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Title: Travels and adventures in South and Central America - First series: Life in the Llanos of Venezuela
Author: Páez, Ramón
Language: English
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[Illustration: Map of Venezuela.]
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES
IN
SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA.
FIRST SERIES:
Life in the Llanos of Venezuela.
BY
DON RAMON PAEZ.
“NIHIL ARDUUM MORTALIBUS.”
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 654 BROADWAY.
1868.
“Oh! it is the land where brightest hues
Gild sunset skies and glow in morning dews
Where flowers the fairest ever seem to bloom,
Of the world’s empire, to adorn the tomb.
Where blandest breezes on elastic wing,
Gladness and vigor to the bosom bring;
Where hang at once, within thy sunny bowers,
On citron trees, the fruitage and the flowers;
Where hearts are ardent as the sun’s they feel,
And buoyant as the gales that o’er them steal;
Where maiden’s love as close, as sweet will twine,
As cling the tendrils of their native vine;
Where the deep lustre of soft beauty’s eye
Transcends the brightness of its own clear sky.”
GODFREY’S “_Cordelia_.”
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
RAMON PAEZ.
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
TO
MORRIS KETCHUM, ESQ.,
THE
KIND AND CONSTANT FRIEND
TO THE
EXILED AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
It was my lot several years ago--I need not state how many--to be
brought forth into this world amid the wild scenes which I propose to
describe. Later in life I was fortunate enough to be sent by my parents
to England, for the purpose of finishing my education under the tuition
of the learned fathers at the College of Stonyhurst. While there, I had
the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the inimitable author of
“Wanderings in South America,” Charles Waterton, Esq., who years before
had also been an inmate of that celebrated institution, and whose book
became at once my favorite study, on account of the graphic descriptions
it contains of animals and objects with which I was already familiar.
The works of the distinguished traveller, Baron von Humboldt, who first
made those regions known to the civilized world, next afforded me an
endless source of scientific enjoyment, developing in me an early taste
for the natural history and physical wonders of my native land.
On my return home, I immediately turned my steps toward
“Those matted woods ...
Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey,”
anxious to study nature in her own sanctuary; but, owing to the
unfortunate state of affairs in the country, I did not enjoy long my
cherished dreams of exploring it through all its extent. Sufficient
information was, however, obtained in my rambles through the plains, to
enlarge upon a subject scarcely touched upon by travellers.
Thus from my earliest days have I been associated with the scenes
forming the text of the present narrative, which I venture to lay before
the public, trusting more in the indulgence and characteristic
generosity of the Anglo-Saxon race toward foreigners, than in my own
ability to fulfil the arduous undertaking.
CONTENTS.
CHAP. PAGE
INTRODUCTION, xi
I. THE DEPARTURE, 1
II. THE MORROS, 16
III. THE LLANOS, 26
IV. THE LLANEROS, 40
V. SCENES AT THE FISHERY, 57
VI. WILD HORSES, 74
VII. ACROSS THE PAMPAS, 85
VIII. LA PORTUGUESA, 99
IX. THE APURE RIVER, 116
X. SAVANNAS OF APURE, 133
XI. EL FRIO, 148
XII. BIRDS OF ILL OMEN AND CARRION HAWKS, 163
XIII. THE RODEO, 175
XIV. BRANDING SCENES, 189
XV. PLANTS AND SNAKES, 202
XVI. TIGER STORIES, 222
XVII. SHOOTING ADVENTURES, 238
XVIII. MATA TOTUMO, 250
XIX. MONKEY NOTIONS, 262
XX. AMONG THE CROCODILES, 281
XXI. THE CIMARRONERA, 294
XXII. LOS BORALES, 315
XXIII. OUR LEADER, 329
XXIV. SCENES AT THE PASS OF APURITO, 362
XXV. THE WONDERS OF THE RIVER, 378
XXVI. THE LAND OF EL DORADO, 391
XXVII. THE OIL WELLS OF THE ORINOCO, 430
XXVIII. HOMEWARD BOUND, 448
XXIX. CALABOZO, 460
NOTE.
The favorable--I may say flattering--notice which the previous editions
of the _Wild Scenes in South America_ received from the press of this
country, and more especially from that of Great Britain, has encouraged
the Author of that work to make several material changes, not only in
the text--whole chapters having been stricken out and their place
supplied by new matter--but in the general plan of the book, with the
object of presenting it to the young American reader--to whom this
edition is especially devoted--in a form which will convey a more
comprehensive view of the wonders of a region scarcely known here,
except to the scientific through the works of Baron von Humboldt and
other European travellers who have visited it from time to time in the
pursuit of knowledge, or for pleasure. It is to be hoped, however, that
with the increased facilities offered by the various lines of steamships
now plying regularly between this country and various points in South
America, a more lively interest than hitherto has been evinced here,
will be aroused among the citizens of the Great Republic towards
countries which, by their geographical position and other natural
advantages, are destined to become the emporiums of a vast trade with
the United States of North America.
INTRODUCTION.
“Know’st thou the land where the citron grows,
Where midst its dark foliage the golden orange glows?
Thither, thither let us go.”
GOETHE.
TO YOUNG AMERICA:
“Smart,” as the world over, you are acknowledged to be--in which opinion
I most heartily concur, having myself spent among you the best part of
my life--permit me to call your attention to one important fact which
has escaped your notice thus far, or rather that of your teachers,
namely, a better acquaintance with that vast and glorious portion of our
great continent lying at your very portals, South America--a region of
which you have only a faint idea from the meagre information supplied by
your School Geographies and occasional newspaper correspondents, but in
fact a land of wondrous exuberance and untold natural wealth, which
offers you a field of enterprise worthy of the founders of the States of
California and Oregon, and the Territories of Montana, Arizona, and
Colorado.
It is a fact that while Europe, situated as it is far beyond our own
hemisphere, has always sent her _very best_ men to represent her in the
South American States, and to explore and report upon every thing worth
knowing, this country, America _par excellence_, has sent _none_ as yet
but broken down and quarrelsome politicians, who, according to the
statements of some of the leading periodicals of this country,[1] are
absolutely incompetent to fill their post with credit to the nation they
represent. To my own personal knowledge I can testify as to the class of
men sent afloat to Venezuela, one of whom had previously been master of
a tug-boat on the Orinoco and Apure rivers, but through political
influence at home was suddenly enabled to emerge from that obscure
though honorable calling to that of a diplomatic functionary, although
it is but fair to state that his social status in that country was in no
wise improved by his change of vocation. When his term of office
expired, with the change of administration at headquarters, he was duly
replaced by another, whose conduct was so disgraceful[2] that his
countrymen resident in the Republic petitioned the Government at home to
remove him forthwith, which was granted, but only to replace him by
another--since deceased--who, I am informed, was the only drunken man
seen in the streets of the capital.
Thanks to the unaided efforts of a missionary gentleman, Rev. Mr.
Fletcher,[3] the magnificent empire of Brazil has lately been brought to
the notice of the people of the United States, who, quick to appreciate
the commercial advantages offered by a foreign country, when fully
demonstrated to them, have already established a line of steamers
between New York and the principal ports of the Empire. Outside of this
the people of this enterprising country have only had occasional
glimpses of the vast continent of South America, from the notes of
casual travellers and the official reports of Lieuts. Page, Herndon, and
Gibbon, of the navy, who confined their observations principally to the
practicability of navigating the two great rivers Amazon and La Plata,
already surveyed by their respective governments and explored from end
to end by several European travellers. It is to be hoped, however, that
the eminent naturalist, Agassiz, who lately visited the former river
with reference to a particular branch of science, will give us the
result of his explorations as clearly, and relieved of the
technicalities of scientific lore so common among naturalists, as the
distinguished artist Church, who several years ago penetrated, “on his
own hook,” to the _heart of the Andes_, has presented the grand and
beautiful ridge on canvass to the eyes of admiring thousands who have
gazed upon his admirable paintings, thus familiarising the outside world
with that picturesque region, and earning for himself a name second to
none in the estimation of the artistic world.
North Americans cannot longer _ignore_ that great section of our
continent which, during thirteen years, _warred to the knife_ against
her powerful antagonists, Spain and Portugal, for the possession of
those political principles proclaimed years before by their own Great
Republic; for it is a fact, that while most of the European nations
hastened to acknowledge the independence of the South American States,
the United States of America were the last to recognize them; and if we
of the South have not been as successful in the establishment of
Republican Institutions as our brethren of the North, the fault is not
ours, but is to be attributed to the “peculiar institutions” implanted
on our soil by its fanatical and remorseless conquerors, so utterly
inimical to enlightened educational development.[4]
And now look, on the other hand, to the host of distinguished names that
figure among the European representatives and explorers in the various
sections of South America, and the advantages gained by the countries
they represent. At the head of all stands the illustrious Humboldt, who
was the first to penetrate that comparatively unknown region at the time
(1799), and to lay open her wondrous treasures before the civilized
world. Any eulogistic comments upon this truly great man are
superfluous: the world is filled with his fame, as radiant as the
celestial spheres above, which he overran likewise with his penetrating
mind, and after devoting nearly three quarters of a century to the study
of the Universe, he died only a few years ago at the advanced age of
ninety-two, in the full enjoyment of his mental faculties. His works are
the grandest monument of the nineteenth century.
To Prussia we are indebted for the services of another resolute
explorer, Prince Adalbert, who fearlessly penetrated to the remotest
parts of Brazil, and the botanists, von Tschudi, Karzten, and Moritz,
who have enriched the European museums and conservatories with the
treasures of our Flora. Other parts of Germany have sent no less
distinguished individuals in the persons of Prince Maximilian of
Bavaria, and the great naturalists, Narterer, Spix, and von Martius, all
of whom have given to the scientific world the result of their
explorations in works of enduring fame. France ranks next in
distinguished names, such as La Condamine, D’Orvigni, Jussieu, St.
Hilaire, Bonpland (the companion of Humboldt), Depons, Lavayesse,
Webber, Liais, etc.; and Great Britain, with her Parishes and Fitzroys,
who surveyed and carefully sounded every estuary, bay, and inlet which
lie between the Plata and the Bay of Valparaiso, with the celebrated
naturalist, Darwin, as co-laborer; Sir Robert Schumbourgh, the
discoverer of that vegetable wonder, the Victoria Regia, and the
hitherto unknown sources of the great river Orinoco, the lake of Parime,
supposed in the seventeenth century to be the abode of a mighty and
resplendent Indian king--El Dorado--the gilded, from whom that veritable
land of gold, as it has subsequently been demonstrated, took the
name[5]--with other equally enterprising naturalists and explorers, such
as Waterton, Wallace, Bates, Vigne, Markham, and Spruce. Through the
efforts of the two last named, England has succeeded in transplanting
and successfully cultivating in the mountains of India the various
species of cinchona trees indigenous to the Andean range of mountains,
that yield that invaluable drug, quinine; while another enterprising
Englishman undertook to stock Australia with the Alpaca sheep of the
same region, at the risk of his life and fortune.
Thus England, France, and Germany have secured the monopoly of the South
American trade, with total exclusion of this country, which has to pay
_cash_ for what the former obtain in exchange for the produce of their
manufactories. All these nations, moreover, appoint permanent
representatives, chosen from among their ablest diplomats, and keep them
there as long as they choose to remain, to enable them to become
thoroughly acquainted with the people and the peculiarities of the
country, endearing themselves to the inhabitants by their munificent
hospitality and courtly demeanor. Even distant and snow-bound Russia has
sent to South America her commissions of _savants_ and maintains there,
as well as Sweden, competent representatives, whose duty it is to report
to their respective governments on the progress of affairs and the
resources of those countries.
I shall not close the list of European travellers and naturalists, with
whom I am acquainted, without adding those of Holland and Belgium, viz.,
Mr. Langsberg, for many years Minister Plenipotentiary from the former
country to Venezuela, Baron Ponthos, and Messrs. Linden and Funk, who,
by their united efforts, have contributed to enlighten their countrymen
respecting the source from whence India-rubber emanates, and the kind of
trees that yield the valuable Calisaya and Angostura barks; what plants
yield the fragrant Vanilla and Tonka beans, the healing balsams of
Copaiva, Tolu, and Peru; and how indigo, cacao, and coffee are raised.
“Does cotton grow in Venezuela?” “Are there any railroads in Chile?” are
questions which have respectively been addressed to me and to the
accredited Minister of the latter flourishing republic to the United
States by persons enjoying the greatest advantages of education in this
country. Now, it is a well-known fact to European merchants that the
cotton raised in Venezuela ranks among the finest in the world; and as
regards railroads, Chile possesses some of the most admirable works of
the kind, due to the skill of North American engineers.
But no wonder that so little is known here about South America, when one
of the standard School Geographies and most recent publications
describes the products of Venezuela in these few lines:
“Its principal products are the _woods_ and _fruits_ of the forest and
the _cattle_ of the plains.”
“Exports.--The principal exports are the _tropical fruits_, which grow
without cultivation; and hides, cattle, horses, and mules.”
Any one would be led to suppose, from the perusal of the above
quotations, that the country at large is “in a state of nature,” and
that the inhabitants themselves are no better off than “the cattle of
the plains,”
“Where at each step the stranger fears to wake
The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake;
Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey,
And savage men more murderous still than they.”
--_The Deserted Village._
These things are only found in the depths of the primeval forest, or
amidst the labyrinths of rivers that traverse the vast extent of prairie
land or _llanos_ which form the subject of this book. These are the
grazing grounds as well as military school of the republic: the
agricultural portion lies north of this region, amidst the great chain
of mountains, which, detaching itself from the main Andean trunk in New
Granada, or Colombia, as it is now called, runs eastward along the
shores of the Caribbean Sea. The products of this region consist
principally, as the school-book quoted above states, in the tropical
fruits, not collected at random, as might be inferred from the above
meager statement, but through the most careful cultivation, as a
contemporary English traveller in that country rightly describes it in a
few lines.
“July 11th.--Having got our passports, we started at about 3 P.M. for
San Pedro, distant about six leagues. The first three leagues lay
through the beautiful valley of Chacao (Caracas). Everything bore the
appearance of great prosperity. The road was as good as any in Europe.
The hedges were beautifully clipped; hardly a foot of ground could be
seen that was not in a high state of cultivation. The plantations were
numerous and in good order, and the long chimneys and black smoke showed
that even in this remote valley steam was rendering its thousand-handed
assistance. We crossed and recrossed the Rio Guaire several times before
we arrived at Antimano, some two leagues distant from Caracas. We met
several herds of wild cattle, being driven towards Caracas by the
llaneros in crimson or blue ponchos, mounted on high-picked saddles,
with their constant companion, the lasso, plaited into their horses’
tails, and the long cattle-spears in their hands. The cattle were
magnificent-looking animals, and reminded me of the breed that one sees
in the bull-rings of old Spain. Coffee is more cultivated in the valley
of Chacao than any other crop, and it contributes in no small degree to
the beauty of the scenery.”[6]
Besides coffee this country produces the famous _Cacao_ and indigo of
Caracas, sugar-cane, and cotton of superior quality, tobacco hardly
inferior to that of Cuba, especially the celebrated Varinas and Guacharo
kinds, rice, Indian-corn, and most of the cereals of northern latitudes,
according to the elevation above the sea level; and as to the products
gathered “in a state of nature,” such as sarsaparilla, India-rubber,
Piassaba, Vanilla, and Tonka beans, cabinet and dye-woods, their name is
legion, and would require a separate volume devoted to that particular
branch of scientific research, which the reader can find admirably
compiled in the works of Humboldt and Bonpland, St. Hilaire, Sir Robert
Schombourgh, Codazzi, and others.
Now it is my purpose to introduce the young American reader to a
country--
“Where maidens’ love as close, as sweet will twine,
As cling the tendrils of their native vine,”
and which hitherto seems to have been a sealed book to the future
“Merchant Princes” of the great North. Humboldt describes it thus, in
1802:--
VENEZUELA.
“CARACAS is the capital of a country nearly twice as large as Peru, and
now little inferior in extent to the kingdom of New Granada. This
country, which the Spanish government designates by the name of
Capitania-General de Caracas, or the United Provinces of Venezuela, has
nearly a million of inhabitants, among whom are sixty thousand slaves.
It comprises, along the coasts, New Andalusia, or the province of Cumana
(with the island of Margarita), Barcelona, Venezuela, or Caracas, Coro,
and Maracaibo: in the interior the Provinces of Barinas and Guiana; the
former situated on the rivers of Santo Domingo and the Apure, the latter
stretching along the Orinoco, the Casiquiare, the Atabapo, and the Rio
Negro. In a general view of the seven United Provinces of Tierra Firme,
we perceive that they form three distinct zones, extending from East to
West.
“We find, first, cultivated land along the sea-shore, and near the chain
of the mountains on the coast; next, savannas or pasturages; and
finally, beyond the Orinoco, a third zone, that of the forests, into
which we can penetrate only by the rivers which traverse them. If the
native inhabitants of the forest lived entirely on the produce of the
chase, like those of the Missouri, we might say that the three zones,
into which we have divided the territory of Venezuela, picture the three
states of human society; the life of the wild hunter, in the woods of
the Orinoco; pastoral life in the savannas or llanos, and the
agricultural state, in the high valleys, and at the foot of the
mountains on the coast.”[7]
And yet this favored region can be reached in from twelve to fifteen
days by sailing packets between Philadelphia and La Guaira; or, should
your _fast_ habits require it, we can avail ourselves of the Brazilian
line of steamships which will leave us at St. Thomas, where we shall
meet the little steamer plying regularly between both points, the whole
voyage being thus accomplished in eight days. As we are not in a hurry,
however, to get through our journey, we will, for the sake of
convenience and diversified amusement, follow the example of the
above-mentioned traveller, Sullivan, who, in company of a friend, made
the trip before us in a commodious yacht by the way of the West India
Islands; but having no craft of our own, we may be permitted to borrow
from the New York yacht squadron one of their idle cutters, which can
thus be better employed than in cruising round well-known fashionable
retreats during a few months of summer, and exposed for the rest of the
year to the hard knocks of a wintry climate. This is the best season to
visit the tropics, as well as the West Indies, when there is no fear of
the dreaded _vomito_ or sweeping hurricanes.
Hardly a day passes without coming in sight of some lovely isle of the
Caribbean sea, which, like the “Queen of the Antilles,”--Cuba--rises
from amidst the placid waves, crowned with perpetual wreaths of fragrant
orange-blossoms and stately palms. Cuba, Hayti, Porto Rico, St. Thomas,
Sta. Cruz, Antigua, Granada, Barbadoes, Martinique, Guadaloupe, Tobago,
and Trinidad, rise one after another in quick succession. When we reach
the last named and most lovely of all, on the eastern extremity of
Venezuela, we have the choice of either penetrating at once into the
field of our adventures by entering one of the numerous outlets of the
Orinoco, which here pours out its tribute to the mighty Atlantic through
a hundred mouths; or, following the line of coast to the westward, we
may reach a point near the fertile valleys of Aragua, where well-trained
horses for the sport and hardy llaneros to guide us, await our arrival.
We shall thus have an opportunity of contemplating and admiring that
stupendous chain of mountains (fit offspring of the mighty Andes further
west), which seems as if thrown up by Titanic force as a barrier against
the encroachments of the fierce Atlantic.
Endless are the beauties and points of interest presented by this
splendid chain of mountains; its varied climes, from the scorching heats
of the _tierra caliente_ on the sea level to the frigid blasts of winter
at higher elevations; its silvery springs and roaring cataracts; its
unrivalled vegetation and glittering veins of precious metals. The trade
winds and currents are in our favor, which will enable us to reach La
Guaira in a couple of days, passing in quick succession some minor
ports, such as Rio Caribe, Carupano, with its silver-bearing mountains
in the distance, the island of Margarita, famous for its pearls, as the
name implies; its fisheries, and the gallant defence made by the
inhabitants against the combined attacks of the Spanish hordes; Cumana,
for its delicious grapes and pine-apples, its salubrious climate, and
the purity of the sky, which enabled the immortal Humboldt to watch in
wonderment the great meteoric shower in 1799, which he compared to a
brilliant display of fire-works; Barcelona, noted only for its hides,
and the Monagas brotherhood, who were for many years the terror of the
country.
The coast, as we approach La Guaira, is lined with plantations of
sugar-cane, cacao and cocoa-nuts, two articles often confounded in
English spelling, but widely different in themselves. The former grows
on a moderately-sized tree, with large, glossy leaves, while the latter
is the product of a palm, remarkable for the height it attains, and the
prodigious size of its fruit, in bunches that few men can lift from the
ground. The _cacao_ nuts, on the contrary, grow in pods, resembling
large cucumbers, of a rich chocolate color outside, filled with oblong
nuts enveloped in a white, sub-acid pulp, very agreeable to the taste
especially of parrots, monkeys, and squirrels, who destroy great
quantities of the pods for the sake of the pulp, so that they require
constant watching to protect them from these pests.
A cacao plantation is one of the handsomest orchards that can be seen,
shaded as they are by another tree of large proportions, the erythrina,
a leguminous plant with crimson flowers, which you may have noticed in
greenhouses at home, though much reduced in size, as it never attains
there more than a few feet above the boxes on which they are raised as
an ornament to the garden in summer. The rapidity with which these trees
grow in the tropics is astonishing, for in eight or ten years, the time
required to reach its maximum growth, they attain the size of the
largest denizens of the forest. Observe how their tops glow with the
fiery hue of their blossoms, for this is the season when they exchange
their leaves for flowers, the only instance of a plant shedding its
leaves in these latitudes, with the exception of the _ceiba_ or silk
cotton tree, which the author of Amyas Leigh has so admirably described
as growing close to where we are journeying just now.
Here the cordillera rises considerably above the connecting mountains,
attaining a height of thirteen thousand feet in the peak of Naiguata,
which you may perceive peeping through the clouds yonder, and the next
one eleven thousand in the Cerro de Avila, both forming what is called
the Silla, or Saddle of Caracas, at the foot of which stands La Guaira,
the principal port of the republic, but the vilest anchorage in the
world. Here ends our yacht excursion; trusting in future to the
nimble-footed mule or to the thumping stage coaches for the rest of the
journey.
Despite its wretched shipping facilities, La Guaira carries on a very
active trade with foreign marts, as is attested by the number of
English, French, German, and Italian merchants, with a few Americans,
residing here, forming, as it were a truly foreign colony. The heat, as
you perceive, is intense, owing to the proximity of the barren
mountain-base, which leaves room scarcely for a loaded mule to turn
round in the narrow and crowded-up streets. On this account, I presume,
La Guaira is very healthy, for not even the Asiatic cholera could obtain
a _footing_ here--excuse the pun--when it decimated the capital in
1853. Cases of _vomito_ occur from time to time; but these are more the
exception than the rule; so it does not follow that all hot places in
the tropics are unhealthy, for Carupano, Margarita, Cumana, La Guaira,
and Coro, which are within the isothermal line of greatest heat--owing,
doubtless, to the dry, stony, or sandy soil on which they stand--are
among the healthiest spots in Venezuela. However, we shall soon be out
of this sultry place, and amidst the glories of a temperate climate. For
this purpose we will hire mules at one of the _posadas_ or hotels, to
ascend the mountains on our way to Caracas, the capital of the republic,
giving the preference to the _old road_, which is much shorter and more
picturesque than the new one for carriage travel. Let us hear first the
enthusiastic English tourist describe this route, as I may be accused by
some of partiality towards my own country.
