the g ittering prom s of Bo ivar s agents, whose splendid ﬁgh t ing qualities had enabled him to win the cam

ai n 1 8 1 out . p g of 9 , in which he drove the Spaniards of Colombia At u i w - l r f s nr se on the t enty fourth , Bo iva and his staf arrived w at Buenavista , here he was able to make out with a glass the veteran un troops of Spain drawn up on the plains of Carabobo , der the e command of General La Torre . The plains , cover d with grass d o an . F chapparal , extend north to Valencia rom the Spanish p sitiou the road to the so uthwest lay through the valley of Naipe to the western Llanos and the Andes . To the southeast were the hills m h rou h that divide Carabobo fro the northern Llanos . T g a pass a in these hills goes the ro d to Pao and the central Llanos .

In a word , the royalist position at Carabobo commanded the approaches to Valencia and Caracas from both Western and Central ’ i Venezuela . Bolivar s v ew could not have been very distinct even

ﬁve with a good glass , as the plain of Carabobo is miles from Buena h ﬁv vista . Still e was able to make out that about e thousand soldiers 2 78 APPENDIX B

were so placed on the ed ge of the plain as to make a successful frontal difficult m r h ad attack very , if not i possible . The Spania ds place d t heir artillery in such a manner as to command the valley through w which Bolivar must reach the plain . It as now too late for h im a e h is l s and n as a P ao and to ch ng p an by goi g e t take the ro d from . i a a . F approach the Sp n rds on their left flank urthermore , they could easily have become cognizant of such a movement and re adily have changed their front so as to make it even more difficult for h im i h s a . n to bring forces into battle rray While studying the situatio , he was told of an unfrequented path that led through the h ills to the west and came out on the plain a little to the rear of the Spanish

. difﬁcult a was right wing Although it was a narrow and tr il it ,

nevertheless, just what he needed to enable him to break up the

Spanish formation . As a movement along this path would take longer than that by

ﬁrst a u the direct route , the division was hurried ahe d nder General a Paez with a native of Tin quillo acting as their guide . The plan was for them to arrive unexpectedly on the right ﬂank of the Span iards just as Bolivar with the remainder of the army reac hed the

All w ar t centre . the trails were so narrow that it as necess y for h e ﬁ le . m b e d men to march in single So etimes in the of a strong stream , al n sometimes on the steep slopes of a hill , in tropic jungles and u der

a hot sun , they made the best of their way over this rough trail for d m two hours and a half, until suddenly they emerge on a hilltop fro which they could see the great plain and the Spanish army drawn

a . up re dy for battle , two miles away From this vantage point it appeared to be an easy matter to de ﬂ scend the ridge and attack the Spanish ank . Not taking the trouble to bear more to the north ward and so cut off the Spanish retreat to as b ut Valencia , they charged down the ridge with great enthusi m , the distance was greater than they had imagined and it must have taken from twenty to twenty-ﬁve minutes before they could reach

s the edge of the plain . Here it eemed as though they had fallen into i a trap , for at the foot of the ridge is a l ttle valley , so that when they crossed th e rivulet that ﬂows through it they found themselves

one hundred and ﬁftyfeet below the level of the plain of Carabobo . In the meantime the Spaniards had seen them descending the two

APPENDIX C

TEMP ERATU RE AND WEATHER

HERMOMETRI C se r T ob rvations were taken du ing the trip , together

- m with occasional weather notes . The te peratures obtained are not

ul in th e im va strictly comparable , owing to irreg arity t es of obser n u tion , to co stant changes in the exposure of the instr ments as a l i r n i resu t of vary ng altitude , conditions of t avel , and co stantly sh ft in ing geographic position . The results given the table below have

e e been computed from thes observations , and , while they therefor

scient iﬁc a e al lack ccuracy , they may s rve to show the gener char For acter of the temperatures encountered along the line of march . this purpose th ree periods of the day have been selected and called “ ” — “ A . M 1 2 M . n early morning (5 7 ) , midday ( to 3 and eve ” “ ” ing (6—8 The latest early morning hour is placed at M u A. . e e e e 7 , b caus in nearly all the recorded cas s a rapid di rnal ris “ ” in temperature began at about th at time ; midday is taken from i P M . m ra t 1 2 M . to 3 . because the recorded diurnal axima occur in p c

s e e 1 2 P . M . cally every ca e within thos limits , most often b tween and ; — M n 6 8 P . . is taken as showing the average time for the begi ning of in the sunse t fall temperature toward the night . In cases where there were sufﬁcient observations under early ” se th e morning hours , a decrea in temperature from night values to