“The ascent is very precipitous, and the road rough and narrow, but the
view of the boundless ocean on one hand, and the magnificent range of
mountains on the other, was very grand. The road rather reminded me of
the Great St. Bernard, though the resemblance would not bear analyzing.
The sensation of rising gradually into the cooler strata of air was most
delicious; and at length, being suddenly enveloped in a cloud, I felt
actually cold (a novel sensation I had not experienced for several
months), and was not at all sorry to put on my jacket. There is no
mountain in the tropics where you rise as immediately and suddenly from
the stifling heat of the Tierra Caliente to the delicious temperature of
an European sunrise in spring, as the Silla of Caracas.
“On the road from Vera Cruz to Mexico, when the traveller arrives at the
height of four thousand feet, beyond which the fever never spreads, he
is upwards of thirty miles from the sea, whereas, on the road up the
Silla at that height the ocean lies immediately at his feet, and he
looks down upon it as from a tower. So perpendicular is the face of the
Silla towards the sea, that any large _boulder_ or mass of rock becoming
detached high up the mountain and bounding down its face, would fall
clean into the ocean. About half way up the mountain, we crossed a deep
cleft in the mountain called the Salto--a jump--on rather a rickety old
draw-bridge. The bridge is commanded by a ruinous old town, called Torre
Quemada, or the Burnt Tower, a name it derives from its being placed
just at the height where the traveller, descending to La Guaira, first
encounters the stifling exhalations from the Tierra Caliente. About nine
o’clock we stopped to breakfast at La Venta, an inn some five thousand
feet above La Guaira. Here, in a perfectly European atmosphere, we lay
out in the grass, and gazed down upon the ocean and the town of La
Guaira; we could just distinguish the _Ariel_, looking the size of a
walnut-shell, hoisting her white sail, and standing away for Porto
Cabello, where we were to meet her, unless we returned to Trinidad _via_
the Rio Apure and the Orinoco.”
Both sides of the road are lined with _Maguey_ plants, or varieties of
the Agave genus, improperly called _aloes_ and _century-plants_, from a
mistaken notion that they only blossom once in a hundred years. The most
beautiful of these is the _cocuy_, with thick glossy leaves of a clear
emerald color, from six to eight feet, and a flower-stock from
twenty-five to thirty feet in length. I believe it is the same species
that yields the famous beverage of the Mexicans, called pulque, which
some compare to fermented animal juices. A much more agreeable drink is
obtained here by distillation from this plant, and its leaves turned to
better account by scraping out the fine fibres they contain, from which
most beautiful hammocks are made in various parts of the country,
besides ropes, coffee-bags, twine, etc., etc. A fortune is in store for
some Yankee genius who will invent the proper machine for dressing these
leaves and getting the fibres. The other varieties are the _cocuiza
brava_, or common century-plant (Agave Americana), with serrated leaves,
on which account it is very useful for making hedges, and the _cocuiza
dulce_, with perfectly smooth leaves, containing the strongest fibres
and usually cultivated for that purpose. The pith of the flower-stock is
also turned to account in various ways, especially for making the best
kind of razor-strops.
Were you as much a lover of plants as I am, I would invite you to
descend with me to one of those lovely glens formed by these mountains.
There, amid moss-covered rocks and sparkling rivulets, I would point out
to you those singular orchidacœous plants usually called air-plants,
because they obtain their nourishment from the moist air that surrounds
them,--not a bad idea,--those lovely daughters of Flora and Favonius, so
rich in perfume as well as color, but whose principal charm consists in
their caricaturing most living objects in nature, from the “human form
divine,” as in _man-orchis_ (O. mascula) to the bumble-bee, often
deceived by a perfect representation of his species (Ophris apifera).
Thus we count among our floral treasures “angels,” “swans,” “doves,”
“eagles,” “pelicans,” “spiders,” “butterflies,” “bumble-bees,” and even
a perfect infant in its cradle, was found by Linden in the mountains of
Merida. The celebrated _Flor del Espiritu Santo_ (Peristeria elata) is
another of this class. It is there only that are found those two most
beautiful species of cattleya (C. Mossiæ and C. Labiata), so highly
prized by plant collectors, from all nations, and here called _Flor de
Mayo_, or Mayflower, because it blossoms principally in the month of
May. Great favorites are they with us also, and no court-yard is deemed
sufficiently ornamented at Caracas without one or more _baskets_ of
these lovely plants, the stump of a tree, or any rustic basket filled
with bark or moss, being sufficient support for them. In the same manner
the curious Butterfly-flower (Oncidium papillio) is raised along with
the others, often deceiving persons unacquainted with it, with a perfect
representation of the insect whose name it bears; and if you should
visit with me some of the _cacao_ plantations in the tierra caliente, I
would point out to you two equally exquisite plants of the same family
attached to the rough stems and branches of the Erythrina, namely, the
Swan-flower (Cycnoches ventricosum) and the Vanilla, both filling the
air with the same perfume, but in different form, the former through its
swan-like flowers, in clusters of three, five, and even seven, and the
latter through its ripened pods--so well known to perfumers and
confectioners--as the blossoms of this last, though quite large and
handsome, are destitute of perfume.
But to return to our mountain ride, for it is time that we should be
prepared to behold a still more glorious view from the summit, than the
one just described by Sullivan: “After a regular Spanish breakfast of
chocolate and fried eggs, for which, in as regular Spanish custom, we
were charged about ten times the proper amount, we continued our ascent,
and gained the seat of the Saddle, a hollow between the two peaks,
called the Pummel and Croup,[8] about ten o’clock. The summit of the
pass called Las Vueltas, is a smooth undulating grass-land, somewhat
like the sheep-downs of Sussex. The bold rocky peaks on either hand,
stretching in a serrated ridge as far as the eye could reach, were very
fine. I could scarcely fancy myself to be only ten degrees north of the
equator, and actually on or rather only eight thousand feet above the
isothermal line of greatest heat, which passes through Cartagena, La
Guaira, and Cumana.
“We had left far below us all the tropical flora, and were amongst
English ferns and English blackberries; and I actually discovered one
familiar friend, a dandelion. From the summit of Las Vueltas, you first
get a magnificent view of the valley of Chacao, lying some four thousand
feet below you, with the city of Caracas in the centre of it. I don’t
think the view from that height is so fine as some thousand feet lower
down, where it certainly beats any view I have ever seen. It is finer in
my opinion than the first _coup d’œil_ of the Vega and city of
Granada from the Ultimo Suspiro del Moro, where the degenerate Boabdil
el Chico, both in mind and body, turned to take one last fond look at
the luxurious abode of his chivalric ancestors and wept bitterly, though
too late, at his own cowardice and duplicity, which had almost without a
blow surrendered to the “curs of Nazareth” the splendid heritage of
nearly seven centuries, and which was never but in imagination to return
to the true sons of the Prophet. It is also finer than the Valley of
Chamouni or Martigny, from the Tête Noire, but I think it bears more
resemblance to the Vega of Granada.”
Observe how regularly laid out, at right angles to each other, the
streets are; the area of the city is great for the number of inhabitants
(sixty thousand), most of the houses being built one story high, and
occupying in consequence a large space, on account of the earthquakes,
which are of frequent occurrence all along the Andean range. As we
approach the suburbs, you may notice some of the ruins still remaining
of that dreadful catastrophe, which, in 1812, levelled this beautiful
city to the ground, burying beneath the _débris_ twelve thousand of the
inhabitants, just as they had assembled in the magnificent churches of
that time to render homage to the day, Holy Thursday. Since then the
city has been rebuilt, it is to be hoped on more solid basis.
Caracas claims the honor of having given birth to several distinguished
individuals, among others to Bolívar and Miranda, two of the greatest
champions of South American independence; to Rosio, the Jefferson of
Venezuela;
[Illustration: CARACAS.]
to Andres Bello, a great poet and publicist; and to the eminent surgeon
and physician, Dr. Vargas, one of the Presidents of the Republic.
The climate of Caracas has often been called a perpetual spring. “What
can we conceive to be more delightful than a temperature which in the
day keeps between 20° and 26°,[9] and at night between 16° and 18°,
which is equally favorable to the plantain, the orange tree, the coffee
tree, the apple, the apricot, and corn? José de Oviedo y Baños, the
historiographer of Venezuela, calls the situation of Caracas that of a
terrestrial paradise, and compares the Anauco and the neighboring
torrents to the four rivers of the Garden of Eden.”[10]
The hotels, Sullivan describes as being as good as any in Europe. “You
might travel from one end of Old Spain to the other without finding
anything to be compared to them, either as regards cleanliness or the
civility of the landlords.” But as here I am _at home_, you are most
cordially invited to our mansion at the end of the Calle del Comercio,
where you may verify for yourself the truth of the statements concerning
the climate and productions of this fertile valley. We may at once enter
the garden, which occupies nearly the whole square, where, after our
rough ride, we can refresh ourselves with the fruits of the season.
Here, as you perceive, you find growing side by side the refreshing
orange and the luscious apple, the pomegranate and the peach; the
banana, the citron, the guava, the sapodilla, and papaw tree, all of
them eminently tropical fruits, with the pear, the grape-vine, and other
productions of temperate regions. Unsurpassed by any, not even by the
famous Mangosteen of the Spicy Islands, you have here the delicious
Chirimoya, or cherimoyer, as pronounced by Anglo-Saxons, and which I can
only liken to lumps of flavored cream ready to be frozen, suspended from
the branches of some fairy tree amidst the most overpowering perfume of
its flowers; for it is in bearing all the year round, as indeed are most
of the fruit trees you see about this garden, and consequently you may
at all times enjoy the advantage of refreshing the inner as well as the
outer man with a “wilderness of sweets.” Markham,[11] who has tasted
both the chirimoya and mangosteen in their native habitat, gives the
preference decidedly to the former, and says of it: “He who has not
tasted the chirimoya fruit has yet to learn what fruit is.” “The
pineapple, the mangosteen and the chirimoya,” says Dr. Seeman, “are
considered the finest fruits in the world. I have tasted them in those
localities in which they are supposed to attain their highest
perfection--the pineapple in Guayaquil, the mangosteen in the Indian
Archipelago, and the chirimoya on the slope of the Andes, and if I were
called upon to act the part of a Paris, I would without hesitation
assign the apple to the chirimoya. Its taste indeed surpasses that of
every other fruit, and Haenke was quite right when he called it the
masterpiece of nature.”
The numerous varieties of hot-house grapes, which in your variable
climate of the north require so much skill and attention to perfect
their growth, here thrive without the least care, and the vines which
you see struggling here and there among the trees for some kind of
support, proceed from _cuttings_ which I brought over six years ago from
one of the best regulated establishments in Connecticut.
Here, too, the stately Mauritia-palm of the Orinoco, the date-palm of
the burning Sahara, the royal-palm of Cuba (Oredoxa Regia), and the
oil-palm of Africa (Eleis guinensis) commingle their majestic crowns
with the dense foliage of the mango tree of India, the aromatic cinnamon
tree of Ceylon, the bread-fruit tree of Otaheite, and the sombre pines
and cypress of northern regions, forming the most effective protection
to the shade-loving magnolia and the delicate violet of your native
woods.
Swarms of tiny and brilliant humming-birds flutter amid masses of
highly-scented orange blossoms that perfume the air around us. Any one
unacquainted with that _bijou_ of the feathered tribe, would mistake it
at first sight for some of the metallic-colored beetles which dispute
with them the nectar of the fragrant flowers, so brilliant is the lustre
shed by both. “For that peculiar charm which resides in flashing light
combined with the most brilliant colors, the lustre of precious stones,
there are no birds, no creatures that can compare with the
humming-birds. Confined exclusively to America--whence we have already
gathered between three and four hundred distinct species, and more are
continually discovered--these lovely little winged gems were to the
Mexican and Peruvian Indians the very quintessence of beauty. By these
simple people they were called by various names, signifying ‘the rays of
the sun,’ ‘the tresses of the day-star,’ and the like.”[12]
You may have noticed in your conservatories at home a well known creeper
called the passion-flower, on account of a fancied similarity in the
arrangement of its inflorescence with the instruments of torture
employed in the martyrdom of the Saviour, such as the crown of thorns,
the three nails, the hammer, and even the spots of sacred blood round
the pillar of agony. The plants of this genus are general favorites with
northern horticulturists only on account of the beauty and delicious
aroma of their flowers, for they bear no fruit with you; but here, this
constitutes their principal merit, especially that of the _granadilla_,
which you may perceive intertwining its graceful vines amongst yonder
arbor set up for its support. Huge watermelon-like fruits hang from its
delicate tendrils as if suspended by a thread; cut open one of them; you
will find it filled with a nectarian juice, which, when crushed in the
mouth, regale your palate with the compound flavor of the strawberry and
the peach. Other varieties of passion-flower--of which there are many
though less pretentious in size than the granadilla--bear fruit equally
rich in flavor. Unfortunately, not all fructify in the same locality, as
they require different degrees of temperature, and maybe of atmospheric
pressure, also, to ripen their fruit, which they cunningly obtain for
themselves by “squatting” of their own accord higher up or lower down
the mountains, as the case may be.
I could still point out to you many other delicious fruits in this
garden were they in season, such as the _tuna_ or Indian-fig, borne by
the nopal, a species of cactus, on the fleshy, downy stems of which the
cochineal insect is reared for those most valuable crimson and scarlet
dyes “which far outshine the vaunted productions of ancient Tyre;” and
the _pitahaya_, of the same family of plants, notable for the size and
effulgence of its flowers. “It begins to open as the sun declines, and
is in full expanse throughout the night, shedding a delicious fragrance,
and offering its brimming goblet, filled with nectarious juice, to
thousands of moths, and other crepuscular and nocturnal insects. When
the moon is at the full in those cloudless nights whose loveliness is
only known in the tropics, the broad blossom is seen as a circular dish
nearly a foot in diameter, very full of petals, of which the outer
series are of a yellowish hue, gradually paling to the centre, where
they shine in the purest white. The numerous recumbent stamens surround
the style, which rises in the midst like a polished shaft, the whole
growing in its silvery beauty under the moonbeams, from the dark and
matted foliage, and diffusing its delicious clove-like fragrance so
profusely that the air is loaded with it for furlongs round.”[13]
I well remember one night when a distinguished foreigner, General
Devereux, who rendered the patriot cause so marked a service by bringing
over the Irish Legion to assist this country in her struggle for
independence, honored me with a visit while keeping bachelor’s hall in
this--to me then--earthly paradise. The Queen of Night was shining in
all her glory, and the air redolent with the perfume of many exquisite
flowers, among others that of the pitahaya just described, while the
stillness that reigned around the spot, added to my youthful dreams of
fairy lands I had lately visited across the seas, made me feel a
particular pride about our mansion in the capital. Although the old hero
was perfectly blind--as will be recollected by many who knew him in the
United States where he resided afterwards--I could not resist the wish
to invite him to take a stroll about the garden. As we passed close to
the flowers of the pitahaya, the gallant old soldier stopped suddenly,
and seizing me by the hand with an emotion that made me feel the deepest
sympathy for the blind man, said: “How happy you must be here, my young
friend, surrounded as you are by plants that shed such heavenly
perfume!” But when we passed a bower of English honeysuckles, which was
my special favorite, as I had planted it with my own hands, his emotions
were indeed those of a man who felt as though everything on earth was
lost to him--sweet home, friendly associations, the world itself in
fact, and that he was only a wandering spirit in a strange sphere.
This, my good companion, reminds me too that such, more or less, is my
own situation in this my native land, subject as it has been for years
to political convulsions more disastrous to the peacefully inclined,
than those subterranean fires which agitate the soil from time to time.
Therefore our rambles in the capital must be of short duration, and
following the route already pointed out by the traveller Sullivan, we
will proceed on our journey towards the fertile valley of Aragua,
stopping for the night at Las Adjuntas, a village delightfully situated
at the foot of another lofty range of mountains which separates this
from that of Caracas, near the junction of two mountain streams that
form the Rio Guaire which passes near the capital.
Should you ever be troubled with nervousness or dyspepsia from too close
application to business, or even be threatened with that more serious
complaint of cold climates, consumption, don’t let your Doctor bother
you with physic, nor delude yourself with a trip “down South,” Cuba, or
even Europe; all this may at best prolong a miserable existence a little
longer; instead of that, come here at once; bring plenty of books to
while away the _dolce far niente_ of this quiet place; or if you are a
sportsman, your gun and fishing tackle; when sufficiently convalescent
to undergo the fatigues of the journey, buy or hire horses for yourself
and a good _peon_ or guide, and start for the _llanos_, where you will
have to rough it out as I did some years ago, and I guarantee you a
radical cure.
At Las Adjuntas we have the choice of two roads, one for carriages, made
at great cost since Sullivan’s visit to the country, and the other one
right over the mountains; as this is by far the most picturesque of the
two and the one described by him, we will follow on his footsteps, if
you wish to enjoy the glorious scenery, of which he says;
“Next morning, at 3 A.M., our faithful mozo roused us,--at San
Pedro--and we found our mules already saddled. The morning was very
cold, and a cloak was by no means disagreeable. As far as I could make
out by the light of a most glorious moon, San Pedro must be a very
picturesque and flourishing village. We continued ascending through a
thickly-wooded, mountainous path, for about three hours, when we found
ourselves along the summit of the mountain, here called Las Cocuizas.
Here the scenery was truly magnificent. The road wound along the summit
of the Sierra, giving alternate views of the valley of the Tuy, with the
distant valley of Aragua on the one hand, and the valley of Ocumare
bounded the snow-capped mountains that separate the valleys from the
plains on the other. Out of the main valleys narrow little glens wind,
and nestle up into the mountains, till lost to view. Their rounded
sides, and the emerald brilliancy of nature’s carpet with which they
were clothed, reminded me of some of the glens of the Cheviots.
“That morning’s moonlight ride along the summits of the sierra of Las
Cocuizas was certainly one of the most enjoyable I ever remember. It was
almost like magic, when as the sun began to approach the horizon, the
perfect stillness of the forests beneath was gradually broken by the
occasional note of some early riser of the winged inhabitants, till at
length, as the day itself began to break, the whole forest seemed to be
suddenly warmed into life, sending forth choir after choir of
gorgeous-plumaged songsters, each after his own manner, to swell the
chorus of greeting--a discordant one, I fear it must be owned--to the
glorious sun; and when the morning light enabled you to see down into
the misty valleys beneath, there were displayed to our enchanted gaze
zones of fertility embracing almost every species of tree and flower
that flourishes between the Tierra Caliente and the regions of perpetual
snow. It certainly was a view of almost unequalled magnificence. We were
riding amongst apple and peach trees that might have belonged to an
English orchard, and on whose branches we almost expected to see the
blackbird and the chaffinch; while a few hundred yards below, parrots
and macaws, monkeys and mocking-birds were sporting among the palms and
tree-ferns of a tropical climate. I consider that this view alone would
repay any lover of fine scenery for all the troubles and risks of
crossing the Atlantic, for I do not know where one to be compared with
it is to be found in Europe.”
This mountain takes the name of Las Cocuizas from the abundance of Agave
plants growing here, and which impart such peculiar aspect to the
landscape as we descend towards the bed of the Tuy, at the foot of the
mountain. Here we must stop to breakfast and pass the sun before we
proceed on our journey along the Tierra Caliente not far from our
resting-place.
“We found the pretty village of Las Cocuizas,” proceeds Sullivan,
“situated at the entrance of a delicious little glen, down which warbled
the waters of the Tuy. The _Venta_, in fact nearly the whole village was
shaded by one enormous saman-tree,[14] which to the dusty and wearied
traveller gave it a most enticing appearance; neither did it disappoint
our expectations, for a cleaner room and a better breakfast better
cooked and better served, I never wish to taste. This venta at Las
Cocuizas is most enchantingly situated at the foot of the mountain and
at the entrance of the valley of the Tuy, which is there a mere glen;
one side is entirely shaded by this enormous tree, and the other
overhanging the Tuy, which with its rocky bed and thickly-wooded,
precipitous banks, reminded one very much of some of the tributaries of
the Tweed. The venta would be a charming place to stay at for a few
days’ angling in the Tuy, which I believe is very good.”
After leaving the venta of Las Cocuizas, we wade through the waters of
the Tuy--no bridge being provided here--and proceed along a well graded
road for carts and carriages skirting the base of another ridge of
mountains until we reach the village of El Consejo, where the great
valley of Aragua, seventy miles in length, properly commences. And now
we are in the great coffee region, “the garden of Venezuela” as it is
very aptly called by common accord. As we ride towards the town of La
Victoria, where we shall stop for the night, we pass several extensive
plantations of that delicious shrub, shaded like the cacao by those
stupendous erythrinas which you might mistake for a primeval forest,
were it not for the uniformity of their growth and dazzling blossoms.
Nothing in your vaunted system of cultivation in the North can excel the
care bestowed upon these plantations, which must be kept in the best
order to yield handsome returns; but as we cannot stop to visit one of
these just now, you will permit me to repeat what the traveller often
quoted before, says in regard to the region we are traversing:
“The valleys of Aragua are the most thickly populated and the most
highly cultivated of all the districts of Venezuela. The level of the
valley is two thousand feet below the valley of Caracas, consequently
the heat much more intense. Coffee is now the chief article of
exportation from Venezuela, the fluctuating price of which has of late
years been very injurious to the country. The berry grown is of a
superior quality, and fetches a much better price than the Cuban or
Brazilian coffee, though not quite so high as that grown in Jamaica.
Some of the coffee and sugar estates we passed were on the largest
scale, employing as many as two hundred slaves,[15] besides the same
number of laborers. A coffee plantation, either in blossom or when the
berry is ripe, is the most beautiful culture in the world. The plant
itself, with its regular shoots like a miniature tree, and red berries,
is one of the most graceful shrubs I know; and as between the rows of
coffee-trees they usually plant plantains and bananas, these with their
enormous clusters of yellow fruits and their leaves of some six or eight
feet in length, add greatly to the effect, and give the country the
appearance of a large fruit garden. Moreover, as it is necessary to
plant the mango, and other large fast-growing trees, to protect the
ripening berry from the deluging rains and scorching heats, whenever you
pass a coffee plantation, even in the hottest day in the midst of
summer, when the whole face of the country is parched up and of an
unhealthy brown color, the eye is continually refreshed by the cool,
verdant appearance of these shaded gardens.”
I may add that the coffee of Venezuela is of various qualities,
according to whether it is raised in Tierra Caliente or Tierra Fria, _id
est_, coffee of the low, warm valleys, or coffee of mountainous
districts; this last is superior to the former, and bears in consequence
the highest price in the market. Again, _café trillado_, and _café
descerezado_, which means coffee dried in the berry as it is gathered,
and husked afterwards by a tread-mill composed of a heavy wooden wheel
revolving in a circular trough of masonry; and coffee deprived at once
of its pulpy covering by machinery as soon as it is picked, dried
afterwards in the sun upon extensive platforms of masonry called
_patios_, and passed through different sets of machinery to deprive the
grain or bean of the adhering shell and pellicle. The coffee thus
prepared is superior in quality to that which is _trillado_ for want of
means on the part of the planter to put up the expensive works required
for this operation, and therefore bears a higher price.
Interspersed with these plantations are others of no less importance to
the industry of these valleys, such as indigo, cotton, indian-corn,
wheat and tobacco, all of them requiring the same share of careful
cultivation and intelligent management. “The road we were following,”
continues Sullivan, “was so well kept and so well wooded, and the hedges
so neatly clipped, that I could hardly sometimes help fancying myself
riding down some country lanes in England. We followed one lime hedge,
which enclosed a coffee plantation, for upwards of two miles. It was
the most perfectly kept hedge I had seen in any country; it was four or
five feet high and about three feet thick, and throughout its whole
length, I don’t believe there was a single flaw through which a dog
could have forced its way. Several slaves were employed in trimming it.
In fact, in this climate, where the growth of all inanimate nature is
unceasing, and so rapid, it must employ several hands continually to
keep it in such beautiful order. The scent of the lime as we approached
it from some parched country we had been crossing previously, was most
delicious.”
As there is nothing to interest us in the towns along this route, we
will pass by San Mateo, La Victoria and Turmero, all of them pleasantly
surrounded by plantations until we reach Maracay, the point of our
destination. On our way thither, we come up with that giant of the
vegetable world, the Saman de Güere, so well described by Humboldt in
his Travels, and subsequently by Sullivan. As their statements are
corroborative of the facts given elsewhere by me respecting these
enormous but most graceful mimosas, I will here use the language of the
last mentioned traveller about that of the hacienda de Güere.
“Soon after leaving Turmero we caught sight of the far-famed Saman de
Güere, and in about an hour’s time arrived at the hamlet of Güere, from
whence it takes its name. It is supposed to be the oldest tree in the
world, for so great was the reverence of the Indians for it on account
of its age at the time of the Spanish conquest, that the Government
issued a decree for its protection from all injury, and it has ever
since been public property. It shows no sign whatever of decay, but it
is as fresh and green as it was most probably a thousand years ago. The
trunk of this magnificent tree is only sixty feet high by thirty feet in
circumference, so that it is not so much the enormous size of the Saman
de Güere that constitutes its great attraction, as the wonderful spread
of its magnificent branches, and the perfect dome-like shape of its
head, which is so exact and regular, that one could almost fancy some
extinct race of giants had been exercising their topiarian art upon it.
The circumference of this dome is said to be nearly six hundred feet,
and the measure of its semicircular head very nearly as great. The saman
is a species of mimosa, and what is curious and adds greatly to its
beauty and softness is, that the leaves of this giant of nature are as
small and delicate as those of the silver willow, and are equally as
sensitive to every passing breeze.”
And now for the most picturesque of all the towns on our long ride,
Maracay, not on account of any architectural display about its
buildings, for it has no pretensions of this kind, but for its many
gardens, each house being literally embowered in the choicest
productions of the tropics in the way of fruits, such as orange, lime
and lemon trees, both sweet and sour; caimito or star-apple, a creamy
and luscious fruit growing upon one of the most beautiful trees with
which I am acquainted; the same might be said of two other fruit-trees
cultivated in these gardens, the _mamon_ and _cotopriz_; both bearing
great bunches of an oval fruit the size of a pigeon’s egg, olive-green
in the former, and bright yellow in the latter, containing a kernel
enveloped in a sweet, sub-acid pulp; bread-fruit trees of two kinds and
accordingly distinguished as _fruta de pan_ and _pan de palo_,
bread-fruit and bread-tree--the former being a large pulpy and greenish
fruit very like an Osage orange but larger, containing great numbers of
chestnut-like seeds, which roasted or boiled taste very much like bread,
and the latter a fruit precisely like its congener in appearance, but
destitute of seeds, which assimilates it still more to the “staff of
life” when boiled or baked, for it is beautifully white and compact
inside.
In addition to the foregoing, these gardens offer you a fine display of
other tropical trees no less esteemed for their grateful shade and their
delicious fruits, such as sapotes and sapodillas, both elegant in form
as well as in bearing; and so is also the splendid mamey apple-tree
(mamea Americana) bearing great quantities of large, round and heavy
fruits, brown outside, and golden-yellow within, from which marmalades
and other delicacies are made by the charming Maracayeras.
The family to which the famous chirimoya belongs (anonaciæ) have also
three other representatives hardly inferior to that “master-piece of
nature,” viz.; the _guanábana_ (anona muricata) or sour-sop--an ugly
name in English for such fine fruit--from which a most cooling drink is
made, and still finer ices; the custard-apple, which needs no further
explanation than its name to recommend it; and the _riñon_, (anona
squamosa) also a custardy kindney-like fruit, hence its name.
Butter being expensive, and difficult to keep in this climate, nature
has provided a substitute for it in the fruit of the fine tree (Persea
gratissima), consecrated, as the name implies, to Perseus, the son of
Jupiter and Danaë; thus showing the wisdom of the botanist over the less
cultivated English settlers of the Caribean islands, who call it
_alligator-pear_, I presume, from the fact of its being indigenous to a
country abounding in saurian reptiles, although I am of opinion that a
creature of this sort would rather prefer a more substantial morsel in
the shape of a fat Briton, to a fruit which is well adapted to the taste
of demigods. In shape it resembles a large pear, but the interior of its
rind is lined with a marrow-like substance of a yellowish color, which
assimilates very nearly to butter, the place of which it supplies at the
breakfast-table. It is, in fact, vegetable-butter, and many prefer it to
the ordinary kind.
The extensive family of leguminous or pod-bearing trees also grace these
gardens with three additional members remarkable for fine foliage and
useful products, such as the _algarroba_, with hard-shelled pods,
containing a number of brown, round seeds or beans--also very hard,
enveloped in a farinaceous and very nutricious fecula; a fine aromatic
resin, good for varnishes, exudes from the trunk and branches of this
tree, and a still finer one can be extracted from its horny pericarp by
infusion in alcohol or other extractive medium; _guamos_ (Inga) of
various kinds, with pellucid pods one and two feet in length, containing
a row of beans enveloped in white, cottony pulp, most grateful to the
taste; and the unrivalled tamarind, either as regards beauty of foliage,
brilliancy of blossoms, or the delicacy of its acidulous pulpy pods;
these are candied either in a green state or when fully ripe, affording
in the latter case a most refreshing drink to the fever-stricken in this
climate, when made into a decoction. In blossom, the tamarind-tree is
one of the most charming objects to behold, for amid its feathery,
dark-green foliage, somewhat similar to that of the hemlock, issues a
profusion of golden-yellow branches of delicate flowers, almost dazzling
to the eyes.
The coco-palm, although far away from the sea-coast, its native habitat,
also flourishes in great perfection, contributing not a little to the
splendor of the vegetation in these truly tropical gardens, with its
glorious crown of monster leaves. And last, though not least, the
plantain and banana claim here the supremacy which everyone accords them
over all productions of the tropics. A few plants of each only are
sufficient to supply a whole family with bread, vegetables, fruit, and
preserves of various kinds. “We might be surprised,” observes Humboldt,
“at the small extent of these cultivated spots, if we did not recollect
that an acre planted with plantains produces nearly twenty times as much
food as the same space sown with corn. In Europe, our wheat, barley, and
rye cover vast spaces of ground; and in general the arable lands touch
each other whenever the inhabitants live upon corn. It is different
under the torrid zone, where man obtains food from plants which yield
more abundant and earlier harvests. In those favored climates the
fertility of the soil is proportioned to the heat and humidity of the
atmosphere. An immense population finds abundant nourishment within a
narrow space covered with plantains, casava, yams, and maize.”[16]
Well has the immortal bard of the Torrid Zone[17] sung the marvellous
exuberance of this plant in the following lines, which I regret to be
unable to translate.
“Y para tí el banano,
Desmaya al peso de su dulce carga.
El banano, primero
De cuantos concedió bellos presentes
Providencia à, las gentes
Del Ecuador feliz con mano larga;
No ya de humanas artes obligado
El premio rinde opimo;
No es á la podadera, no al arado,
Deudor de su racimo.
Escasa industria bástale cual puede
Robar á sus fatigas mano esclava;
Crece veloz, y cuando exbausto acaba,
Adulta prole en torno le sucede.”
_Silva á la Zona Tórrida._
Water being abundant throughout these gardens by the provident care of
the inhabitants in bringing it in flowing streams from a great distance,
they present at all times of the year, even during the driest months of
summer, the perpetual spring-like verdure which constitutes their
principal charm. Not far from here is the fine lake of Tacarigua or
Valencia, which by its gradual but marked evaporation, is constantly
adding to the already extensive area of fertile land nowhere to be found
like it in the wide world, and which doubtless extorted, even from an
Englishman, the following confession:
“It is a great pity Venezuela is so much out of the high roads of
travel, and that the inconveniences, for Europeans, of getting at it,
are so great. It is, in my opinion, the most beautiful country, as
regards climate, scenery, and productions, in the world. The inhabitants
are intelligent, civil, and honest; and although there is no excessive
wealth in the country, there is, on the other hand, no great poverty,
and actual want is unknown, where beef can be procured to any amount for
a half penny a pound, and plantains and bananas almost for nothing. The
inns are excellent, and travelling perfectly safe. You may, on the sides
of its precipitous valleys, in a few hours, ascend from the productions
of the torrid zone to those of the frigid. You may, if you like, dine
off beefsteak and potatoes, cooled down with French claret or real
London stout; or, if you prefer it, you may, in imitation of Leo X. and
the Emperor Vitellius, feast your guests on joints of monkey and jaguar,
and have your _entremêts_ of parrots’ tongues and humming-birds’ breasts
washed down with sparkling pulque, tapped from the graceful maguey
growing at your very door. In fact, there is no luxury you cannot enjoy
at a moderate expense. Servants are cheap; and you can buy a horse for
five shillings, though it will cost you fifteen to have him shod! The
shooting on the _llanos_ and in the mountains, according to all
accounts, is very grand. The woods are filled with jaguar and ocelot, to
say nothing of snakes, and the plains with deer and wild cattle.
“If any kind fairy were to offer me the sovereignty of any part of the
world out of Europe, with power to rule it as I choose, my choice would
certainly fall on Venezuela. I am fully convinced it only _wants a
government strong and stable enough to ensure the necessary protection
to capital and property_, to render it one of the most flourishing
countries in the world. I look back upon the few weeks I spent there as
amongst the most enjoyable I ever passed; and if ever any opportunity
was to offer of revisiting that delicious country, I should do so with
pleasure. Any traveller, wishing to judge for himself, has only to go by
the West India steamer to St. Thomas, where he meets the sailing-packet
for La Guaira, which he reaches in four or five days; and with a few
letters of introduction, or even without any, hospitality will meet him
on all hands, and he will never feel a moment hang heavy on his
hands.”[18]
And now, seated under the refreshing foliage of these paradisaical
gardens, rather than expose you to the dangers of a demi-savage country,
I will recount to you the adventures of a former journey, and the
peculiarities of a still more wonderful region.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
1. Frontispiece--Map of Venezuela.
2. Caracas, xxviii
3. Morros de San Juan, 19
4. The Llanos, 26
5. Pounding Corn, 36
6. Striped Catfish, 61
7. The Caribe, 63
8. The Electric Eel, 68
9. Troop of Wild Horses, 84
10. A Prairie on Fire, 97
11. Encounter with a Crocodile, 114
12. The Saman, 122
13. Garzero, 137
14. The Rodeo, 175
15. Training the Boys, 200
16. Mata-caballo, 210
17. Coral Snake, 212
18. Aristolochia Apurensis, 219
19. The Jaguar, 222
20. The Puma, 233
21. _Garzoneando_, 242
22. The Armadillo, 245
23. The Great Ant-Eater, 257
24. Among the Crocodiles, 281
25. Young Crocodile, 282
26. Crocodile Basking in the Sun, 292
27. Our Leader, 329
28. Capture of Spanish Gunboats by Llanero Cavalry, 350
29. Dr. Gallegos Sewing the Belly of a Wounded Horse, 365
30. Scenes at El Dorado, 391
31. Arrow used in Turtle Shooting, 443
32. Homeward Bound, 448
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES.
CHAPTER I.
THE DEPARTURE.
“Y greyes van sin cuento
Paciendo tu verdura desde el llano
Que tiene por lindero el horizonte,
Hasta el erguido monte
De inaccesible nieve siempre cano.”
ANDRES BELLO, _Silva á la Zona Tórrida_.
On a fine morning of a tropical December month, a jolly cavalcade, or
rather a heterogeneous assemblage from the various castes composing the
bulk of the population in the Venezuelian Republic, was to be seen
traversing the streets of the beautiful town of Maracay, in the
direction of the road leading to the _Llanos_ or Pampas of Apure, a
region widely celebrated for its wildness, its dangers, and the many
exploits enacted therein. There the father of the writer owned extensive
cattle-farms, and the aforesaid company proposed spending the remainder
of the summer season in hunting among the untamed herds constituting the
wealth and commerce of that wild region.
I shall never forget the exciting scenes of that eventful day; it forms
one of the most pleasing episodes of my life. Full well do I remember
also the picturesqueness of the variegated costumes of the riders;
their red and blue ponchos flowing in the wind as they cantered to and
fro through the unusually animated streets of the little town, taking
leave of their friends, and provisioning their saddle-bags with the
necessaries they required; the trampling and neighing of horses; the
parting adieux and waving of handkerchiefs in the hands of lively
brunettes, as we defiled under the windows and balconies of the Calle
Real, crowded with anxious relatives, friends, and sweethearts of many a
gallant cavalier, who might never return from his distant and perilous
journey. For my part, I confess, that although for sundry reasons I
regretted departing from our romantic abode in the valleys of Aragua,
still, so great was my desire to visit the land of the wild bull and
crocodile, that for several nights before leaving home I dreamed of
nothing but wild scenes and terrible encounters with the lords of the
savannas.
The method of conducting a South American cattle farm is entirely
different from that usually practised among the more peaceful scenes of
the North American prairies. Here the cattle, accustomed from their
birth to the friendly voice of man, readily obey his commands and follow
him instinctively wherever he leads them. In the plains of South
America, on the contrary, the herds hear no other than the voice of
Nature in her sublimest moods, in the thunders of the storm, and when in
her vernal showers she calls upon the crocodiles and other drowsy
reptiles, awakening them from their periodical summer’s lethargy; and
nightly the roar and screams of savage beasts answering each other in
the darkness. The cattle, thus roaming over extensive plains, and free
of all restraint, necessarily require to be occasionally collected
together for the purpose of branding and marking the young calves, which
increase there with astonishing rapidity. If this precaution were
neglected, they would in time become so dispersed over those boundless
plains, as to be altogether irreclaimable. This operation cannot be
accomplished, however, without a great number of men and horses, both
well trained to and thoroughly acquainted with this demi-savage
occupation. Therefore we mustered now quite a little army of _Llaneros_,
or natives of the Llanos, who are the only individuals capable of
prosecuting and successfully performing the arduous duties appertaining
to these cattle forays.
* * * * *
Our retinue presented pretty much the appearance of an oriental caravan;
it consisted of more than a hundred individuals of all grades and
colors; from the bright, rubicund faces of merry England’s sons, to the
jetty phiz of the native African, all of whom, notwithstanding,
fraternized as though sprung from the same race.
Our company, moreover, had been organized as if for a military campaign,
and formed the nucleus of a more extensive camp, to be increased by
additions from different places along the route. The leader--General
Paez--besides having acquired in early life a practical knowledge of
this peculiar warfare, possessed in addition the rare gift of being--in
the opinion of many--“the first rider in South America,” and withal the
most accomplished Llanero in the Republic. His dispositions were
accordingly made in a manner most likely to insure success in this
strange campaign; passing in review every person and every object, with
as scrupulous care as he bestowed upon the legions under his command in
the long strife for his country’s freedom; distributing each particular
horse with reference to the skill and special duties of his rider, and
every load according to the strength of each beast of burden.
Next in importance to the Leader was a Surgeon and Physician, whose
valuable services were to be frequently called into requisition.
Although we were not now to encounter powder and ball, we had to deal
with no less dangerous enemies in the form of wild bulls, snakes, and
crocodiles, without reckoning the pestiferous marshes of the country.
After our Surgeon came the Treasurer; his duty was to conduct safely the
military chest of the expedition, consisting of sundry bags of hard
dollars, ponchos, checkered linen handkerchiefs of the peculiar pattern
worn with so much pride by Llaneros on the head, knives, sword blades,
and various other articles of barter which they prize more than money
itself, and for the attainment of which they labor hard and even expose
their lives.
To me was assigned the honorable post of Secretary to the expedition,
whose pleasant duty was to keep its records, and at times those of the
political “Bulls and Bears” of the country at large. Attached to this
office were an English amateur of wild sports, an English artist of
considerable merit, and a few others, who, like myself, not being
sufficiently trained to the hard operations of the field, were forced to
be content with the tamer occupations of the cattle farm, and only an
occasional foray among the smaller game of the savannas.
I will mention two other individuals, who, although filling less exalted
positions than the preceding--being the cook and the washerman--were
very necessary to our comfort; not that we felt over-scrupulous with
regard to the dressing of either ourselves or that of the savory dishes
of the Llanos--where I relished a beafsteak _au naturel_ with as much
gusto as though prepared by the Delmonicos or Maillards of New York--but
an early cup of coffee was a luxury not to be despised, and an
occasional scouring of our scanty wardrobe was equally an essential. The
cook was a mulatto by birth, whose name--Mónico--bore some similarity to
that of the distinguished caterer of William street, and was as great a
favorite with us as the latter is among the “down town” gentry of the
great city, not only on account of his good nature and skill in the
preparation of the delicious beverage before mentioned,
“que en los festines
La fiebre insana templará á Lieo,”
but also for the aid he lent his companions in mending their tattered
garments, being as accomplished a tailor and shoemaker as cook. Gaspar,
the washerman, was a lame negro rather advanced in years, but with all
the vivacity of his race still sparkling in his eyes. He had earned some
reputation in his time as a brave soldier during the protracted war of
Independence, but, disabled now by a bullet and sundry tiger scars,
testimonials of his good service in the cause of humanity, could perform
no other work than the rather feminine one allotted to him on this
occasion. He, however, possessed other accomplishments, among which the
chief was that of recounting his adventures in the wars and with the
wild beasts of the field, which made him a desirable companion and
general favorite.
Poor fellows! they are both dead, and their bones, as well as those of
most of that little band of heroes, are now bleaching in the hot sun of
the tropics, amid the waving grass of those savannas once rendered
famous by their deeds of valor and enlivened by their chivalrous songs.
After faithfully following their leader through dangers and hardships no
less terrible than those of the battle-field, one by one they fell, not
by foe “in battle arrayed,” nor the terrible stroke of the wild bull,
but by the assassin’s treacherous hand, and those of the unprincipled
myrmidons of military misrule; not because of their political influence
in the councils of the Nation, but for being the faithful followers of
their beloved Chieftain.
The reader has now been introduced to those constituting the Staff of
the expedition; but in addition a host of attendants and idlers formed
the rank and file of this motley assemblage. Each one of these had a
special duty to perform. Some were _asistentes_, or the personal
attendants of the former, as no _blanco_ ventures to travel in the
Llanos without some _cicerone_ of the country to guide him over the
trackless wastes, to saddle his horse, and see that both horse and
rider are comfortably quartered for the night. Others were appointed to
conduct the beasts of burden, of which there were a formidable array;
while the most experienced riders were intrusted with the care and
guidance of our _madrina_, or pack of supernumerary horses, which formed
by far the most efficient element of our expedition.
Our drove consisted of about two hundred spirited chargers, as swift and
slim as any that ever tramped the hot sands of Yemen or the Sahara;
these were to be reinforced with fresh relays from the cattle farms, to
supply the place of those which might be carried off from various causes
during those exciting hunts.
The only method of travelling as yet adopted in the country is on
horseback. This is at first somewhat fatiguing to those unaccustomed to
long journeys; but the traveller soon becomes inured to it, and ends by
preferring it to any other, on account of the exhilarating sensation of
independence he experiences; at all events, it is the most convenient
that can be adopted in a country which, like the Pampas, is subject to
vast inundations, and overgrown in all its extent by the rank herbage of
the savannas. On the mountains, mules are usually preferred for their
surefootedness, as also for their astonishing endurance of hunger and
fatigue; but in the Pampas, where journeys must be accomplished with
great expedition and rapidity, they are comparatively worthless from the
shortness of their gait, and also because their hoofs become softened by
the marshy soil which everywhere prevails, they being never shod, owing
to a mistaken notion of the riders, who believe that by so doing the
surefootedness of the animal is impaired. The best horses,
consequently, had been selected on this occasion, but were not to be
saddled until we reached the Llanos. These were all collected into a
_madrina_ or drove, together with the _vaqueros_ or horses destined for
the chase, and placed under the charge of half a dozen experienced
Llaneros, who were to drive them loose across the country. In the mean
time we would perform on mules the first four days of our journey, which
lay across the rough and hilly country between the valleys and the
plains. As beasts of burden, mules are particularly serviceable; in view
of this we had collected a pack of about twenty for the purpose of
transporting our loads, consisting partly, as I have observed, of
various descriptions of goods for distribution among the Llaneros, in
part payment of their wages; but the greater number were laden with our
own chattels and provisions; for although the Llanos are justly regarded
as a land of plenty, the habitations are yet so widely distant, that it
is expedient to provide for all contingencies.
Our road, at times, lay across extensive fields of sugar cane, indigo,
and tobacco; or through vast plantations of Erithynas (_bucarales_)
raised for the protection of the shade-loving Cacao trees, loaded with
the luscious bean that yields its “divine food”[19] to gods and mortals.
At other times, extensive tracks of waste lands (_rastrojos_) overgrown
with a luxuriant vegetation, intercepted the line of our march, giving
the country a wild and desolate aspect. Land is so cheap and plentiful
in Venezuela, that it is always more advantageous for the planter,
whenever the land has become exhausted with repeated cultivation, to
clear a new patch of ground for his crop, than to trouble himself about
restoring to the ground by artificial means what nature will provide in
the course of time. The rapidity with which a patch of waste land, that
only a year or two before had been abandoned as unserviceable, becomes
covered with an exuberant vegetation in the tropics, is quite
extraordinary. Hardly have the plough and hoe of the industrious
husbandman ceased to harass the land with their incessant toil, when an
entirely different crop of indigenous plants, which had been silently
struggling for existence, now make their appearance, and change the
aspect of the landscape with new forms of vegetation. Insignificant
weeds at first, scarcely worth noticing, they soon attain sufficient
strength to arrest the progress of any stragglers that might have
remained of the plantation. In a short time they have acquired the size
and form of well-developed trees, with boughs spreading far above a man
on horseback; and before two summers have elapsed, not a vestige remains
of what was once a flourishing plantation. An endless variety of
creepers, such as convolvulus, bignonias, and passion flowers, now find
support among their numerous branches, forming with them the most
picturesque bowers and arcades, or hanging by their sides in graceful
garlands and festoons of the most exquisite beauty. Our troop of
supernumerary horses, as if unwilling to leave behind these delightful
retreats, did not fail to profit by the tangled nature of the cover,
frequently eluding the vigilance of the drivers, and dashing forward
whenever they saw an opening to decamp. The most skilful management on
the part of the drivers was then required to disentangle them from the
thick jungle; otherwise we should have arrived at the end of our journey
with less than half their number. It was quite amusing to see those
reckless fellows gliding here and there through the tangled woods in
full pursuit of the refractory animals, now hanging from one leg down
the sides of their steeds, or stretched over their necks to avoid being
lifted from the saddle by the intervening branches. In spite of all
precaution, and the vigilance of their drivers, we missed several
valuable hunters in the course of the journey, every one of which made
his way back to the _potreros_ or old grazing grounds with unerring
precision. So remarkable is this peculiarity in horses of one place
driven across a strange country, and the cunning they display in
effecting their escape, that although we left instructions along the
route to secure all deserters, most of those we missed at a considerable
distance from Maracay, made their way back across the fields, avoiding
in their flight the public roads and populated districts through which
we had passed.