H d e A . . an s a minimum occurring usually between 5 and 7 , then a ri i r . e towa d the com ng day , were sometimes evident Thes instances were so infrequent , however , that no trustworthy mean value for

th e . a early morning minimum can be deduced Inste d , the mean — all e A . H . of recorded temp ratures from 5 7 has been computed , giving at best only a fair approximation of the conditions . It is to be noted in this connection that the maxima and minima given in u th A . M . e table do not indicate the tr e amount of change from 5 to 7 , which was usually much less (in th e great majority of cases not more

2 80 TEM PERATURE AND WEATHER 2 8 1

° ° than 5 and often only 2 or T h e extre me irregularity of the obse rvations rendered the same treatment necessary for the mid

s th e day and evening temperatures . The ba ing of results on the large total number of case s for the respective periods (though these total s necessarily vary widely) probably gives a truer idea of the average temperatures encountered than would be obtained if the results were based on the much fewer actually recorded maxima or minima . Three fairly distinct provinces of temperature along the line

can a s of march be m de out , the conditions in each justifying its epa

ﬁrst ration from the others . The extends from Carabobo to Tinaco

se i - r u (the m a id country) , the second from Tinaco to N nchia (the n t h e m unch ia G northern Lla os) , third fro N to Duitama (the ordil

leran region and its approaches) . The averages for the last province s m have not been computed , for rea ons which will be apparent fro

the discussion following the table .

AVE RAGE EARLY M ORNING TEMP ERA TU RE (FAH RENH EIT)

IN N A MAX P C O . C S S . . MI N ROV E E . ° ° - 1 6 0 0 Carabobo Tinaco 7 9 5 3. ° -A Tinaco rauca 2 6 7 1 . 5 ° ° Arauca-Nunch ia 1 3 76 0 69 9 Nunchia- Duitama (See be low)

MID DAY ° - 1 0 1 Carabobo Tinaco 9 . 0 ° ° - un a 2 . Tin co N chia 4 7 9 5 . 84 o Nunchia- Duitama (See be low)

EVENING

° ° Carabobo -Tinaco 2 0 7 2 0 6 2 2 ° - Nunch ia 2 1 8 Tinaco 7 2 . 5 Nunchia- Duitama (See b elow)

The most striking fact indicated by the above table is the strong i - k n a diurnal var ation in temperature , a well now char cteristic of

r . r equato ial regions The amounts va y , and in the prese nt case s 2 8 2 APPENDIX C

are probably controlled to a considerable extent by geographic factors . A large part of the journey from Carab obo to T inaco layover hills and plains wh ich are semi - arid in character and hence favour active

m m u and nocturnal cooling , relatively low early orning te perat res ,

and a consequent great diurnal range . Between Tinaco Nunchia ,

a s se on the other h nd , the heavy gras cover of the Llanos rves to prevent this active cooling and results in relatively higher early

m e morning temperatures , and , the midday te peratures b ing not very diﬁerent from those of the same time of day in the hill coun try ° b al se m u . (averaging a out 4 higher) , a con quent s ler di rnal range The general change in temperature between the hill country and

was l m the Llanos obviously not so sudden as the tab e might i ply , r though it was surp isingly sudden , owing to the rapid change in a geographic conditions . In both regions the nocturnal r diation pushes forward the lowest temperature for the whole twenty-four u hours into the period just before sunrise . The greatest di rnal

a n 1 6 range was recorded at Camp Naipe (Carabobo) , J uary , when °

se F A . H . 1 P . M . the mercury ro from at , to 9 at , a range of The weather accompanying this rhythmical variation in tempe ra

a b e ture was for the most part , as would re dily inferred , clear or was fair . When clouds were observed , it usually in the late forenoon m d or early afternoon , and they had the typical for of clouds produce

r . by diurnal ascending cu rents , the cumulus

e m a a The few winds record d blew largely fro the northe st qu drant , e t u b e specially during the earlier par of the trip , beginning sually

w 6 and A . M . t een 7 , increasing rapidly in force until the latter part of the forenoon and usually dying out to uncertain and infrequent

' uﬂ e h p s by early afternoon . Thes winds appear to ave been an t extension of the nor heast trades , blowing far inland under the con

r t ol of the equatorial trough of low pressure , the barometric equator running at this season a little north of the geographic equator in

South America . They apparently owed their diurnal character to the convectional ascent of air under the inﬂuence of the diurnal ﬁ variation in temperature . They show from the rst of March a change in average direction from the north east quadrant into the

r northwest , and a preference for the afte noon .