Late in the evening we reached San Luis de Cura, a town of some
importance on our route. Although we had there many friends of whose
hospitality we could have availed ourselves, we preferred passing the
night at a _Pulperia_, or country inn, a short distance in
advance--hotels being yet unknown in that part of the country. Our
numerous retinue, and especially our horses, accustomed to the
unrestrained freedom of the _potrero_--an enclosed field attached to the
_Pulperia_--precluded all idea of seeking accommodations within the
narrow limits of a city residence. Declining, therefore, all invitations
to that effect, we pushed on to a place called El Rodeo, a few miles
further.
San Luis de Cura--or Villa de Cura, as it is usually called--is a sort
of entrepôt to which the people of the Llanos resort from time to time
to barter the products of their farms for those of foreign manufacture,
retailed there by country traders. It is, in fact, the connecting link
between the agricultural and pastoral sections of the republic; hence we
find there the strangest admixture of wild and civilized manners and
costumes curiously intermingled in all the pursuits and vocations of the
people. Thus we often meet with persons of respectability clad in the
elegant city dress, and riding a horse entirely caparisoned in the gaudy
attire of the Llanos, and _vice versa_.
Our accommodations at the inn were not of the most inviting description,
neither its apartments nor the _potrero_ affording much comfort to the
weary caravan, after their long ride. A stony bank on the slope of the
barren hill for couch and the broad dome of heaven for roof, with not
even posts enough from which to sling our hammocks, was all the
hospitality we received at the Pulperia. We slept soundly
notwithstanding, softening our beds of pebbles by spreading our ponchos
over them, while each man’s saddle, serving at once as pillow and
larder, furnished us with supper on this occasion. The llanero saddle is
admirably adapted for the rough journeys of the country, and though
somewhat ponderous, renders good service to the wandering Llanero in his
long peregrinations. These saddles, usually styled _vaqueras_, in
allusion to the occupations of the riders, appear to be modelled after
the gay accoutrements of the Arabs; the same profusion of silver
ornament and bright-colored trimmings of morocco, the high peak in
front, and still higher cantle behind. A comfortable _pellon_ or
shabrack, made either of an entire sheepskin or horse hair dyed black
and neatly braided at one end, covers the entire seat, and hangs from it
in graceful folds. Numbers of bags and pockets--_bolsas_--made of the
same material as the saddle, and in keeping with the rest, are affixed
to it for the purpose of stowing away all those little commodities so
essential to the traveller on a long journey, such as _papelon_, a sort
of brown sugar in cakes resembling maple sugar, cheese, cakes of Indian
corn, and _aguardiente_, a beverage equally celebrated for its use and
its abuse. The stirrups, which are usually carved from a block of wood,
present the peculiarity of being longer and heavier than any ever
adopted by equestrians. Although termed _africanos_, they are just the
reverse of their cognomens, as can be seen by comparing the subjoined
designs.
An expert rider never places his whole foot in the stirrup, as is the
case with the Arabs, but holds it with his big toe, so as to disentangle
himself readily in case of a fall. This habit gives a crooked shape to
the feet and legs of the rider, which peculiarity entitles him to the
credit of being a good horseman.
[Illustration]
The carvings on some of these stirrups are very fanciful, and display
considerable taste. Their beauty is thought to consist chiefly in the
two triangular appendages at the bottom with which they urge on their
horses.
The _cobija_ or poncho is also a most indispensable commodity on these
long journeys; and no traveller should omit providing himself with one,
especially during the rainy season. It is fully six feet square, with a
hole in the centre to admit the head, and its office is twofold, viz.,
to protect the rider and his cumbrous equipment from the heavy showers
and dews of the tropics, and to spread under him when there is no
convenience for slinging the hammock. It also serves as a protection
from the scorching rays of the sun, experience having taught its wearer
that a thick woollen covering keeps the body moist and cool by day, and
warm by night. The poncho used in Venezuela is made double, by sewing
together two different blankets, the outside one being dark blue and the
inner one bright red, which colors, as is well known, are differently
acted upon by light and heat. By exposing alternately the sides of the
poncho to the light according to the state of the weather, those
modifications of temperature most agreeable to the body are obtained.
Thus, when the day is damp and cloudy, the dark side of the poncho,
which absorbs the most heat, is turned towards the light, while the
reverse is the case when the red surface is presented to the sun. On the
same principle, the _manta_, or white linen poncho, is worn when the sun
is very powerful, the color in this instance repelling the rays of light
more readily than the red surface of woollen materials. The _manta_ is a
very expensive luxury on account of the embroideries that usually
decorate it, and which might rival in elegance the finest skirt of a New
York or Parisian _belle_. When worn by a gallant cavalier on a sunny
day, it presents in the distance a very picturesque appearance, not
unlike the graceful bornouse of the Arabs.
Equally useful and expensive is the hammock, one of the few articles of
native manufacture produced in Venezuela, and one which has thus far
baffled the ingenuity of foreign weavers to imitate. It is woven by hand
on looms of rude construction in very tasteful designs, and trimmed with
fringings of the most complicated pattern. A fine hammock costs from
fifty to sixty dollars.
It may truly be said that with hammock, poncho, and the saddle with its
array of pockets, &c., the roving dwellers of the pampas are at home
wherever they may be. They are, in fact, the tent, bed, and valise best
adapted to the country, affording them all the comfort that a princely
rajah could experience under his gorgeous panoply of oriental
magnificence, and possessing, moreover, the advantage of being easily
conveyed from place to place, in a small compass, by the riders. The
hammock and the poncho usually form a bundle behind the saddle; with
them the traveller makes himself a tent when camping out, by stretching
out a rope from end to end of the hammock, over which the poncho is
thrown at oblique angles, and then tied securely to the rope. Under it
the traveller may now defy the storm, and even Old Boreas himself, as
the stronger the tent is impelled to and fro, the more lulling to the
sleeper will be the motion imparted to it from the outside.
It is surprising to see a horse of so small stature as those from the
Llanos generally are, carry on his back both the weight of the rider and
his ponderous equipment for such considerable distances; but the fact
is, that the loads are so well distributed and counterbalanced, that the
animals feel no material inconvenience therefrom.
CHAPTER II.
THE MORROS.
Early the next morning we were aroused by the trampling of horses and
tinkling of stirrups close to our resting places, apprising us that the
hour of departure was near at hand. To travel with comfort in those hot
regions, it is necessary to make the most of the absence of the sun,
before its rays descend to the earth in glowing streams, parching the
body and spirits of the traveller. Our people, therefore, commenced to
saddle and load as early as three o’clock A.M. The operation usually
occupied considerable time, as each animal had to be hunted in the dark,
as well as its accoutrements. The baggage mules, especially, required
more than ordinary skill in replacing and adjusting the loads upon their
backs by means of a hundred turns of the _lazos_, or raw-hide halters.
And even after the greatest precautions, the vicious creatures
endeavored to displace their loads by running against each other or
rolling on the ground, to the inconceivable disgust of the drivers, who
were often compelled to alight from their sumpters to put things to
rights.
Our road lay this day across a wild and desolate valley, presenting the
appearance of having once been the scene of violent convulsions of
nature, judging from the distorted masses of granite and gneiss piled
along the route. The morning, though moonless, was bright with stars,
which in those latitudes sparkle like diamonds in a setting of azure.
The air was balmy; and the solitude of the spot, only broken by the
occasional shriek of a night owl, or the refreshing murmur of a mountain
stream, was truly sublime.
Slowly winding our course down the rugged sides of a deep ravine, we
came suddenly in view of a most glorious spectacle. The delicate tints
of dawn were already gilding the rugged crest of the distant mountains;
above these rose in silent grandeur what appeared at first a heavy cloud
of an intense blue, the irregular outlines of which set in bold relief
against the transparent sky, forming the background to the picture. I
eagerly spurred my mule forward to gain an eminence from whence I could
contemplate more advantageously that magnificent spectacle, when, to my
great astonishment, I discovered that, what I had supposed a cloud, was
in fact the famous promontory known as the Morros de San Juan, the
singular conformation of which has given rise to many speculations and
legendary dissertations on the part of savants and others less versed in
scientific researches. When the sun rose above the horizon, a more
extraordinary scene was never unfolded to the eye of the spectator. The
huge and rugged mountain, some thousand feet high, stood in the midst of
a desolate gulf, apparently of volcanic origin; while the vegetation,
stunted and scrubby for want of adequate nourishment, contrasted
singularly with the granite masses scattered all over the valley. The
meandering rivulet of La Puerta, twice the scene of sanguinary conflicts
between patriots and Spaniards, threaded its sparkling way through that
Valley of Death, to mix its waters with those of the beautiful Guárico
in the distance. In both of those engagements the arms of Spain were
victorious; but, as often happened in those days of _guerra á muerte_,
the victors steeped their laurels in the blood of the vanquished with
unsparing hand. These triumphs were shared alternately by the monster
Boves and the sanguinary Morillo. It would be difficult to find two more
bloody wretches than these myrmidons of despotism, whose very names are
to this day the avenging cry against the race from which they both
sprang. The forces opposed to them in these engagements hardly amounted
to one-half their own numbers; but the patriots under Bolívar accepted
the battle with the despair of men who have no alternative between death
and an ignominious yoke. It is asserted that the rivulet became, on both
occasions, completely glutted with the gore and dead bodies of the
vanquished. Morillo had a very narrow escape from the lance of the
famous Juan Pablo Farfan, who deliberately attacked the Spanish
chieftain in the midst of his staff. Although the bold Llanero succeeded
in piercing the groin of the Spaniard with his lance, the wound was not
sufficiently deep to cause his death.
* * * * *
The rugged crest of the mountain surrounded by an atmosphere
resplendently clear, the wild and shattered rocks, piled like the giant
skeletons of an extinct race, together with the painful associations
connected with the spot, made an impression upon my mind not easily
forgotten.
Although I had often experienced a keen desire to see this natural
wonder of my country, I could not repress a feeling of regret at the
recollection of the sanguinary scenes enacted on this spot, and that my
first impressions of astonishment should be replaced by others of a less
pleasing character.
On awakening from the reverie into which the scene had plunged me, I
perceived for the first time that I was alone, my less contemplative
companions having proceeded on their journey while I was absorbed in
wonder. I felt glad of my solitude, for the very silence seemed to
breathe a prayer to the Almighty for the martyred children of Liberty
before one of his most glorious temples.
[Illustration]
We reached the village of San Juan in time to breakfast at the house of
our excellent friend Don José Pulido, a gentleman of most amiable and
hospitable disposition. While they prepared our morning meal, I repaired
to the outskirts of the village to sketch the Morros, which from the
distance appeared two huge castles in ruins. The continued action of the
waters has furrowed the sides of the mountain--composed principally of a
peculiar limestone--into many fantastic forms. The same wearing action
has in like manner perforated the calcareous rock into a thousand
subterranean passages or chasms of fathomless depth, it being asserted
by persons who have approached sufficiently near the entrance of these
caves, that a bowlder rolled down the abyss, is never heard to strike
the bottom. I regretted exceedingly that our short stay at this place
would not permit me to visit the interior of the main entrance to these
subterranean passages, no person ever having ventured within the dark
abode--as it is currently believed--of demons and the like. As a proof
of this assertion, the villagers point out to the inquisitive traveller
a spring issuing from that Tartarus highly charged with sulphurated
hydrogen gas, the fumes of which are in themselves sufficiently powerful
to convey the idea that something diabolical must be brewing in the
bowels of the stupendous mountain. The spring, however, possesses highly
medicinal virtues; on this account it is often visited by invalids from
various parts of the country, especially those affected with rheumatic
or scrofulous complaints.
During a heavy freshet, the bones of an antediluvian animal, supposed
to be those of a mastodon, were disinterred by the torrent in the bed of
a ravine. A portion of these bones were sent to us by our zealous friend
Don José, as a great curiosity; as such they were transferred to the
British Minister at Caracas, and finally consigned by him to the great
Museum in London.
The village of San Juan is likewise noted for its fine climate and the
total absence of epidemics. Invalids affected with pulmonary complaints
find there also an air and temperature most congenial. Beyond these
advantages, San Juan offers no other attractions to the stranger capable
of inducing a longer sojourn than is absolutely necessary, as not even a
ranch has been raised there for the convenience of those seeking its
beneficent waters.
After partaking of a substantial breakfast, composed of the most popular
dishes of the country, such as _carne frita_, _sancocho_, and some
delicious fish from the river Guárico, we bade adieu to our estimable
host, Don José, and continued our journey down the stony bottom of a
narrow _quebrada_ or ravine, noted for its many windings, and the
quantities of sharp stones that pave the way; these are evidently the
detached fragments of the basaltic formation constituting the base of
the Morros. At Flores, a miserable country inn like all the rest along
this route, we stopped a few moments to refresh ourselves with
_guarapo_, a kind of cider made from the juice of sugar cane, or by
dissolving _papelon_ in water and allowing it to ferment for a few days.
The guarapo of Flores is celebrated throughout the country, and no
person passing through this place ever omits to call for it. When mixed
with aguardiente, it forms what is termed _carabina_, (carbine;) the
effects rarely fail to knock down those who rashly brave its fire.
Our next stopping place was the village of Ortiz, a little beyond that
of Parapara. Taken together, they might be considered as the Pillars of
Hercules to the grassy Mediterranean of the Llanos, and the terminus of
civilized pursuits in that quarter, as there you find the last vestiges
of agriculture and the useful arts. In addition to small patches of
sugar cane and Indian corn raised by the inhabitants for their own
consumption, they excel in the manufacture of leather, saddles, and
their appurtenances, which they sell to all parts of the country. Beyond
this, nothing is to be met with but wild herds of cattle grazing on
prairies or steppes of vast extent, with the exception of the narrow
belt of park-like scenery intervening between these and a ridge of low,
rocky hills--_galeras_--which skirts the ancient shore of the great
basin of those pampas. The _galeras_ were doubtless the natural rampart
of that extraordinary body of waters which, at some remote epoch, must
have filled the space now forming the grazing grounds of Venezuela, as
attested by the nature of the soil and the organic remains found
imbedded in the clay.
I noticed at Ortiz the same trap formation of the Morros, with extensive
beds of basaltic slate protruding through the sides of the hills. Entire
columns of this slate, varying from four to five feet in length by six
inches diameter, are used in the village for paving the thresholds of
houses, their quadrangular form adapting them perfectly for this purpose
without any additional labor after being detached from the rock. The
action of the waters during the untold lapse of ages, or perhaps the
irruptions of the sea itself when it beat against the sides of the
hills, has caused the partial disintegration of the rock in many places,
and scattered the debris far and wide over the surrounding country.
Nevertheless, vegetation seemed nowhere affected in the least by this
vast accumulation of loose stones; on the contrary, wherever it was
favored by the depressions of the ground, trees of large dimensions,
noted for hardness and durability, sprang up, forming dense forests on
either side of the road. Foremost in the long catalogue of splendid
timber trees of Venezuela, we found there growing in great perfection
the _Vera_, or Lignum Vitæ--Zigophylum arboreum--the wood of which is so
hard that it turns the edge of the best-tempered tools; breaking or
splitting it seems equally impossible, on account of the interweaving of
its fibres, which cross each other in diagonal layers. This tree has a
wide range over the country, especially near the sea-coast, which
circumstance renders it extremely useful in the construction of wharves,
as well as for the keels of ships; the attacks of the teredo or seaworm
are futile upon the iron network of its fibres, on which account it can
remain under water for an indefinite period and eventually become
petrified. The useful _Guayacan_ or guaiacum of the arts, a nearly
allied species of this tree, is also found here in the greatest
abundance; unfortunately it is too short to be employed for the same
purposes as the former; it finds, however, numerous applications in
naval construction, especially for blocks and pulleys for the rigging of
vessels. Turners employ it likewise for various articles requiring
extreme hardness and a close grain.
The _Alcornoque_, a most beautiful tree, somewhat resembling the
American elm, and scarcely inferior to the foregoing, raises here its
graceful head above the rest, affording the cattle a permanent shade
even during the driest seasons. It must not be confounded, however, with
the well-known Spanish oak--Quercus suber--which yields the cork of
commerce. It is largely employed in the Llanos in the construction of
houses and fences. Braziletto wood--Cesalpinia braziletto--so celebrated
for its beautiful dye, is so abundant here also, that all the fences at
Ortiz and Parapara are made of this valuable dyewood.
The list of useful trees peculiar to this region could be extended
beyond the limits of this chapter, were it not for the fear of taxing
the patience of my reader with an abstract nomenclature. I cannot pass
unnoticed, however, two other trees of no less importance to the
natives, on account of their timber and medicinal properties; these are
the _Tacamahaca_--Elaphrium tomentosum--and the tree that yields the
precious balsam of copaiva--Copaifera officinalis. By making incisions
in the trunk and branches of both these trees, a resinous fluid,
possessing great healing powers when applied to wounds and other
ailments of the flesh, is obtained in great abundance and collected in
tin cans placed under the incisions. The former is particularly
abundant in the province of Guayana, where it attains to great
dimensions. Its resin, an opaque, lemon-colored substance resembling
wax, is very fragrant, and when mixed with that of _Caraña_ or
_Algarroba_, forms excellent torches which burn with great brilliancy,
and emit a delicious odor. The bark is also remarkable as affording a
material similar to that employed by the North American Indians in the
construction of their canoes, and used similarly by their brethren of
the Orinoco for their light pirogues. With this object the Indian
separates the bark without breaking, and cutting it of the required
dimensions, proceeds to join the extremities by means of _bejucos_ or
slender vines, filling the interstices with a little moist clay to throw
off the water; the whole is then well bound with stronger vines, and a
couple or more sticks are affixed between the borders of the pirogue to
prevent its collapsing when launched into the broad stream.
CHAPTER III.
THE LLANOS.
We left Ortiz as usual, very early the next morning, stumbling here and
there amidst the mass of loose stones which paved the way all along the
winding bed of the _quebrada_. In proportion as we advanced on our
route, the hills decreased in size, while the loose stones seemed to
increase in quantity. The splendid groves of hardy and balsamiferous
trees, which near Ortiz formed an almost impenetrable forest, gradually
became less imposing in appearance, until they were replaced by thickets
of thorny bushes, chiefly composed of several species of mimosas, with a
delicate and feathery foliage. The traveller accustomed to the shade of
a luxuriant vegetation, and to the sight of cultivated valleys, is
struck by the rapid diminution of the former, and the total
disappearance of the latter, as he emerges from the Galeras of Ortiz:
yet he is somewhat compensated by the almost overpowering _perfume_ shed
by masses of the canary-colored blossoms with which these shrubs are
loaded, from the
[Illustration: THE LLANOS.]
summits down to the bending branches that trail the ground at every
passing breeze.
Suddenly we entered a widely-extended tract of level land almost
destitute of vegetation. With the exception of a few clumps of
palm-trees with fan-like leaves, nothing but short grass covered its
entire surface, almost realizing the idea of “an ocean covered with
sea-weed.” A dense mass of vapor pervading the atmosphere obscured the
horizon, while the fan-palms, seen from afar, appeared like ships
enveloped in a fog. Gradually the circle of the heavens seemed to close
around us, until we became, as it were, encompassed by the sky. We were,
in fact, treading the shores of the great basin of the Llanos, over one
of the ancient shoals or _Mesas_, which, like successive terraces, now
form the borders of those grassy oceans known as the Pampas. This was
the Mesa de Paya, the seat of one of the cattle-farms to which we were
bound.
After wandering for nearly three hours over this monotonous landscape
without compass, and guided only by certain landmarks known to the
_vaqueanos_, we came unexpectedly upon the borders of the Mesa, which
commands an extensive view of the lower savannas. As if by magic the
dreary scene changed to one of the most glorious panoramas in existence.
At our feet lay a beautiful expanse of meadow, fresh and smooth as the
best cultivated lawn, with troops of horses and countless herds of
cattle dispersed all over the plain. Several glittering ponds, alive
with all varieties of aquatic birds, reflected upon their limpid surface
the broad-leaved crowns of the fan-palms, towering above verdant groves
of laurel, amyris, and elm-like _robles_. Further beyond, and as far as
the eye could reach, the undulating plain appeared like a petrified
ocean, after the sweeping tempest.
But I feel that my descriptions fall short of the reality, and that I am
unable to depict the harmonious effects of light and shade, and the
blending of the various tints of green, blue and purple, dispersed over
this extensive panorama; the gentle undulations of the plain; the
towering palms gracefully fanning the glowing atmosphere with their
majestic crowns of broad and shining leaves; and myriad other beauties
difficult to enumerate.
I could scarcely tear myself away from the spot, so fascinated was I
with the novelty of the scene. My companions, more concerned for the
speedy termination of the journey than the beautiful in nature, set off
at a brisk trot towards the house, which was at no great distance.
Fearing to lose my way among the intricate paths leading to it, I was
compelled to follow in their wake, stopping occasionally to gaze once
more upon those enchanting groves, which seemed to return me to the
highly cultivated fields and green meadows of glorious “Old England,”
whence I had just returned.
On descending to the plain below, my attention was attracted to an
unsightly group of palm-thatched huts, looking more like huge bee-hives
than the abode of human beings. A formidable fence of palm trunks
surrounded the premises, and several acres of ground beyond. These were
the _corrals_, or enclosures where the training of the fierce herds was
practised by the hardy dwellers of the Llanos; but no signs of
cultivation, or aught else connected with the rural occupations of the
farmer, were visible in the neighborhood. Presently the cavalcade
stopped before the gate, and all the individuals composing it dismounted
and began to unsaddle their horses amidst the barking of a legion of
dogs, and the braying of all the donkeys in the vicinity.
This was the _hato_ or cattle-farm of San Pablo we were in quest of,
famous in the annals of the civil wars in Venezuela, as the occasional
head-quarters of the constitutional armies, commanded by the owner of
this farm. Our leader was received at the entrance of his estate, by a
grave and elderly negro slave, who acted as overseer, and had under his
control all the men and property attached to it. Kneeling upon the stony
court-yard, he kissed the hand extended to him in friendly greeting,
after which he proceeded to unsaddle his master’s horse, which he led to
a pond within the enclosure, where the horses were watered.
We purposed remaining a few days at San Pablo, with the object of
incorporating some fresh relays of mules and horses from the abundant
stock of this estate: so we of the staff installed ourselves under the
palm-roof of our rustic mansion, while the rank and file of the
expedition found accommodation in the open barracoons adjoining it;
although none of the party had reason to boast of being better off than
their neighbor.
“It is sad when pleasing first impressions are obliterated,” remarks a
sentimental writer; “always painful to become _desenchanté_ on a more
intimate acquaintance with either people or places.” I soon found that I
was not in the fairy land I had imagined, abounding in grottos and
refreshed by sparkling fountains, but in the region of the Llanos where
the French adage, _chacun pour soi et Dieu pour tous_, is verified to
its fullest extent. San Pablo, with its vaunted prestige, and in spite
of its proximity to several important marts, was no better provided with
accommodations than the untidy douar of the wandering Arab of the
Desert. A rickety table standing against the wall for fear of tumbling
down, two or three clumsy cedar chairs covered with raw-hide, and a
couple of grass hammocks, serving the double purpose of beds and
lounges, constituted all the furniture of the great farm. As a
substitute for wardrobes and hat-stands, we were shown a number of
deer-antlers and bull-horns imbedded in the walls of reeds and mud, on
which to hang our pouches, bridles, &c. I searched in vain, on our
arrival, for something like a bowl in which to lave my hands and face,
covered with dust and parched by the broiling sun of the savannas. Even
water was so scarce that it was served to us sparingly from a large
calabash gourd used in bringing it from the river, nearly a mile
distant. It is true there was, within the enclosure of the houses, a
pond or excavation, made while searching for the remains of a brave
officer who fell fighting for his country’s freedom. Sufficient water
had accumulated there during the rainy season to entitle it to the name
of _Laguna_, or Lake of Genaro Vazquez, the name of the afore-mentioned
hero; but it was so filled with _Bavas_--a small species of
alligator,--terrapins, and toads, as to render the water undrinkable.
But to return to our head-quarters, the structure of which struck me so
forcibly at first as a bee-hive of vast proportions, naturally
suggesting the idea of a “land of milk and honey.” Unfortunately neither
of these could be obtained either for love or money, although the woods
and pastures of the estate abounded in both the creatures that produced
them. So we were compelled to resort to our reserved stock of _papelon_
to sweeten our coffee, and to its own delicious natural aroma in the
place of milk. As to the house itself, it only differed from the rest in
that region in being larger, and perhaps in better order than are the
generality. Imagine a pyramidal structure, thatched with palm leaves,
the roof slanting to within a few feet of the ground, and supported on
stout posts of live timber, which served also as framework for the
walls, and you will have some idea of the style of architecture peculiar
to the country. Doors and windows are of no account in a country
uniformly warm throughout the year, and where the inhabitants possess
few articles capable of tempting the cupidity of light-fingered gentry.
Therefore, an ox-hide stretched across the openings left in the walls to
admit light and the inmates, is all that is required to keep off
uninvited guests. As an exception, to this rule, our mansion of San
Pablo had one or two rooms set apart for invalids, provided with doors
and windows of solid planks of timber in the rough; the other apartments
had the upper half of the walls purposely left open, to admit full and
free entrance of light and air. A narrow piazza or corridor, formed by
the slanting of the roof to within five feet of the ground, ran along
the entire length of the main building, and was intended more as a
protection to the rooms against the sun and rains, than as a resort for
the inmates.
The first step, on arriving, was to secure a place in the open reception
room, for my own chattels and hammock, before all the spare posts and
hooks had been appropriated by my companions. This accomplished, I
proceeded to a thorough examination of my saddle and its accoutrements,
so as to have them adapted to the peculiar mode of travelling in the
Llanos. This care I left to the good judgment of our attendants, not
being myself sufficiently skilled in the art of mending, greasing, and
putting in order the complicated gear of our riding equipment. In the
same predicament were also my two English companions, and our worthy
doctor; a kind word, however, addressed to the good-natured
Llaneros--especially if accompanied with a drop of aguardiente--never
failed of enlisting their services in our favor.
Habit, as well as necessity, is sometimes the mother of invention, as my
experience soon taught me that, to get along in my new quarters, it
would be requisite to set aside the airs and insignia of civilization.
Divesting myself, therefore, of all such superfluities as coat, cravat,
pants, and shoes, I adopted the less cumbrous attire of the Llaneros,
consisting mainly of breeches tightly buttoned at the knee, and a loose
shirt, usually of a bright checkered pattern. Shoes are altogether
dispensed with in a country like the Llanos, subject to drenching rains,
and covered with mud during a great portion of the year, besides the
inconvenience they offer to the rider in holding the stirrup securely
when in chase of wild animals. The leg, however, is well protected from
the thorns and cutting grass of the savannas by a neat legging or
_botin_, made of buffskin, tightly buttoned down the calf by knobs or
studs of highly polished silver. Another characteristic article of
dress, and one in which the wearers take great pride, is the linen
checkered handkerchief, loosely worn around the head. Its object is
ostensibly to protect it from the intensity of the sun’s rays; but the
constant habit of wearing it has rendered the handkerchief as
indispensable a headdress to the Llaneros as is the cravat to the neck
of the city gentleman.
One angle of the building was devoted to the kitchen, and rooms for the
overseer and his family; the other was set apart for a store-room,
suggesting hidden treasures of good things for the comfort of the inner
man. Being naturally inquisitive, I lost no time in investigating the
contents of the _bodega_; but instead of sweetmeats, fresh cheese, or
even bread, and butter,--articles of easy manufacture in the Llanos, on
which I had feasted my imagination,--I found the place filled with
roaches, pack-saddles, old bridles, lazos, and _tasajo_ or jerked beef.
This last is prepared by cutting fresh beef into long strips, and
exposing them to dry in the sun, first rubbing them thoroughly with
salt. Animal substances spoil so readily in tropical climates, that
unless this precaution is taken immediately after a bullock is
slaughtered, the meat becomes tainted in a short time. Two or three
days’ exposure to the hot sun of the Llanos, is _sufficient_ to render
the beef as dry and tough as leather; in this state, it may be stored
away for six months without spoiling. The older the better; age
imparting to it that peculiar rank flavor which makes _tasajo_ so highly
prized by people of all ranks in Cuba and other West India Islands.
Large shipments of this beef have been made from Venezuela to those
places; but the competition of Buenos Ayres has reduced of late the
profits arising from this branch of our exports. The manner of killing
and quartering an animal in the Llanos deserves particular mention. The
cattle being usually some distance from the house, two horsemen are
despatched after the victim; one of them gallops close to the animal’s
rear, and throwing his unerring lazo at its head, drags it along, while
his companion urges it on by means of his _garrocha_ or goad, until they
reach the sacrificial post: one or two turns of the lazo around this,
bring the animal close to the _botalon_; the matador then plunges the
point of his dagger into the vertebræ back of the head, and the
struggling beast drops as if struck by an electric spark; a second
thrust of the bloody dagger into his throat severs the artery, and the
blood gushes in torrents through the wound from every part of his body.
The prostrate victim is now turned upon its back, and a long incision
made lengthwise of the belly, preparatory to flaying and cutting up the
carcass. When the animal is not intended to be immediately slaughtered,
he is tied to the post by a succession of coils from the lazo around his
horns, and left there until the fatal moment comes to despatch him.
One night I was awakened by a terrific bellowing proceeding from the
_botalon_; but, as I knew there was no bullock there for slaughter at
the moment, I was at a loss how to account for this uproarious serenade.
Curiosity led me to inquire into the cause, and directing my steps
towards the spot, I beheld a group of about a dozen bulls, smelling at
the blood of their former companions, and ploughing up the gore with
their hoofs, evidently in great distress. This continued for some time,
until, finding their bewailing by moonlight rather too touching even for
artists’ ears, we ordered them to be driven away, in spite of the
sublimity of the scene. I had other opportunities of witnessing similar
testimonials of respect, whenever a herd of cattle approached the place
of execution, which never failed to impress me deeply with a feeling of
compassion for their sorrows.
Every morning an animal was slaughtered for us. Our meals consisted of
roast beef, without either vegetables or wheaten bread. Indian corn we
had in abundance, both in the grain and in the husk; but before it could
be converted into _arepas_--the favorite bread of the country--it
required to be passed through a variety of operations each day, which
made the process rather tedious, as the grain must first be hulled by
pounding it in large wooden mortars, adding a handful of sand and a
little water: next the grain must be separated from the chaff,
thoroughly washed, and then boiled over a slow fire. In doing this, care
must be used, for if too soft it will not answer the purpose. Finally it
is ground to a paste between two stones, formed into flat cakes, and
baked in shallow pans of earthenware. The result of all this labor is
bread exceedingly white and nourishing; but it has the disadvantage of
becoming tough and unpalatable when cold. Under the popular name of
_tortillas_, this bread is also extensively used in Mexico and Central
America, although inferior to our own.
[Illustration]
Even this was considered a great luxury at San Pablo, few other
cattle-farms being provided with the necessary utensils for its
manufacture, and still fewer the number of those that will grow
sufficient corn for the consumption of their inmates. The Llaneros are
essentially a pastoral people, and trouble themselves but little with
the cultivation of the land, considering it rather derogatory to bend
their heads, even to mother Earth. Hence their homes are usually in a
state of utter wretchedness, being unprovided even with the commonest
necessaries. Although the land is extremely fertile, and would well
repay the labor with abundant crops of every kind of grain, they do not
consider bread an essential, using instead a piece of boiled liver,
which in their estimation answers just as well. Therefore the divine
command, which enjoins us to earn our daily bread by the sweat of the
brow, is not much regarded by them. In the midst of countless herds, and
surrounded with the most munificent gifts of a bountiful Providence,
they are often even without fresh meat; not because they are sparing of
their cattle, which in that country bears a nominal value, but because
they are naturally abstemious; and as for milk and butter, they despise
both as food only fit for children. Cheese, however, is a favorite
article of food with them, and in its preparation, they display
considerable ability, especially the delicious kind termed _queso de
manos_, a species of boiled cheese. As some of my readers may wish to
experiment in making it, I will give them the recipe. Curd the milk in
the usual way, and boil the curd in its own whey. When about the
consistency of molasses candy, stretch it out repeatedly with the hands
until cold. Add a little salt to the mass; roll it into flat cakes, and
hang the cheese to drain in nets suspended from the ceiling. When
pulled, it will separate in layers which look like parchment, retaining
all the flavor of the milk.
The cows, being half wild in most cases, require to be milked by main
force. To accomplish this, one of the dairymen throws a noose around the
horns of the animal, and holds it secure by means of a long pole
attached to the thong, while another proceeds to milk it in the usual
way; but none will yield a drop, unless the calf is first allowed to
suck a little, and then tied to the mother’s knee.
Every cow is distinguished by a fancy name, such as Clavellina, Flor del
Campo, Marabilla, and others equally euphonious and poetical. When
called to be milked, the tame ones immediately answer in suppressed
bellowings, and come forward of their own accord, while the calves
confined in the pen, on hearing their mothers’ names, run along the
fence in search of the gate; a boy, stationed there for the purpose,
lets fall one of the bars, and off they bound after the mothers.
The men perform there altogether the occupations allotted to women in
other countries, such as milking the cows, curding the milk, and turning
out the cheese when ready. They do not even disdain cooking their own
food, and washing their own garments, when occasion requires. Of the
women, I may be permitted to quote here what Sir Francis Head, in his
quaint style, says with reference to those in the Pampas of Buenos
Ayres, as being equally applicable to their sisters of the Llanos: “The
habits of the women are very curious: they have literally nothing to do,
the great plains which surround them offer no motive to work, they
seldom ride, and _their_ lives certainly are very indolent and inactive.
They all have families, however, whether married or not; and once when I
inquired of a young woman employed in nursing a very pretty child, who
was the father of the ‘criatura,’ she replied ‘Quien sabe?’”[20]
But it is time to introduce my reader to a more intimate acquaintance
with this singular race of people, whose manliness, bravery, and skill
in waging a constant war, not only with the wild animals of the field,
but against the proud legions of Iberia, entitle them to a place among
the heroes of the earth.
CHAPTER IV.
THE LLANEROS.
“Dicheso aquel que alcanza
Como rico don del Cielo,
Para defender su suelo
Buen caballo y buena lanza.”
--AROLAS.
The people inhabiting the vast region of the Llanos, although claiming
descent from the old Castilian race, once the rulers of the land, are,
in fact, an amalgamation of the various castes composing the present
population of the Republic. These are, the whites, or the descendants of
the European settlers of the country; the aboriginals or Indians, and a
great proportion of blacks. In most of the towns the native whites
preponderate over all others, and represent the wealth, as well as the
most respectable portion of the community; in the villages and thinly
populated districts of the plains, a mongrel breed resulting from the
admixture of these three, constitute the majority of the inhabitants.
These are dispersed over an area of 27,000 square miles, making a
proportion of only fourteen individuals, out of a population of
390,000, to every square mile.
This race, although vastly inferior to the first in mental capacity and
moral worth, is endowed with a physique admirably adapted to endure the
fatigues of a life beset with dangers and hardships.[21] Cast upon a
wild and apparently interminable plain, the domain of savage beasts and
poisonous reptiles, their lot has been to pass all their life in a
perpetual struggle, not only with the primitive possessors of the land,
but with the elements themselves, often as fierce as they are grand.
When it is not the alarm of the dreaded viper or the spotted jaguar, it
is the sudden inroad of vast inundations, which, spreading with fearful
rapidity over the land, sweep off in one moment their frail habitations
and their herds. Nevertheless, this insecure existence, this continual
struggle between life and death, between rude intellect and matter, has
for the Llanero a sort of fascination, perhaps not so well understood by
people possessing the blessings and ideas of civilization, but without
which he could not exist, especially if deprived of his horse and cast
among the mountain region north of his cherished plains. The Modern
Centaur of the desolate regions of the New World, the Llanero spends his
life on horseback; all his actions and exertions must be assisted by his
horse; for him the noblest effort of man is, when gliding swiftly over
the boundless plain and bending over his spirited charger, he overturns
an enemy or masters a wild bull. The following lines of Victor Hugo seem
as though copied from this model: “He would not fight but on horseback;
he forms but one person with his horse; he lives on horseback; trades,
buys, and sells on horseback; eats, drinks, sleeps, and dreams on
horseback.” Like the Arab, he considers his horse his best and most
reliable friend on earth, often depriving himself of rest and comfort
after a hard day’s journey to afford his faithful companion abundance of
food and water. It is not at all surprising, therefore, to hear the
bard--all Llaneros are poets more or less--exclaim, after the loss of
both his wife and valued horse:
Mi muger y mi caballo
Se me murieron á un tiempo;
Que muger, ni que demonio,
Mi caballo es lo que siento.
My wife and my valued horse
Died both at the same time;
To the devil with my wife,
For my horse do I repine.
Few people in the world are better riders than the Llaneros of
Venezuela, if we except perhaps the Gauchos of Buenos Ayres, or equal to
either in the dexterity they display in the wonderful feats of
horsemanship to which their occupations in the field inure them from
childhood. Their horses, moreover, are so well trained to the various
evolutions of their profession, that animal and rider seem to possess
but one existence.
The life of the Llanero, like that of the Gaucho his prototype, is
singularly interesting, and resembles in many respects that of others
who, like them, have their abode in the midst of extensive plains. Thus
they have been aptly styled the Cossacks and the Arabs of the New World,
with both of whom they have many points in common, but more especially
do they resemble the last named. When visiting the famous Constantine
Gallery of paintings at Versailles, I was struck with the resemblance of
the Algerine heroes of Horace Vernet with our own, revealing at once the
Moorish descent of the latter, independently of other characteristic
peculiarities.
The inimitable author of “Journeys Across The Pampas,” already quoted,
alluding to the life of these wild shepherds of the plains, compares it
very appropriately to the rise and progress of a young eagle, so
beautifully described by Horace in the following verses:
Olim juventas et patrius vigor
Nidum laborum propulit inscium;
Vernique, jam nimbis remotis,
Insolitos docuere nisus
Venti paventem; mox in ovilia
Demisit hostem vividus impetus;
Nunc in reluctantes dracones
Egit amor dapis atque pugnæ.
--HORACE, Book iv., Ode iv.
“Whom native vigor, and the rush
Of youth have spurr’d to quit the nest,
And skies of blue, in springtide’s flush,
Entice aloft to breast
The gales he fear’d before his lordly plumes were drest.
“Now swooping, eager for his prey,
Spreads havoc through the flutter’d fold;
Straight, fired by love of food and fray,
In grapple fierce and bold,
The struggling dragons rends, e’en in their rocky hold.”
--TRANSLATION BY MARTIN.
“Born in the rude hut, the infant Gaucho receives little attention, but
is left to swing from the roof in a bullock’s hide, the corners of which
are drawn towards each other by four strips of hide. In the first year
of his life he crawls about without clothes, and I have more than once
seen a mother give a child of this age a sharp knife, a foot long, to
play with. As soon as he walks, his infantine amusements are those which
prepare him for the occupations of his future life; with a lazo made of
twine he tries to catch little birds, or the dogs, as they walk in and
out of the hut. By the time he is four years old he is on horseback, and
immediately becomes useful by assisting to drive the cattle into the
corral.”
When sufficiently strong to cope with a wild animal, the young Llanero
is taken to the _majada_ or great cattle-pen, and there hoisted upon the
bare back of a fierce young bull. With his face turned towards the
animal’s tail, which he holds in lieu of bridle, and his little legs
twisted around the neck of his antagonist, he is whirled round and round
at a furious rate. His position, as may be imagined, is any thing but
equestrian; yet, the fear of coming in contact with the bull’s horns
compels the rider to hold on until, by a dexterous twist of the animal’s
tail while he jumps off its back, he succeeds in overturning his
antagonist.
In proportion as he grows older and stronger, a more manly amusement is
afforded him with the breaking in of a wild colt. This being, however, a
more dangerous experiment, in which many a “young eagle” is rendered a
“lame duck,” he is provided with the necessary accoutrements to
withstand the terrible struggle with the animal. Firmly seated upon his
back and brandishing overhead a tough _chaparro_ vine for a whip, the
apprentice is thus installed in his new office, from which he must not
descend until the brute is perfectly subdued; the coil of lazo in the
hands of his merciless instructor would be the least evil awaiting him
should he otherwise escape safe and sound from the desperate kicks and
plunges of the horse.
Here commences what we may term, the public life of the Llanero; his
education is now considered complete. From this moment all his endeavors
and ambition will be to rival his companions in the display of physical
force, which he shows to an admirable degree when, armed with his tough
lazo, he pursues the wild animals of his domain. If a powerful bull or
wild horse tries to escape into the open plain, the cavalier unfurls the
noose which is always ready by his side, and the fugitive is quickly
brought back to the corral. Should the thong give way under the
impetuous flight of the animal, the rider seizes him by the tail, and
whirling round suddenly, pulls towards him with so much force as to
cause his immediate overthrow.
In all these exercises the roving cavalier of the Llanos acquires that
feeling of security and enduring disposition for which he is famous.
Unfortunately, it is often turned to account in disturbing the balance
of power among his more enlightened countrymen; for he is always ready
to join the first revolutionary movement offering him the best chances
for equipping himself with arms of all descriptions. Next to the horse,
the Llanero esteems those weapons which give him a superiority over his
fellow-creatures, viz., a lance, a blunderbuss, and a fine sword. If he
is unprovided with either of these, he considers himself a miserable and
degraded being, and all his efforts will tend to gratify this favorite
vanity, even at the risk of his own life. Therefore he goes to war,
because he is sure, if victorious, of finding the battle-field covered
with these tempting trophies of his ambition. In this, unfortunately, he
is too often encouraged by a host of unprincipled politicians who, not
wishing to earn a livelihood by fair means, are eternally plotting
against the powers that be.
The style of sword worn by the Llaneros differs little from that used
by Spaniards of the middle ages, the hilt being surmounted by a guard in
the shape of a reversed cup, affording an excellent protection to the
hand that wields it, while the blade is made with two edges, instead of
one. Most of these swords are mounted in silver, the same as the
accompanying dagger, another of their favorite weapons; and such is the
passion among Llaneros for glittering swords and daggers, that they
would sooner dispense with a house or a corral, than with either of
these expensive commodities.
The lance comes next in importance, and in their hands is quite a
formidable weapon, which they are enabled to handle with great
dexterity, from their constant practice with the _garrocha_ or goad with
which they drive and turn the cattle. As an element of war, the lance
has become celebrated in the country, having rendered the cause of
Independence the most effectual service in repelling the attacks of the
sanguinary hosts sent by Spain against the indomitable “Rebeldes” of
Colombia.
The _trabuco_ or blunderbuss, too, is held in great estimation as a
weapon of defence, or rather of aggression, as they are at all times
ready to test its powers on the slightest provocation; and nobody thinks
of travelling in that desert country without one of these wide-mouthed
spitfires by his side.
Being rather of a superstitious turn of mind, these people believe that
by decorating their deadly weapons with some insignia of their religion,
they are rendered more effectual; the cross surmounts their swords and
daggers; while the rosary and _agnus Dei_ entwine the butt-end of their
_trabucos_, when called into requisition. Thus they are emboldened to
perform acts of desperate valor which, under any other circumstances,
would be considered rash in the extreme.
Such is the religious faith of these benighted people; a religion of
form and superstition rather than conviction. Christianity, like the
Spanish language, exists among them, it is true; but corrupted and
enveloped in dark superstition, almost bordering on idolatry. It cannot,
however, be expected that a widely scattered population over so
extensive an area of desert plains, should possess any means of
enlightenment beyond what is conveyed to them through the few teachers
distributed among the principal towns of the interior. Therefore it is
not an unusual thing to meet with persons owning extensive cattle farms,
and even holding important commissions in the army, who cannot read or
write. During the good old times of the Capuchin Missions, the youth of
the villages under their control received at their hands a scanty
education, principally in the primary notions of the catechism; but with
the destruction of those beneficent establishments, during the
protracted struggle between natives and Spaniards, they were replunged
into utter ignorance, and most of their places of worship have long
since gone to decay. They have retained, nevertheless, enough of the
extravagant notions of that school to establish a creed singularly at
variance with the teachings of the Gospel, and founded principally on a
belief in saints and amulets. The latter consist in little trinkets
wrought in gold or silver; or written orisons carefully preserved in
leathern bags and worn suspended from their rosaries around their necks.
Most of these orisons are the more extravagant from the fact they have
no meaning whatever; yet this very obscurity seems to attach greater
value to them, their principal charm consisting, as they say, in their
mysterious import.
Great faith is also placed in certain prayers which are supposed to have
the power of driving away the Devil, curing diseases and averting all
kinds of evil.
As regards their Creator, they only have some vague ideas; they believe,
for instance, in one God; _mais voila tout_. They seem to entertain
greater fear of Beelzebub and Death personified, both of whom they
imagine to possess undisputed sway over His creatures. The first they
fancy to be fashioned with horns, hoofs, and claws like some of their
wild beasts. Their ideas of death are no less extravagant. A respectable
old gentleman of my acquaintance who once found himself very low with
fever, thus related his experience respecting this fearful vision.