2 8 4 APPENDIX c

e th e h Beyond the Paramo , conditions chang d for better , thoug ° m 60 the temperatures , as far as Duita a , seldom went above This,

t s was r doub le s, pa tly the result of the nine thousand feet altitude w a at hich this part of the journey lay . No record of temper ture or w m weather as kept beyond Duita a . INDEX

PAGE P AGE Aca rigua 5 0 Bolivar Achaguas 83 Headq uart ers at Soc ha Viejo A a anca o a a at t of gu Bl 49 B yc , B le Alga ro b o 88 Pain t ing of M a 1 0 1 r o D R ro c . a a p B i en , f el s of Coc ui 1 r sso o r Ande 5 9 B i n , J ge T rip o ver 1 8 6 Bull-figh t a t Ca racas An ost ra Co r ss of 2 6 g u , ng e 9 Paint in of 8 C a al O s r at o ry Ca ra as g pg b e v , c A ts roa a s 6 C afia o r s n , dw y 4 7 , 5 Fl e Aparicio n 5 3 Ca nagua River r R r 8 2 8 C afio at a Apu e ive , 9 Gu m k 8 Ara at os o o ys 1 C a fio M ua t o . gu , h wling n e 5 , 73 A ra ue a 1 09 Capa rro River Ara re at t of 1 C a ri Dr I les . saac u , B le 5 p , D Ar as . S st re 1 1 Ca s a t Ca racas en , ylve 7 puchin Ar oro R r 1 8 Ca a ras o r c r s 1 1 1 2 1 ip ive 5 pyb higui e 7 , Armadillos 93 Cara bo bo A ac c o Pa nt of at t o f at t of y u h , i ing B le 9 B le Pa int ing of B anco 2 6 2 Pla ins of Barinas 6 7 Carac as Ba rrancas 66 Nat ional Museum Barra nq uilla 2 6 5 Unive rsityof at C st om of 1 8 Car Ca a fish B hing, u 7 ibe , nnib l n m Dr r m f i a . a P ct r o 2 0 C ari ua R r B gh , Hi , i u e 3 g ive r s 8 8 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 Cart a na Bi d 5 , 7 , , 7 , 35 , 5 3 ge Casa nare

2 8 1 Cast ro Pr s t . 7 , , e iden 8 6 Illness of 8 2 Po rt ra it of 6 4 Villa of 2 3 1 Chire Chirgua River 8 2 6 C oco at , 7 h l e Choco n t a

a a rt rs at Casa o a . 2 1 2 C Co o r a Ca ra as He dq u e de B nz lub nc di , c Headq ua rt ers at Guan are 6 0 Cojedes River 2 8 5 2 8 6 INDEX

PAG E Co ncert s La Cal z a da ar nas 68 La Dora a O O O O O O O B i d O O O O O O O O O O O O O O Bogo t a 2 44 La Glo ria Caracas 2 1 La Guayra Co ro a 1 a una S L ca 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 z l 5 3 g e 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Co a 2 1 2 La T r rral de Bonz ig a . Co rra Falz o Pa Las ra as 0 0 0 0 l de ez 75 Queb d 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Co m ics 2 0 Las s ras o 7 Que e del Medi 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cot to s t o of 1 Landae ta Rosa s n pinning, Me h d 9 5 le , Gen . Manuel C rr nc 2 1 1 2 1 2 1 6 Le ar ose An t on o u e y 9 , , 5 4 , 37 , 5 v , J i Libra ries at Caracas Desecho Ranch 1 74 m L o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 i b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Duitama 2 1 1 Llanero charac t e rist ics Lo t t r s Ele River e ie at Bogota 1 2 1 33, S7 , 7 7 1 9 5 1 3. 44 at Carac as

M c Gre o r r o r g , G eg y Po rt ra it of Magda lena River M a Co mmiss o Ca rac as 0 0 0 0 0 p i n , 0 0 0 at os ra 0 0 0 0 0 D M , Gene l 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a al o r. G b d n , Mic helena Ga mbling aint b P o o o o o o o o am oa Co on l ing y o o o o o o o o o o o G b , l e Monagas G amelota l ra f o O O O O G ve O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O Games or ot c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 M e 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Bowling o n r o O O O O O O O D M e O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O Gon a Al a r . z lez v ez, Miguel G r o r rt E r o Pr . . eg y, f He be G re nadillo Guamit a Guana re Guara ta rit o Guasd ualito G rr ra ral Ran of ue e , Gene , ch

He imke a o r Wi l a m , M j l i

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 3 Honda 79 , 7 7

Hospita ls at Ca ra cas 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 5

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 9 Indepe ndence Paguei River 73

a a . O O O O P O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O ip O O 2 1 6 almar t o P i O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O 89

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Pan t a o a r as at t l of 2 1 2 2 n de V g , B e 3, 7

O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O ara a Le D P ill . ran sco 6 d , F ci 7

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 m 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 a ra o of 0 P Pisva 1 9 7