“Why!” said he to a circle of friends who came to congratulate him on
his recovery, “I had always supposed that Death was actually a horrid
skeleton skulking about the world in search of victims, and carrying in
his hand a fearful hook with which he angled for us as we do for fish.
No such thing, my friends, I assure you; Death, after all, is nothing
more than lack of breath;” accompanying the assertion with a gentle
pressure of his nose with his fingers and a hearty laugh.
As a natural consequence, the Llaneros, in spite of their bravery and
_sang froid_ in other respects, entertain great fear of _espantos_ or
ghosts and apparitions. One of the most popular hallucinations of this
kind is _la bola de fuego_, or “light of Aguirre the Tyrant,” as the
natives usually style it--a sort of _ignis fatuus_, arising from the
decomposition of organic substances at the bottom of certain marshes.
Superstitious imaginations, unacquainted with this phenomenon, readily
transform these gaseous exhalations into the soul of the famous Lope de
Aguirre wandering about the savannas. This adventurous individual had
the satisfaction, while he lived, of discovering the great river Amazon.
Being of a restless and bloody disposition, like all the heroes of that
epoch, he started in search of El Dorado with a powerful expedition from
Peru, which resulted in the discovery of the Father of Waters. He
stained his laurels, however, with the blood of his own daughter, as
well as with that of his companions, for which unpardonable atrocities
it is believed his accursed soul was left to wander over those countries
which he sullied with his crimes.[22] Now it appears before the
terrified traveller in the form of a blazing ball of fire; a minute
after it will be seen one or two miles off. If sufficiently near, the
spectator cannot fail to observe the entrails of the wicked wanderer
enveloped in the flames of this extraordinary apparition. Such is the
power of affrighted imaginations which have converted one of the
commonest phenomena of chemical action into the wildest speculation of
besotted fanaticism.
With regard to miracles and the interposition of the saints, the names
of some of which are constantly in their mouths, the Llaneros also have
many curious notions. For every emergency of their lives there is a
special patron saint; San Pablo, like good old St. Patrick, is supposed
to have entire sway over snakes and other vermin; San Antonio, the power
of restoring stolen goods to their rightful owners; while San somebody
else that of befriending the highway robber and assassin from the
punishment of justice and violent death. As an illustration of this
fact, I will relate here an incident which I witnessed during one of
those endemic revolutions so typical of the Spanish American republics,
and which never fail to foster lawless bands of desperadoes who, under
the cover of political reforms, commit all sorts of depredations upon
the helpless inhabitants.
JOSE URBANO, THE GUERILLA-CHIEF.
_A digression for the sake of variety._
Shortly after our return from the Apure, a revolution broke out among
the colored population; a class which until then had been the most
peaceful and submissive, but since perverted to such a degree as to
require all the energies and resources of the white race to save itself
from utter ruin and degradation.
An ambitious demagogue, editor of a newspaper in the capital, had been
seized with the mania, so prevalent in South America, of becoming
President (_pro tem._) of the Republic. To this end, he spared no means
in recommending himself to the public, through the columns of his paper,
heaping at the same time all kinds of slander and abuse upon those who
stood in his way. Finding, however, little coöperation from the better
class of the community, he experienced no scruple in courting the favor
of the colored population, who, he readily persuaded, “had a perfect
right to share in the gains and property of their aristocratic masters.”
The Government was powerless in arresting the spirit of revolt which was
daily being infused among the masses, as the Constitution allowed
perfect freedom of the press, and the good citizens did not care to take
the matter into their own hands. The consequence was, a fearful outbreak
among the lower classes, backed by all the _tramposos_ or broken-down
speculators of the country, proclaiming community of property, and the
ci-devant editor (who, by the way, had not a _sous_ to stake in it)
candidate for the next Presidency of the Republic. The revolt soon
spread to the Llaneros, by far the most to be feared in the matter of
hard blows; and although it was quelled in time through the efforts of
General Paez, it sowed the seeds of discontent which have since brought
forth to the country an abundant crop of revenge, violence, and rapine.
It was during that campaign the incident I am about to relate occurred
in the savannas of San Pablo.
We had just encamped for the night on the beautiful plain of Morrocoyes,
not far from our place, when a messenger arrived to apprise the General
that the famous José Urbano, leader of a band of robbers who had
committed several wanton murders in that neighborhood, had crossed over
to San Pablo under cover of night. The General immediately despatched a
dozen of his men after the banditti, with positive orders to follow up
the _rastro_ or trail to the world’s end if necessary, and not return to
his presence without the body of the leader, _muerto ó vivo_, dead or
alive. To any other set of men less accustomed to the wild pursuits of
the Llanos, this would have appeared an impossibility in a country like
San Pablo, traversed in all directions by numerous cross-ways made by
the cattle; but the instinct of those men in tracking runaways as well
as stray animals, is truly wonderful. Although the plain was covered
with the footprints of twenty thousand animals roaming wild over the
savannas, they followed close on the heels of the banditti, until they
fell in, unfortunately, with another trail left by some _vaqueros_. The
night was very dark, and they easily mistook this for that of the enemy.
As a matter of course it led them to a ranch where the unlucky
_vaqueros_ were amusing themselves at the game of monte. Without
stopping to ascertain who the gamblers were, the troop charged in the
midst of them, killing two or three innocent fellows, and dispersing the
rest like a herd of wild sheep. The aggressors did not discover their
mistake until one of the fugitives, who happened to be acquainted with
the party, recognized the voice of the commander, and shouted to him to
stop the carnage.
After this unfortunate encounter, it may be easy to conceive that the
troopers were not slow in retracing their steps in search of the cause
of their mistake; this time, however, with more prudence, carefully
examining every trail until they found the right one. It led them to
another ranch where Urbano was spending the evening in the society of
one of his numerous sweethearts. Here they all dismounted very quietly,
and leaving the horses in charge of two companions, they rushed into the
ranch with a wild shout and lance in hand. The attack was so sudden,
that most of the banditti were either killed or dispersed before they
had time to seize their arms. Only their gallant leader stood at bay
against tremendous odds, defending himself bravely for a long time with
the assistance of his equally courageous sweetheart, who kept all the
while urging him on like a tigress.
Overpowered at last by a superior force, and faint with the loss of
blood from numerous wounds, the bandit fell at the feet of his sable
Amazon. When raised, an amulet was found between his teeth so firmly
held, that it required the united efforts of two men to remove it. On
being opened, it was found to contain a written orison, shrouded in such
mysterious language as would have defied the skill of a magician to
decipher. This, I was informed, was the famous _Oracion del Justo Juez_,
a singular misnomer for a talisman intended to befriend these _gente non
sancta_ in their marauding expeditions.
It was a lucky thing for the assailants that Urbano received at the
outset a severe cut on his right arm, causing an immediate flow of blood
which filled the pan of his _trabuco_, otherwise the affair would have
terminated very differently. The ignition of the powder was thus
prevented just as he was in the act of discharging the contents of that
engine of destruction amidst the group.
The body of the culprit was now tied on the back of a horse and conveyed
to the presence of the General, as an atonement for the unfortunate
mistake which had deprived him of the services of two or three valuable
hands.
The news of this adventure spread as if by magic over the surrounding
country and brought together great numbers of _curiosos_, among them, no
doubt, many of Urbano’s adherents, who might have discredited the
statement. The General improved the opportunity to address them an
impressive homily, ordering at the same time the mutilated body of the
renowned bandit to be exposed on the public road for twenty-four hours,
as a warning to others with similar proclivities.
The death of this man, considered invulnerable by the superstitious
children of the Llanos, produced a more powerful impression upon them
than if a great battle had been fought and won. Next day, hundreds of
_facciosos_, availing themselves of a general amnesty granted by the
Commander-in-Chief to repentant revolutionists, began to arrive from
various quarters and gave in their submission.
Thus ended for the time being one of the most dangerous outbreaks that
had ever occurred in the country, from the nature of the principles
involved. As to the originator, he was subsequently eclipsed by a bolder
political aspirant, the ever-memorable José T. Monagas. This worthy, of
whom more especial mention will be made hereafter, and who, in an evil
hour for his country, was called to fill the chair of State, profiting
by the condition of anarchy in which the other had plunged the nation,
afterwards shot down the Representatives of the people in Congress
assembled, and proclaimed himself absolute ruler, thus leaving the other
ambitious pretender to exclaim with the poet:
“Hos ego versiculos feci, tulit alter honores.”
CHAPTER V.
SCENES AT THE FISHERY.
Four days we remained at San Pablo making arrangements for the
contemplated expedition to the Apure; but the horses being quartered at
considerable distance, we removed to La Yegüera, a small farm within the
estate exclusively devoted to the breeding of those animals. Great
numbers of mules were also raised there, which made the equine stock
amount to nearly three thousand animals of all ages. There, untrammelled
by barriers of any kind, they roamed at will over those beautiful
meadows in a semi-wild state; their only keeper was a half-breed, who
with his family occupied the Ranch, which on that occasion was to
shelter us also. This Ranch being too small, however, for the
accommodation of the whole party, most of them bivouacked in a grove of
lofty Cesalpinias and Carob trees, from whose spreading branches they
slung their hammocks, the dense foliage forming a sufficient shelter
from the heavy dews of night and the heat of the sun by day.
Our Leader, the Doctor, and myself, were domiciled at the Ranch. Having
the full range of the neighboring groves during the day, we had then no
occasion to use our single apartment, already partially occupied with
the culinary utensils and other wares of the family. But on retiring to
our hammocks at night, the scene presented was rather ludicrous. In the
same room allotted to us slept the keeper, his wife, and their numerous
progeny, with all the dogs and chickens of the household huddled
together in the most familiar manner. Notwithstanding, I will confess
that the arrangement was not altogether disagreeable to me, as in close
propinquity slept two of the prettiest damsels I had yet encountered in
that region, with eyes brilliant enough to render other light
superfluous. The only important hindrance to my nightly repose was the
occasional flapping of wings and the hourly crowing of our host’s
favorite gamecock, tied directly under my hammock, and who served for
clock and night-watchman to the establishment.
Agapito, our host, had an easy time as overseer of this domain, his only
occupation being from time to time to scour the savannas in search of
young foals which might have been attacked by the _gusano_. This is the
larvæ of a species of fly deposited in the umbilical cord of the new
born, and which, if not promptly removed, will eat into the very vitals.
It is fortunately not difficult to destroy them by the use of powdered
_cebadilla_, the seed of a liliaceous plant (Veratrum cebadilla)
abounding in veratrine. For this purpose, the keeper is always provided
with a horn filled with the poisonous drug, and a wooden spatula. With
the latter he digs out the worms and fills the wound with the powder to
prevent a renewal of their attacks.
Groves and meadows unequalled for their luxuriance and natural beauty
surrounded us on all sides, while numerous springs and rivulets, issuing
from the foot of the terrace-like _Mesas_, rushed down the declivity of
the plain, increasing the volume of the beautiful Guárico on whose banks
stood the primitive abode of our unsophisticated host. This river is
justly celebrated for the abundance and superiority of its fish; so,
without delay, providing myself with hook and line, I proceeded thither,
being anxious to procure specimens for my sketch-book, and also a
substitute for our daily fare of beef. But, strange to relate, each time
I dropped hook in the water, it was carried away in some mysterious
manner, without the least motion being imparted to the float. My tackle,
which I had brought from England, although arranged for fly-fishing, was
capable of bearing a fish of many pounds weight; but as I soon lost all
my stock in hand in the vain endeavor to secure my specimens, I gave up
in disgust and returned to the Ranch that the mystery might, if
possible, be explained. On seeing my slender lines, mine host with a
broad grin facetiously remarked that they were good to play at fishing
with, the only drawback to the amusement being that the _caribe_, a fish
not larger than a perch, would carry off all my playthings. Impossible,
said I; the lines are strong enough to lift you out of the water if
necessary; to this he quietly replied, directing my attention to a
mutilated finger of his right hand, “Do you see this? well, not long
ago I was washing my hands in the river after slaughtering a calf, when
a caribe darted at my finger and carried off a part before I was even
aware of his approach.” Here was a serious obstacle to my favorite
sport, and to the pleasure that Mr. Thomas and I had anticipated in
sketching the various kinds of fish peculiar to that region.
Fortunately, a short distance down the river was a fishing encampment
provided with all the necessary appliances for obtaining the fish in
large quantities. Of these we resolved to avail ourselves; but as
several others of our party were equally interested, our leader
despatched a messenger to the fishermen, inviting them to come up the
river with their nets, and fish in our presence. To this they readily
acceded, and soon after made their appearance paddling themselves over
the water in four large canoes laden, among other things, with their
_chinchorros_ or seines, which they at once proceeded to spread across
the stream, covering a deep _charco_ or pool known to contain abundance
of fish. Although the river at this season was very low, owing to the
usual summer drought, pools of considerable depth were left at
intervals, and in these the fish sought refuge in vast numbers from the
season’s heat and from the eager pursuit of the fishermen, of which the
latter sang, while spreading their seines, in the following lines:
Guavina le dijo á Bagre
Vámonos al caramero,
Porque ya viene el verano
Y nos coge el chinchorrero.
As the nets were dragged towards each other, the fish could be seen by
thousands moving within the space embraced by the seines. Indeed, so
numerous were they, that it soon became impossible to pull them in shore
without previously relieving them of a portion of their contents.
Accordingly, some of the men, armed with throw-nets, harpoons, and
_bicheros_--these last large hooks affixed to wooden handles--plunged
into the midst of the finny multitude, and commenced an onslaught on the
largest among them. Presently one of the men came out with a monstrous
fellow of the catfish tribe beautifully striped like a Bengal tiger, and
like him having a thick snout furnished with long barbs. This species is
called the _bagre rayado_ or striped catfish, and is much esteemed by
people of all classes as a substitute for beef during Lent. Large
quantities are salted and sent at that time to the capital and other
cities, where, under the name of _pescado llanero_, it forms one of the
delicacies of the season. Some of these fish attain an enormous size,
measuring five, six, and even seven feet in length, and are so fat that
a single one is a load for two men.
[Illustration]
In diving with the _bichero_, much caution was necessary on the part of
the men lest they should be hooked by their hasty companions in lieu of
the fish. A more important source of anxiety to the divers, was several
dangerous fish among the multitude struggling in the water, such as the
Ray-fish, whose tail is furnished with a sting three inches long, with
which it inflicts a very painful wound; Electric eels, whose touch alone
will paralyze in an instant the muscles of the strongest man; the
Payara, shaped somewhat like a sabre, and equally dangerous. The lower
jaw of this last is furnished with a formidable pair of fangs, not
unlike those of the rattlesnake; with these it inflicts as smooth a gash
as if cut with a razor; and finally, the _caribe_, whose ravenous and
bloodthirsty propensities have caused it to be likened to the cannibal
tribe of Indians, once the terror of those regions, but now scattered
over the towns and villages along the course of the Orinoco. Each time
the nets were hauled in shore, half a dozen or more of these little
pests were to be seen jumping in the crowd, their jaws wide open tearing
whatever came in their way, especially the meshes of the nets, which
they soon rendered useless. Their sharp triangular teeth, arranged in
the same manner as those of the shark, are so strong, that neither
copper, steel, nor twine can withstand them. The sight of any red
substance, blood especially, seems to rouse their sanguinary appetite;
and as they usually go in swarms, it is extremely dangerous for man or
beast to enter the water with even a scratch upon their bodies. Horses
wounded with the spur are particularly exposed to their attacks, and so
rapid is the work of destruction, that unless immediate assistance is
rendered, the fish soon penetrate the abdomen of the animal and
speedily reduce it to a skeleton; hence, doubtless, their appellation of
_mondonguero_--tripe-eater. There are other varieties of the _caribe_ in
the rivers of the Llanos, but none so bold and bloodthirsty as this
glutton of the waters. So abundant is this species in some rivers of the
Apure, that it is a common saying among Llaneros: “there is more
_caribe_ than water.”
[Illustration]
Every feature of this miniature cannibal denotes the ferocity and
sanguinary nature of its tastes. The piercing eye, surrounded by a
bloody-looking ring, is expressive of its cruel and bloodthirsty
disposition. Its under jaw, lined with a thick cartilaginous membrane
which adds greatly to its strength, protrudes considerably beyond the
upper, giving, as this formation of jaw does to all animals possessing
it, likewise an expression of ferocity. Large spots of a brilliant
orange hue cover a great portion of its body, especially the belly,
fins, and tail. Toward the back, it is of a bluish ash color, with a
slight tint of olive green, the intermediate spaces being of a pearly
white, while the gill-covers are tinged with red. The inhabitants being
often compelled to swim across streams infested with them, entertain
more fear of these little creatures than of that world-renowned monster,
the crocodile. This last, although a formidable antagonist in the water,
can be easily avoided and even conquered in single combat by daring men,
while the former, from their diminutive size and greater numbers, can do
more mischief in a short time than a legion of crocodiles.
The other kinds of caribe, although larger in size, are less dangerous
than the preceding, and some even perfectly harmless. Among these, the
black caribe of the Apure and Orinoco rivers is considered dainty
eating. The _caribito_ is also a harmless pretty little fish, with back
of a fine green color, and belly white with occasional streaks of pink.
In spite, however, of all these vicious creatures, and the great depth
of the water, the fishermen accomplished their work in a manner that
would have done credit to the fearless pearl-divers of the ocean, more
especially the swimmers, who are constantly in danger from some of the
fish while gliding through the water in their pursuit. Those in the
canoes were, of course, less liable to be attacked, although it often
happened that a _payara_, being peculiarly adapted for darting out of
the water, would clear the nets with a spring and fall in the midst of
the paddlers, causing a momentary confusion among them. My attention was
particularly attracted to the skill of the men in throwing their hand
nets, sometimes lying on their stomach on the surface of the water,
their hands encumbered with the nets; others would stand perfectly
erect, half their bodies out of water, and without any footing to serve
them as _point d’appui_. In the same manner, those whose business it was
to drive the fish towards the seines, managed their huge batons, and all
apparently without the least inconvenience. Suddenly their labors were
interrupted by a serious obstacle in the shape of a _caiman_ or
alligator struggling hard between the nets to regain his freedom. Here
was a sufficient test of the courage and ability of the fishers. If the
monster remained, he would not only endanger the nets, but also the
progress of the men through the water, they being liable at any moment
to come in contact with his powerful jaws. It was therefore decided to
get rid of the intruder at all hazards. To accomplish this, a lazo was
procured, and to the astonishment of all the _blancos_ present, a man
went down with it to the bottom in search of the monster, with the
avowed object of lazoing him under the water. After a few moments of, to
us, most anxious suspense, but which the hardy fishermen regarded as
child’s play, their companion rose to the surface panting for breath,
not yet having ascertained the precise position of his intended victim.
After inhaling sufficient air, the diver again disappeared, coming up in
due time with the glad tidings that the enemy was captured, in proof
whereof he handed us the other end of the lazo that we might drag him
out. This was no easy task, as these reptiles, by their peculiar
conformation, have immense power while under water, and it required the
united efforts of all on shore to land him. This accomplished, we were
perplexed in what manner to despatch him, as no steel instrument can
penetrate the thick cuirass of the _caiman_, except it be in the
armpits; but so violent were his struggles, that it was impossible to
strike him there. At last the Doctor, more sagacious than the rest of us
in anatomical operations, plunged a harpoon into the nape of the neck.
The effect was that of paralyzing at once the movements of the prisoner,
after which he was easily stabbed.
The manner in which our gallant diver accomplished his daring feat was
thus explained by his companions; the _caiman_, like the domestic hog,
is said to delight in being scratched about the ribs,[23] and of this
the diver perhaps availed himself in order to place the noose around his
neck, being very careful to approach him from behind, as it is a
well-known fact that these reptiles, owing to the nature of their collar
vertebræ, cannot easily turn round. The alligator is not so dangerous as
its congener the crocodile of the Orinoco and its tributaries; few real
crocodiles ever ascend the Guarico as far as San Pablo. However, a case
had occurred here not long before, when a man disappeared under rather
mysterious circumstances, and there was good reason to surmise that his
loss was due to one of these gentry. It appears that the seines, being
entangled around a snag at the bottom of the river, a man was, as usual,
sent to remove the obstruction; considerable time elapsing without his
reappearance, his comrades, seriously alarmed, instituted a diligent
search, but no vestige of the unfortunate man was ever discovered. It
never occurred to his friends that he might have fallen a prey to a
crocodile, and the calamity was universally ascribed to the supernatural
influence of some evil genii of the deep. From that time, the spot has
borne the ominous name of the _Encantado_ or haunted pool.
All obstructions to the progress of the nets were at length removed, and
a sufficient quantity of fish having been taken therefrom, we all
assisted in pulling them in, and a few moments afterwards had the
satisfaction of beholding the sand banks on which we were, strewn with
the proceeds of the two seines.
It would be impossible to convey an adequate idea of the singular forms
and brilliant hues of most of these fish, all new to me. The _Cherna_,
in particular, attracted my attention from their abundance and peculiar
formation. Some attain a large size, weighing as much as a hundred
pounds, and their flesh is so delicate as to deserve the appellation of
river veal. The mouth is comparatively small, and set with a row of
teeth bearing a strong resemblance to those of the human species.
The fishing having been solely for our amusement, and more game obtained
than we required for our consumption, some was distributed among the
people of the neighborhood who had collected to witness the sport, and
the remainder given to the fishermen, who received besides a handsome
compensation for their trouble in coming so far from their encampment.
During the distribution of the fish, a singular incident took place
which illustrates at once the tenacity of life with which reptiles are
endowed, and the electrical powers of that most singular creature, the
gymnotus or electric eel. A boy had discovered one of these among the
heap of fish on the beach, and was dragging it along by means of a
_bichero_ to avoid the shocks, when the body of the eel came
accidentally in contact with the carcass of the _caiman_. This last,
which, after the rough treatment it had received from our medical
adviser, was supposed to be quite dead, much to the surprise of all,
opened his huge jaws and closed them with a loud crash. The Doctor,
especially, who, from his professional knowledge in surgical operations,
had pronounced it beyond recovery, was the loudest in his expressions of
astonishment at this unexpected turn. It was, however, merely a
convulsive movement, induced by contact with the eel, and similar to
that produced on the limbs of a frog by a galvanic current; for,
afterward, the reptile remained without further signs of returning life.
Science will, ere long, take advantage of the electric eel.
[Illustration]
I would here most willingly entertain my readers with an account of the
nature and habits of these “animal electrical machines,” had not the
great Humboldt already elucidated the subject in the most comprehensive
and brilliant manner. To his admirable works I will therefore refer the
reader for a full and graphic description of this, one of the most
curious of fish. It was in one of the numerous tributary creeks of this
river, that the distinguished traveller procured the gymnoti for his
experiments; perhaps from amongst the progenitors of the above
mentioned. The manner in which they were obtained differed somewhat,
however, from the one adopted by us on this occasion. Knowing how
difficult it was to catch these eels on account of their extreme agility
and powerful electrical discharges, the guides collected in the savannas
a drove of wild horses, which they forced into a pool of water abounding
in gymnoti. “The extraordinary noise caused by the horses’ hoofs makes
the fish issue from the mud and excites them to attack. The yellowish
and livid eels, resembling large aquatic serpents, swim on the surface
of the water and crowd under the bellies of the horses and mules. A
contest between animals of so different an organization presents a very
striking spectacle. The Indians, provided with harpoons and long slender
reeds, surround the pool closely, and some climb up the trees, the
branches of which extend horizontally over the surface of the water. By
their wild cries, and the length of their reeds, they prevent the horses
from running away and reaching the bank of the pool. The eels, stunned
by the noise, defend themselves by the repeated discharge of their
electric batteries. For a long interval they seem likely to prove
victorious. Several horses sink beneath the violence of the invisible
strokes which they receive from all sides in organs the most essential
to life; and stunned by the force and frequency of the shocks, they
disappear under water.”
“I wish,” adds the traveller, “that a clever artist could have depicted
the most animated period of the attack; the group of Indians surrounding
the pond, the horses with their manes erect and eyeballs wild with pain
and fright, striving to escape from the electric storm which they had
roused, and driven back by the shouts and long whips of the excited
Indians; the livid yellow eels, like great water snakes, swimming near
the surface and pursuing their enemy; all these objects presented a most
picturesque and exciting ‘ensemble.’ In less than five minutes two
horses were killed; the eel, being more than five feet in length, glides
beneath the body of the horse and discharges the whole length of its
electric organ. It attacks, at the same time, the heart, the digestive
viscera, and the cœliac fold of the abdominal nerves. I thought the
scene would have a tragic termination, and expected to see most of the
quadrupeds killed; but the Indians assured me that the fishing would
soon be finished, and that only the first attack of the gymnoti was
really formidable. In fact, after the conflict had lasted a quarter of
an hour, the mules and horses appeared less alarmed; they no longer
erected their manes, and their eyes expressed less pain and terror. One
no longer saw them struck down in the water, and the eels, instead of
swimming to the attack, retreated from their assailants and approached
the shore. The Indians now began to use their missiles; and by means of
the long cord attached to the harpoon, jerked the fish out of the water
without receiving any shock so long as the cord was dry.”
The electric eel, although much dreaded by man, is greatly esteemed by
gourmands. It is necessary, however, to deprive the fish of those parts
constituting the electrical apparatus, which are rather spongy and
unpalatable. So perfect a machine is this curious organ, that Faraday
succeeded--by insulation of the animal electricity and a most ingenious
apparatus devised by him--in obtaining a spark with which he ignited a
spoonful of gunpowder. But there are several varieties of the fish which
do not possess this peculiarity.
Among the promiscuous assemblage of fish scattered on the sand beach,
ready to transfix the hand that might inadvertently touch them, were
many sting-rays. This species, like its prototype the famous Manta-fish
of the Caribbean Sea, is quite circular and flat, with a tail over a
foot in length, very thick at the base and tapering towards the end.
Near the middle on the upper part, it is armed with a long and
sharp-pointed bone or sting, finely serrated on two sides, which the
fish can raise or lay flat at will. When disturbed, the ray, by a quick
movement of the tail, directs its sting towards the object, which it
seldom fails to reach. The wound thus inflicted is so severe, that the
whole nervous system is convulsed, the person becoming rigid and
benumbed in a few moments. Even long after the violent effects of the
wound have subsided, the part affected retains a sluggish ulceration,
which has in many instances baffled the skill of the best surgeons. Some
creeks and lagoons of stagnant water are so infested with them, that it
is almost certain destruction to venture into them. They usually
frequent the shallow banks of muddy pools, where they may be seen at all
times watching for prey; and, as if conscious of their powers, scarcely
deign to move off when approached by man. They, also, are considered
good eating, on which account they frequently fall a prey to hungry boys
and vultures, who wage constant war upon them with spear and talon.
* * * * *
Mr. Thomas and I had plenty of occupation in sketching the various
specimens before us; but the speedy approach of night compelled us to
relinquish our agreeable pastime; thus many curious fish which we would
have liked to preserve, had to be consigned to the frying-pan instead of
to our portfolios.
In the mean time our able cook, Mónico, and half a dozen of Llanero
assistants--all of whom are more or less accomplished in the art of
cooking in their own peculiar style--were busily engaged throughout the
afternoon preparing the spoils of the day for our supper. A fat calf was
also killed in honor of the occasion, and roasted before a blazing fire
under the trees. The Llaneros are quite skilled in roasting an ox or
calf, which they divide in sections according to the flavor of each
particular morceau. These they string upon long wooden spits, and keep
them turning before the fire until sufficiently cooked. The ribs of the
animal, taken out entire, usually form the most favorite morsel; but I
would recommend to future travellers in that country the _entreverado_,
made up of the animal’s entrails, such as the liver, heart, lungs, and
kidneys, cut into pieces of convenient size and spitted; then enveloped
in the fat mesenteric membrane of the animal, and cooked in its own
juices.
In addition to this abundant supply of _carne asada_, we had fish in
every style, smoked, broiled, _en sancocho_, (bouilli,) &c., with plenty
of bread prepared by the wife and daughters of our equerry. Just as
every one had eaten, as he supposed, his fill, one of our assistants
made his appearance bending under the weight of a boiling caldron
containing a rich bouilli of cherna heads, and urged us to partake of
his humble fare. Although this was rather reversing the order of
courses, we were finally prevailed upon to _taste_ the soup he had
prepared with so much care for us; and no sooner was the rich broth
tasted by our epicurean party, than it was forthwith devoured with
unimpaired appetites; but my enjoyment of the broth was somewhat spoiled
by coming in contact with a row of omniverous-looking teeth, which so
reminded me of a human skull, that I was constrained to throw my portion
away, although I must confess that I never tasted soup superior to it.
CHAPTER VI.
WILD HORSES.
The fishing over, the main object of our expedition to La Yegüera was
next attended to, namely, that of adding to our _madrina_ of
supernumerary horses from the abundant stock of this farm. An entire day
was passed in riding through its enchanting groves and meadows,
inspecting the numerous droves of mares, guarded by their proud
_padrotes_ or stallions. Each troop is under the control of one of
these, who not only prevent their mingling with other packs, but
endeavor also to appropriate all the other mares they can kidnap from
their neighbors. The conquest, however, is not obtained without a
determined resistance from their rightful lords, which occasions fierce
combats between the rivals. When any stranger approaches, the whole
troop boldly advances towards the object of their alarm, neighing,
snorting, and throwing their slim and beautiful forms into the most
graceful attitudes. When at the distance of a hundred paces, they all
halt, and five or six scouts are detached from the main body to
reconnoitre. These approach still nearer, and stretching their necks
and ears, seem, with wild glance and cautious movement, to inquire from
the stranger the object of this intrusion, while, in the mean time, the
stallion keeps the whole troop in readiness for retreat in case of
pursuit. When this last occurs, the scouts hastily incorporate
themselves with the main body, while the stallion orders the retreat as
skilfully as a good general might under similar circumstances, stopping
occasionally to watch the enemy’s movements, but never resuming the lead
until the troop is out of danger. When thus wildly coursing over the
prairies in packs of one or two hundred, headed by their respective
stallions, inspired, as it were, by the freedom of the plain, nothing
can surpass their magnificent appearance, nor the proud air of liberty
with which they snuff the passing breeze. We one day brought to the
Ranch a large drove, from which we selected those required for the
expedition. This occupied the men for a couple of days, as it was
discovered that most of the animals were in bad condition from burrs and
_garrapatas_, another destructive insect peculiar to those places, of
the size and shape of a bed-bug, and very distressing to animals. It
adheres with such tenacity to the skin of the poor brutes, that it
requires to be pulled by hand in order to detach it; if left
undisturbed, it will suck the blood until its body becomes distended to
many times the natural size. It attacks all kinds of animals, but more
especially horses: these last suffer in consequence, from malignant
sores about their ears, which soon wither and drop off.
The horses were so wild that they had to be broken in before they could
be of any service. This operation--which might as well be termed
breaking down horses, as a great number are ruined by it--affords the
Llaneros a fine opportunity for testing their ability in coping with
this, the most spirited animal in the world. It is also undoubtedly one
of the most difficult performances on cattle-farms, requiring strong
nerve and great skill on the part of the rider to withstand the kicks
and plunges of the animal and retain his seat. The method practised in
the Llanos differs but little from that of the Pampas of Buenos Ayres,
so ably described by Sir Francis Head, Darwin, and other eminent
writers. I will quote some passages from the first of these authors
respecting this divertisement among the Gauchos; their method I
specially commend to the numerous disciples of the renowned Rarey, who
has so astonished the Old World and the New with his wonderful skill in
horse-taming.
“The corral was quite full of horses, most of which were young ones,
about three and four years old. The capataz, mounted on a strong, steady
horse, rode into the corral, and threw his lazo over the neck of a young
horse, and dragged him to the gate. For some time he was very unwilling
to leave his comrades, but the moment he was forced out of the corral,
his first idea was to gallop away; however, the jerk of the lazo checked
him in a most effectual manner. The peons now ran after him on foot, and
threw the lazo over his four legs, just above the fetlocks, and
twitching it, they pulled his legs from under him so suddenly, that I
really thought the fall he got had killed him. In an instant a Gaucho
was seated upon his head, and with his long knife, in a few seconds he
cut off the whole of the horse’s mane, while another cut the hair from
the end of his tail. This they told me is a mark that the horse has been
once mounted. They then put a piece of hide into his mouth to serve as a
bit, and a strong hide-halter on his head. The Gaucho who was to mount,
arranged his spurs, which were unusually long and sharp, and while two
men held the animal by his ears, he put on the saddle, which he girthed
extremely tight; he then caught hold of the horse’s ear and in an
instant vaulted into the saddle; upon which the man who was holding the
horse by the halter, threw the end of it to the rider, and from that
moment no one seemed to take any further notice of him. The horse
instantly began to jump in a manner which made it very difficult for the
rider to keep his seat, and quite different from the kick or plunge of
an English horse; however, the Gaucho’s spur soon set him going, and off
he galloped, doing every thing in his power to throw his rider. Another
horse was immediately brought from the corral, and so quick was the
operation, that twelve Gauchos were mounted in a space which, I think,
hardly exceeded an hour.”
“It was singular to see the different manner in which the different
horses behaved. Some would actually scream while the Gauchos were
girthing the saddle upon their backs; some would instantly lie down and
roll over it; while some would stand without being held, their legs
stiff and in unnatural directions, their necks half bent towards their
tails, and looking so vicious and sulky, that I could not help thinking
I could not have mounted one of them for any reward that could be
offered me; and they were invariably the most difficult to subdue.”
By repeating this treatment a number of times, and a sound thrashing
with the _chaparro_ whenever they prove refractory, the riders finally
succeed in conquering the indomitable spirit of their steeds, although
they long retain a vicious propensity to occasionally practise their old
tricks, either by throwing themselves backwards upon their riders, or
suddenly plunging headlong at a furious rate. Another dangerous habit is
that of whirling rapidly, when least expected, in an opposite direction
to the one intended by the rider, who, unless very expert, is unseated
and liable to have his neck broken. But, when these horses are at length
thoroughly broken in, there are few in the world capable of performing
their duty so well as those trained in the Llanos of Venezuela.
My allusion on a former page to the renowned Rarey, recalls to my memory
the name of Santos Nieves, a famous picador of San Pablo, whose
ingenious mode of entrapping horses appears to have been formed on the
same principle as that which has characterized Mr. Rarey’s method.
Instead of dashing after the droves, with lazo in hand, and wild shouts,
as is usual when the capture of one or more horses is intended, Santos
Nieves made use of every precaution to avoid giving these shy creatures
the least alarm; and so successfully were all his expeditions executed,
that he achieved for himself the tremendous reputation of being a
horse-witch. His plan was, however, the simplest possible. If the object
was to capture only a single animal--which feat is peculiarly difficult
to accomplish in woody places especially--he made preparations as if for
a long journey, previous to seeking the haunts of his intended captive.
Having sojourned in San Pablo for over half a century, he was thoroughly
acquainted with all their accustomed places of resort. The first impulse
of the animal on finding himself followed, was to scamper off; but the
patient picador, instead of hurrying in pursuit, quietly remained on the
same spot, watching and waiting the next move of the animal. Presently
the horse, seeing he was not pursued, would conclude to return and
reconnoitre the object of his alarm. Satisfied from the quiet attitude
of the man, that nothing need be feared from him, the horse resumed his
brousing near by. Again the man cautiously and slowly advances, until
perceived anew by the horse, who, as before, beats a rapid retreat.
Impelled by curiosity, he returned for the third time; again inspects
the picador, who remains motionless as before, upon seeing which, the
animal concludes he may safely continue his meal. These manœuvrings,
again and again repeated, usually occupied an entire day, towards the
close of which, if the horse were not very scary, the picador, with
cautious approach and gentle words, succeeded in placing the halter
around his neck. The extreme coyness, however, of most of these animals,
frequently compelled Santos Nieves to camp out for the night and resume
his pursuit, not only the following morning, but, if necessary, for
three or more consecutive days, at the end of which he always returned
in triumph with his captive to the farm.
The relative value of these horses depends principally on their form,
color, and gait. The Llaneros are quite skilful in teaching them a
variety of paces and evolutions, which are as essential to their
hazardous occupations, as is the helm to the mariner. For war purposes,
they are especially invaluable, as was practically demonstrated in the
long struggle with the Spaniards, who not being equally expert in the
management of their steeds, were, in consequence, often at the mercy of
their antagonists. A good charger must be endowed with an easy mouth,
good wind, and quick movement to either side, so that when pursued by an
enemy, he can be made to whirl suddenly to the attack if necessary. The
same rule applies to those used in chasing wild animals, especially
bulls, which, when hotly pursued, often face about and charge their
assailants.
It is equally indispensable in warm climates, that a horse should
possess an easy gait for travelling. In this respect, they are trained
to the particular fancy or requirements of the rider. Some prefer a
gentle trot on a long journey, as being the least fatiguing to the
horse; but, for city riding, or short journeys, an amble, rack, or
_pasitrote_--something between both--is usually adopted. The test of a
good pacing horse consists in “the rider being able to carry a glass of
water in his hand without spilling,” while that of a first-rate charger
is to stop, when at the height of his speed, on the slightest pull of
the bridle.
Great regard is also paid to the color of horses; piebald, cream, and
the various shades of white, are usually preferred. But, where great
endurance and strength are requisite, connoisseurs generally select
those of a darker color. Their price in the country is greatly enhanced
of late in consequence of a devastating disease, which has been raging
among them for several years past. Horses were so plentiful in the
Llanos at one time, that a large export trade in their hides was carried
on with foreign countries. A good horse, which then only brought five
dollars, now costs from eighty to one hundred, and even more, according
to the fancy of the parties interested.--Great numbers of the
inhabitants were also carried away by the same scourge, which swept over
the land like the cholera, not even sparing the fish in the rivers.
This frightful epidemic, which the Llaneros have appropriately styled
_Peste_, or plague, is supposed to have originated in the great primeval
forest of San Camilo, at the head waters of the Apure, from
decomposition of the vegetable detritus accumulated there during
centuries. From thence, travelling eastward along the course of the
river, the epidemic continued its ravages among the inhabitants of the
towns and villages situated on the right bank, attacking first one place
and then another, until the whole province scarcely escaped
depopulation. Even when the mortality abated, the country, which until
then had possessed a most healthful climate, never recovered its former
salubrity; fevers of a more or less dangerous character prevail from
that time, especially towards the end of the rainy season, while the
raising of horses has been entirely abandoned in consequence.
The first symptoms of the epidemic appeared among the crocodiles, whose
hideous carcasses might then be seen floating down the stream in such
prodigious numbers, that both the waters and air of that fine region
were tainted with their effluvium. It was observed that they were first
seized with a violent fit of coughing, followed by a black vomit which
compelled them to quit their watery home, and finally find a grave
amongst the thickets on the river banks. The disease next attacked the
fish and other inhabitants of the water, with equal violence, until it
was feared the streams would be depopulated. The fearful mortality among
them can be better estimated from the fact that, for more than a month,
the rippling waves of that noble river, the Apure, were constantly
washing down masses of putrefaction, its placid surface being by them
actually hidden from view for several weeks.
The next victims were the pachidermata of the swamps, and it was a
pitiable sight to see the sluggish _chigüires_ (capyvaras) and the
grizzly wild-boars dragging their paralyzed hind-quarters after them;
hence the name of _derrengadera_, applied to this disease.
Not even monkeys in their aërial retreats, escaped the contagion, and
their melancholy cries resounded day and night through the woods like
wailings of the eternally lost.
It is a singular fact, that while the scourge did not spare any of the
countless droves of horses roaming the savannas of the Apure, and
adjacent plains, donkeys and horned cattle were seldom, if ever,
attacked, so that, by their aid, the owners of cattle-farms were enabled
to prevent the entire dispersion of their herds.
A curious incident related in connection with this public calamity, is
very current in the Llanos, respecting the origin of the disease among
horses. Eugenio Torralva, a man of uncommon industry, although of humble
extraction, had accumulated quite a handsome fortune by the raising of
cattle, on the borders of La Portuguesa; but his chief wealth consisted
in horses, on which he greatly prided himself--so much so that, on one
occasion, while a distinguished personage was passing through his
estate, Torralva directed his attention to the numerous droves grazing
in the plains; then turning to his guest, who appeared equally delighted
with the sight, said to him, “Think you, General, that I shall ever be
in want of horses? _Ni que Dios quiera!_ (Not even if God Almighty
wished it!)” he blasphemously added. Two years later, the witness to
this impious boast was again on his way to the Llanos: near San Juan he
met an old man, apparently in a very destitute condition, riding a
donkey. Not knowing who the wayfarer was, he bowed, as is customary, and
rode on without taking further notice of the old man or his uncouth
equipment; whereupon the stranger, waving his hand to him, cried, “Why,
General, have you already forgotten your friend Torralva?” He that
“giveth and taketh away” had deprived him of every horse, and the once
wealthy farmer was now compelled to travel on an ass. It is asserted by
the Llaneros that soon after he uttered the above-mentioned blasphemy,
the _Peste_ broke out among his immense stock, from whence they say the
disease spread to other farms, until the contagion became general.
It is not a little singular that although the horse was unknown to the
aborigines of America, at the time of its conquest, the researches of
Darwin and other eminent geologists have shown them to have existed in
vast numbers on that continent contemporaneously with the Mastodon,
Megatherium, Mylodon, and other extinct animals. “Certainly, it is a
marvellous fact, in the history of mammalia,” observes that assiduous
explorer, “that in South America a native horse should have lived and
disappeared, to be succeeded, in after ages, by the countless herds
descended from the few introduced by the Spanish colonists!”
In general these animals are of middling size, and, like their
progenitor, the Andalusian horse, endowed with a fiery spirit, (if not
checked by ill-treatment or abuse,) and surprising endurance, especially
during the exciting chase of wild cattle, when they are kept in constant
motion for many consecutive days.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VII.
ACROSS THE PAMPAS.
Early in the morning of the fifth day, we left the Ranch at La Yegüera
to journey southward, followed by our long train of baggage mules and
relay horses, our good-natured host and keeper, Agapito, escorting us
for some distance in the double capacity of guide and entertainer.
Without his assistance it would have been difficult for us to proceed on
our journey, which lay across a rolling prairie, covered in some places
by magnificent groves of tall timber trees and a vast multitude of
slender, towering palms, which, by the glimmering light of the stars,
appeared like a mighty fleet of ships guarding the entrance to some
giant harbor. Although the morning was dark, and there was properly
speaking no road, but only a beaten track branching off in all
directions, our guide, who knew every inch of the ground, led us on
without once turning to the right or left, merrily chanting some of the
lively ballads of the Llanos. Occasionally he was joined by other bards
equally distinguished for their powers of voice and versification, thus
producing very animated choruses of a character peculiarly wild.
As the sun rose in the horizon, we came upon another extensive plateau,
the Mesa del Rastro, stretching for several miles, unbroken by a single
tree or shrub, but alive with numberless herds of cattle roaming in all
directions, while flocks of birds of every plumage, all new to me, flew
affrighted at our approach, filling the air with their wild, peculiar
cries. Among these, the Taro-taro, a large bird of the Ibis tribe, which
derives its name from its bell-like notes, and the Carretero or carter,
a beautiful species of goose with variegated plumage and crimson bill,
particularly attracted my attention. The latter is named from the
rumbling noise it makes when on the wing, similar in sound to the
rumbling of cartwheels on hard ground.
Continuing our march over this seemingly interminable plain, we at
length descried in the horizon the village of El Rastro, where we
purposed breakfasting and spending the hottest part of the day. We were
cordially received and entertained at the house of Señor Llovera, a
wealthy neighbor of ours, whose lands extended from the southern
boundary of San Pablo to this village.
El Rastro is noted for the beauty and fresh complexion of the women, in
spite of an ardent climate; and the males for their singular propensity
to abstract the hair from the manes and tails of horses stopping at
their village. This they often practise under the very noses of the
unfortunate owners, for the purpose of converting it into halters for
their own steeds. Thus many a fine animal, which is supposed to be
securely quartered for the night, is found next morning so shamefully
disfigured that he can scarcely be recognized by his owner, who swears
by all the saints in the calendar to take summary vengeance on the first
_rastrero_[24] who may chance to cross his path. Fortunately we had no
cause of complaint, as our droves were constantly under the
_surveillance_ of a dozen or more vigilant keepers, perfectly _au fait_
to the peculiar taste of that community.
The beautiful complexion of the women is the more extraordinary from the
fact that this village, which stands on the southern edge of the
plateau, is entirely exposed to the glare of a tropical sun, and the hot
breezes of the east. I nowhere met during my journey, such rosy cheeks
and sparkling eyes as in this miserable hamlet. I could almost fancy
them the fairies of the wilderness, bewitching the unsuspecting
traveller, while their perfidious helpmates practise their rascally
tricks.
These high terraces possess the advantage of being free from those
noxious exhalations which render the plains below so unhealthy at
certain seasons. Owing to the nature of the soil, mostly composed of a
loose conglomerate or shingle, no permanent deposits of stagnant water
are formed, endangering the health of the inhabitants, who are often
blessed with a “green old age” and the possession of unimpaired mental
and bodily faculties. Many are the instances where men attaining
seventy and eighty years are still able to take part in the hardy
ventures of the country along with their more youthful companions. Among
our own party we had several individuals of this class who, after
experiencing all the vicissitudes of a destructive war, had seen many a
hot summer roll by, and camped out amidst the drenching showers of the
rainy season, without any material change in their physique. Of these
were Santos Nieves, the horse tamer, whose only food consisted of jerked
beef, cheese, and _papelon_, upon which he had thrived admirably up to
the age of seventy; Crisóstomo, the negro major domo of San Pablo, who
had lost all recollection of his earlier days; Conrado, the horse
driver, whose age and experience in conducting our refractory _madrinas_
had entitled him to the revered appelation of _taita_ or father. But the
most extraordinary instance of longevity which has come to my ears, is
in the Monagas family, also hailing from those regions, the age and
number of whose members seriously alarmed the republic at one time; for
the multitude of their rapacious demands appeared endless. The patriarch
of the family is said to have attained the moderate age of one hundred
and twenty years, yet was able to scour the savannas on horseback after
the cattle up to the time of his death. The memorable José Tadeo, the
late Dictator and tyrant of the republic, is yet in his prime at the age
of seventy-nine, while his brothers Gregorio and José Francisco, whose
vandalic career of plunder and assassination was--happily for the
country that gave them birth--cut off by a late revolution, did not
show the least signs of unabated vigor at the time of their death,
although one of them was considerably older than Tadeo. And last, though
not least, the renowned zambo general, Sotillo, the pet bull-dog of the
family, to which, however, he bears no other relationship than that
existing among rogues of the same stamp: although then in his eightieth
year, he was able to carry on a successful partisan warfare against the
existing government. Without a roof to shelter him, and no other
equipment of war than the lance and horse, this savage chieftain, for
such he is by birth and education, has set at defiance all the forces
sent in his pursuit, and nearly brought the country to the verge of
barbarism in his strivings to uphold the iniquitous claims of this
rapacious family. Fierce in looks and menacing in tone, with a head more
like a polar bear than a South American savage, he has become for a long
time the terror of the eastern provinces, which are in constant dread of
his sudden attacks--now cutting off small detachments of troops and
defenceless individuals, now retreating to his fastness amidst the arid
plains of the Alto Llano at the approach of a superior force. He has
even succeeded in defeating such on two or three occasions by his
cunning manœuvring and the rapidity of his movements. During half a
century, his favorite occupation has been hunting wild cattle and waging
a guerilla warfare against society, which too often has been compelled
to yield to the savage demands of this Bedouin of the Llanos.
* * * * *
Having partaken of a substantial breakfast, we bade adieu to our kind
host, and again betook ourselves to our long and weary journey across
the Pampas. Descending to the plain, stretching for a thousand miles to
the foot of the Bolivian Andes, we at once entered into an entirely
different country, showing unmistakable proofs of a diluvial origin. The
soil, mostly a mixture of clay and sand, no longer offended the feet of
our horses with those extensive beds of pebbles so trying to the poor
beasts. The vegetation, also, whenever favored by some accident of the
ground, showed a marked difference in character. The thorny mimosas,
which only thrive in a gravelly soil, here disappeared altogether, and
were replaced by dense groves of laurel and other balsamiferous trees.
The Copernicia palms, so extensively used for thatching and other
economic purposes, re-appeared at first in a few scattered clumps, and
afterwards in countless multitudes, literally closing the perspective
with their tall, slender trunks. This beautiful palm is known in the
country under various names, according to the uses made of its separate
parts. These are almost as numerous as the leaves of its dense,
symmetrical foliage. Thus, by the rural architect of the Llanos, it is
called _palma de cobija_--thatch palm. When its leaves are plaited and
neatly braided into hats that never wear out, it bears the name _palma
de sombrero_; and when the same are employed in driving off the myriads
of flies that infest the premises, or in fanning the heated dweller in
those regions, it is called _palma abanico_; and so on through a long
catalogue.
A house thatched with this palm is not only impervious to the pouring
showers of the tropics, but against fire also, as it is nearly
incombustible: a hot coal dropped on it will only burn slowly where it
falls, without spreading or raising any flame. It is, moreover, very
durable and cool throughout the hottest months. All the fences and
corrals of the region where it abounds are made of the entire trunks of
this palm, while the cattle find a grateful shelter under its dense
shade. The slowness of its growth, observable even after centuries have
elapsed, is another curious peculiarity of this palm. When Europeans
first penetrated this wild region, they found extensive tracks covered
with low, apparently stunted plants, a few inches only above ground.
According to the recollection of the oldest inhabitants, of whom there
are many in the country, as I have already stated, these dwarfish palm
forests have not altered very perceptibly during their lives. It must
therefore have taken a full-grown plant thousands of years to attain the
height of twenty feet, which is their average size.
Emerging from these extensive _palmares_--palm forests--we again found
ourselves in the midst of the boundless plain, assuming here as desolate
an aspect as if fire had passed over its entire surface, a dreary waste
of dried-up swamps, parched by the burning sun. Dismal tracts of these
_terroneros_, as they are termed, lay before us, having the appearance
of an extensive honey-comb, over which our jaded beasts stumbled at
every step, increasing our weariness to a state almost bordering on
desperation. The action of the rains washing the earth from around the
grass tufts, which are afterwards parched and hardened by the heat of
the sun, leaves the surface of the ground covered with numerous little
clumps of indurated clay, so closely packed that there was no footing
for the animals.
Even the cattle seemed to have forsaken this inhospitable region, for,
with the exception of a few stragglers, there were no signs of
animation. Most of the cattle are transferred at this season to the
fertile shores of the Apure and Portuguesa; or they abandon of their own
accord these dreary wastes for well-known streams where they allay their
thirst. Ours was intense on this occasion, while the tantalizing mirage,
that singular atmospheric phenomenon so peculiar to arid deserts,
haunted us incessantly with its rippling, vapory phantom, a feeling in
which our poor beasts seemed to participate, as with outstretched necks
and ears they snuffed in vain the far horizon in search of the reviving
element. By an unpardonable oversight, our men had neglected to fill
their gourds with water, and now we felt the want of it.
These scenes have been described so graphically by the eloquent pen of
Humboldt, in his “Tableaux de la Nature,” that I will not attempt it
further, but refer my reader to the following:
“When under the vertical rays of the never-clouded sun, the carbonized
tufty covering falls into dust, the indurated soil cracks asunder as if
from the shock of an earthquake. If at such times two opposing currents
of air, whose conflicts produce a rotary motion, come in contact with
the soil, the plain assumes a strange and singular aspect. Like
conical-shaped clouds, the points of which descend to the earth, the
sand rises through the rarified air in the electrically charged centre
of the whirling current, resembling the loud waterspout dreaded by the
experienced mariner. The lowering sky sheds a dim, almost straw-colored
light on the desolate plain; the horizon draws suddenly near; the steppe
seems to contract, and with it the heart of the wanderer. The hot, dusty
particles which fill the air, increase its suffocating heat, and the
east wind blowing over the long-heated soil brings with it no
refreshment, but rather a still more burning glow. The pools, which the
yellow, fading branches of the fan palm had protected from evaporation,
now gradually disappear. As in the icy north the animals become torpid
with cold, so here, under the influence of the parching drought, the
crocodile and the boa become motionless and fall asleep, deeply buried
in the dry mud. Everywhere the death-threatening drought prevails, and
yet, by the play of the refracted rays of light producing the phenomenon
of the mirage, the thirsty traveller is everywhere pursued by the
illusive image of a cool, rippling, watery mirror. The distant palm
bush, apparently raised by the influence of the contact of unequally
heated, and therefore unequally dense strata of air, hovers above the
ground, from which it is separated by a narrow intervening margin.”
Indeed, so perfect was this illusion of the mirage, that on one occasion
Mr. Thomas and myself were entirely deceived by the appearance of a
beautiful lake which we prepared to sketch. But what was our surprise
when, on climbing a tree to obtain a better view, the phantom
disappeared as if by magic! This occurs whenever the spectator places
himself above the line of the natural horizon.
At length we reached a solitary pool of muddy water in the midst of the
savanna, which was hailed with joy by man and beast; but, on nearer
inspection, the thirsty travellers were seized with disgust and
disappointment on seeing several dead and dying animals embedded in the
mud. These quagmires form extensive barriers in some places, especially
in dried-up creeks where hundreds of animals perish every year, being
unable to extricate themselves from the adhesive quality of the clay. At
our approach two hideous alligators rushed into the pond, and thus the
scanty portion that had not been disturbed by the tramping of animals
was in a moment thickened like the rest. However, there being no other
alternative, we were compelled to follow the example of our sturdy
Llaneros, who proceeded without much consideration to dip their
calabashes into that species of mud soup; then covering the mouths of
the _totumas_ with our handkerchiefs, we sucked through them this
miserable substitute for water.
About noon we descried a speck in the horizon, looking like a sail at
sea. Increasing in size as we neared it, it soon appeared to be a
solitary mound or promontory; by degrees it assumed more distinctness,
finally presenting to our view all the luxuriance of tropical
vegetation. This was the Mata de San Pedro, a sort of island grove of
splendid forest trees, which, like a veritable oasis, stood in the midst
of those desert plains, a relief to the parched and wayworn traveller.
_Mata_ is the name by which the natives designate these lovely gems of
the Pampas, no less cherished than are those of the famed African Desert
by the wearied caravan; like them, they receive appropriate names from
some peculiarity of feature or other trivial cause, as Mata Gorda, Mata
Redonda, &c. But whatever be the name, all hail with joy these verdant
bowers, a cool retreat to every species of animal in summer, and a safe
refuge during the season of floods, for, being somewhat higher than the
surrounding country, they are rarely overflowed by the periodical
inundations.
* * * * *
It was entirely dark on our arrival at the Mata, and we were then so
weary that there was little inclination evinced to make any preparations
for supper, and we were also greatly in need of water. Although the
earth was parched by the long drought, Providence has placed a few feet
below the surface an unlimited supply of the purest water. This can be
obtained at any time by merely digging for it with a wooden pole
sharpened at one end. In the present instance we were spared this
trouble, as some of our people, well acquainted with the place, knew
where one of these primitive wells could be found. Our first business,
therefore, was to seek for the _jagüey_ in spite of the deadly
rattlesnakes said to abound there. From this we obtained sufficient
water for ourselves and riding horses, the other animals being left to
shift for themselves, always under the close vigilance, however, of the
watchmen appointed for the night. These men had a hard task: apart from
the fatigue of keeping awake and on horseback all night, they were in
constant fear of a sudden stampede among the horses, which not
unfrequently occurs. To provide against a contretemps of the sort, those
in immediate use were secured nightly by straps attached to the feet,
which prevented their straying far from the camp.
We rose very early, judging from the height of the _Lucero_ or morning
star--which in those solitudes takes the place of town clock--whose
brilliancy almost equals that of the full moon. I nowhere recollect
having seen this gorgeous luminary of morning shed such radiant streams
of light as in the ever-cloudless sky of the Llanos during the summer
months. In equal proportion all the other heavenly bodies seem there to
vie with each other in heightening the splendor of that glorious
firmament, cheering the heart of the wanderer who finds himself, like
the mariner on the high seas, encompassed only by the vault of heaven,
whose glowing lamps were then our unerring guide towards the south,
enabling us to dispense with compass or any landmarks by which to direct
our course. Towards evening, we deviated a little from it, hoping to
reach a cattle-farm, intending to pass the night there; but our horses
being almost exhausted from the roughness of the ground, compelled us to
stop by the banks of a treeless creek abounding in alligators; this we
knew by the strong odor of musk which pervaded the air. In spite of
their proximity, which made me start more than once in my dreams, we
slept soundly in our ponchos on the hard ground, for want of trees from
which to sling our hammocks. This lack of firewood compelled us also
[Illustration: A PRAIRIE ON FIRE.]
to go supperless that night and without breakfast next morning. After a
long search we finally succeeded in collecting a handful of drift wood
along the banks of the creek, enabling Mónico to make us a stimulating
cup of coffee in which to “drown our sorrows.”
Midday brought us to the cattle-farm we were in quest of, when immediate
preparations were made for an ample meal, which should compensate us for
previous privations. The overseer informed us that not far from the
house was a herd of cattle bearing our brand. Thither we despatched two
men in search of the fattest among them. In a short time they returned
with a fine cow, which was speedily slaughtered and spitted before a
blazing fire kindled under three stupendous mimosa trees bearing flat,
kidney-shaped legumes or pods six inches in circumference. Our hunger
appeased, we spread our ponchos under the shade of these giants of the
vegetable world, and slept until noon, when we were again in our saddles
prosecuting the journey through a less monotonous landscape. The plain,
although still preserving the same rough character, was diversified with
groves of other leguminous trees, (Cañafistulos,) the pods of which were
nearly three feet in length, and contain a black pulp valuable as a
cathartic.
Towards evening we were gratified by seeing, for the first time, that
splendid spectacle, a prairie on fire. The grass, parched with the
burning sun, is purposely fired by the natives to promote the growth of
the new crop, which last, owing to the heavy dews, starts long before
the rainy season sets in. The conflagration extended for more than
three miles, the strong evening breeze driving it onward in curling
fiery billows. Volumes of smoke loaded with burning particles of grass,
ascended in clouds, increasing the grandeur and beauty of the scene by
their various tints of red, pink, and purple, diffused throughout the
atmosphere. Aided by this illumination, we were enabled to discover a
solitary ranch, where we tarried the remainder of the night, although
there was nothing to be had there in the shape of edibles. Fortunately
one of our party had shot a number of wild ducks in a lagoon, and a
provident individual had saved some choice morsels of the cow. There was
some difficulty in procuring wood enough for a fire, but a couple of
rafters from the old ranch afforded the needful fuel, and thus we were
happily prevented passing a supperless, as well as comfortless night.
Many hours before daybreak we were again up, saddling and loading our
animals, which, owing to the darkness, was always the most irksome part
of the journey. We were, however, most happy to bid adieu to the
solitary ranch with its myriads of bats, the only tenants we encountered
there.
CHAPTER VIII.
LA PORTUGUESA.
Again we were under way, and again our eyes encountered only the flat
monotonous plain on all sides sweeping to the horizon, varied only in
being more barren, rougher, and consequently more exhausting to our
horses than any of the preceding. Many of the riders dismounted, that
the poor brutes might be relieved as much as possible, and accomplished
the remainder of the journey on foot. This occasioned a burning thirst,
which the scant supply of water in our gourds was not sufficient to
allay; and it was not until noon had long passed, that our guides,
pointing to a blue ridge of forest in the distance, informed us it
marked the course of the river Portuguesa, our intended halting place,
and on the borders of which we purposed spending several days. The
cavalcade, inspirited by this view, pressed forward as rapidly as their
exhausted condition would permit, and fortunately reached the pass
before nightfall.
This beautiful river has its rise in the mountains of Trujillo, and
connects the fertile province of Barinas with the sea, through the Apure
and Orinoco, being in fact one of the principal tributaries of the
former. Its commercial advantages, as may be imagined, are of great
importance to the interior of a country so distant from the ocean, and
whose principal products consist in the bulky yield of the plantations.
It is navigable during a great portion of the year, especially for steam
vessels, and I am happy to learn that the great civilizer of the
world--steam--has at length been introduced there through the
enterprising energy of some Yankee speculators.
The banks of the river, being both high and precipitous, a passage to it
can only be accomplished at certain points, where the hand of man and
the tramp of animals have cut deep trenches, forming paths to the
water’s edge. On this occasion, we sought the pass of San Jaime, where a
ferryman is stationed with a canoe to take across any who desire it.
Horses, however, being excellent swimmers, are left to ferry themselves
over. Our first care on arriving of at the pass was to unload our beasts
of burden, and unsaddle our steeds for the purpose of allowing them to
cool before entering the water, a precaution which, if neglected, not
unfrequently proves fatal to both man and beast. This duty fulfilled, we
proceeded to hail the _Canoero_, whose ranch was perched upon the south
bank of the river. The knowledge that he would receive a “real” for
every man and beast that crossed, besides various perquisites from
passengers whom he supplied with meals during their sojourn at his
ranch, so expedited his motions, that in a few moments his frail barge
received its first load, each person taking his own chattels with him. A
boy of fifteen, naked and sunburnt, paddled the canoe, while the
ferryman steered it by means of his _canalete_. The utmost care was
necessary to prevent the overturn of the crazy skiff, which reeled at
every stroke of the paddle, threatening to pitch all its contents
overboard. As soon as we landed on the opposite shore, the boat returned
for a second load, and the trips were repeated until the whole party had
crossed. There now only remained the horses, who being extremely shy of
deep water, required to be forced to swim across, an operation demanding
considerable skill on the part of the drivers. The only way was to give
them an example; accordingly two expert swimmers, divesting themselves
of clothes, jumped upon the bare back of their horses and plunged
incontinently into the stream. Then, sliding off to one side, they
allowed the horses to swim without encumbrance, supporting themselves
with one hand upon the animal’s haunches, while with the other they
guided them by means of a halter. Meanwhile, those that remained on
shore set up a tremendous shouting and yelling, at the same time shaking
their ponchos violently with the intent to frighten all the rest of the
troop down the steep embankment, where, encouraged at the sight of the
two ahead, they all entered the stream and followed their leaders
without further difficulty. Several large crocodiles, who had watched
all these proceedings from the middle of the river, alarmed by the
confusion, disappeared from view, and then the heads only of the leaders
and their steeds rose, puffing and snorting, above water. In spite,
however, of all the uproar, one of these men was instantly attacked by
caribes, and very narrowly escaped serious injury from them. I was
standing at the time on the opposite side of the river, watching this
novel mode of ferrying, and observed that the man, abandoning his horse,
endeavored to reach the bank by long strides, occasionally lashing
himself with a coiled lazo he carried in his hand. It immediately
occurred to me that he might have been attacked by crocodiles, a belief
which was strengthened on seeing the poor fellow’s sides streaming blood
as he stepped upon the beach. My first apprehension was quickly
dispelled by his pointing to a circular wound on his shoulder, about the
size of a quarter dollar, and to others as severe on various parts of
his body, inflicted by caribes. Had the man been a less expert swimmer,
or the water less agitated, the accident would undoubtedly have proved
more serious; as it was, we were considerably alarmed for the fate of
the other man, who, however, happily escaped unhurt.
The surprising boldness of these diminutive fish, naturally increased my
anxiety to examine more minutely into their peculiarities, than I had
yet the opportunity of doing. I therefore determined to procure fresh
specimens, if possible. On a former occasion I had lost most of my trout
hooks, but I still preserved some larger ones, mounted with copper wire,
to be used in the rivers of the Apure; these I supposed proof against
the teeth of any fish, and no sooner were we established in the ranch of
the ferryman, than, taking my lines I hastened to the river accompanied
by my English co-laborer, the artist. The hooks were baited with pieces
of fresh beef, and dropped with great precaution near the shore.
Scarcely did the bait touch the water, when it was seized by caribes.
Without allowing them time, as it seemed, to get the whole of it between
their jaws, we pulled in the lines, but, alas! minus hooks, as well as
bait. On examination, we discovered that one of the hooks had been cut
through, while the other was severed from the wire. Still, we
persevered, but invariably with the same unfortunate result.
Greatly annoyed, I turned to question a Llanero, who stood near laughing
at what he considered my simplicity. Another tapped me gently on the
shoulder, and addressed me with “_Niño_, you might as well attempt to
catch a rattlesnake by the tail” (a favorite expression among them) “as
to think of hooking one of those chaps.” What is to be done, then? for I
must have at least a couple of these scoundrels, said I. “Who ever saw a
genteel young gentleman like yourself, with a taste for such disgusting
creatures?” he replied, imagining that I wanted them for eating. On my
explanation that my object was simply to sketch and preserve them in
spirits, they advised me to procure a piece of tough skin from the head
of an ox which was then being slaughtered, and to suspend it from a
strip of the same material. I immediately followed their instructions,
and shortly repaired again to the river. Seating myself on the stern of
the canoe, which was moored across the stream, I dropped my novel bait
into the water, and watched for the result with the utmost interest. In
a moment a shoal of caribes collected around the bait and commenced
attacking it voraciously. Finding the thick cartilage too tough even for
their sharp teeth, and unwilling to give it up, they continued gnawing
at it like so many little hyenas. When I imagined them to be fairly
“stuck” through the thick skin, I lifted the whole concern over the side
of the canoe, and had the satisfaction of seeing about a dozen of the
fish dancing at the bottom of my barge. Finding this novel style of
fishing rather easy and entertaining, I continued it until I was
suddenly apprised into whose company I had thrust myself by feeling the
heel of my left foot seized by one of the captives with such violence as
caused me to drop my bait, with the vicious creatures that were hanging
from it, into the river. My only thought now was how to contrive my
escape, having the whole length of the canoe to traverse, and its floor
paved with these ravenous little wretches. My first impulse was to
spring overboard; but a moment’s reflection convinced me that it would
be a jump from the “frying pan into the fire.” Placed thus, as it were,
between Scylla and Charybdis, I again appealed to the ingenuity of my
former advisers for deliverance. This they readily accomplished by a
very simple contrivance, consisting of a gunny bag, which they spread
over the gaping draught of fish. In a moment their sharp teeth were
again at work, this time among the tough fibres of the bag, to which
they clung with the tenacity of bull-dogs, thus enabling us to fish them
out again without difficulty.
My biting experience of these little pests left me in no mood to spare
them, and I never missed an opportunity of provoking a bloody conflict
among them. With this view I made it my daily business to scatter pieces
of flesh in the river, which never failed in attracting great numbers to
the spot. These devoured the meat in a few moments, after which, being
themselves of a red hue, and mistaking each other for the meat, they
continued the feast by devouring one another, until few of them remained
alive. Thus I accomplished my revenge upon these cannibals of the finny
tribe. The pike and the caribe are, I believe, the only fish which
devour those of their own species when disabled. “As no one dares to
bathe where it is found,” remarks Humboldt in his travels, “it may be
considered as one of the greatest scourges of those climates, in which
the sting of the mosquitoes and the general irritation of the skin,
render the use of baths so necessary.”
Fortunately for mankind, these fish are subject to a yearly mortality
during the heats of summer, when the water is deprived of a portion of
the air it holds in solution. Their carcasses may then be seen floating
on the water by thousands, while the beach is strewn with their bones,
especially their bristling jaws, which render walking barefoot on the
borders of lagoons extremely dangerous.
To judge from the incessant turmoil in the river at all hours of the
night, besides evident proofs of their depredations during the day, I
concluded that the havoc they commit on the other denizens of the water
must be very great. Even the armor-clad crocodiles are not exempt from
their attacks, when wounded in their own quarrels, as they sometimes
are, during the season of their loves, for even crocodiles are subject
to jealousy, that other “green-eyed monster.”[25]
The Waraun Indians, whom the first tribe of cannibals, the Caribs,
compelled years ago to seek a refuge among the flooded lands of the
great Delta of the Orinoco river, and who in consequence live in huts
raised on posts above the water, without even the allotted space of dry
ground to deposit their mortal remains, have adopted the curious custom
of preserving the bones of their deceased relations suspended from the
roof of their aerial dwellings; but having no skilful anatomists among
themselves to strip the body of the more perishable flesh, they avail
themselves of the voracious habits of this fish for so essential a
performance. For this purpose they tie the corpse with a strong rope,
and plunge it in the water, securing the other end of the rope to one of
the pillars upon which their dwellings rest: in less than twenty-four
hours the skeleton is hauled out of the water perfectly clean, for the
teeth of the caribe have stripped it of flesh, arteries, tendons, etc.
Now all that the mourners have to do is to separate the bones, which
they arrange with much care and nicety in baskets made for the purpose,
gaudily ornamented with beads of various colors; and so well have they
calculated beforehand the space the bones will occupy in the funereal
urn, that the skull, tightly adjusted against the sides of the basket at
top, comes to be the lid of it.
During the annual inundation of the savannas, when quadrupeds perish by
thousands in the vernal deluge, the caribes have ample field for their
voracity; but living animals are not exempted, for they prey with equal
fierceness upon the young calves when wading through the marshes, and
upon the mothers, whose udders they so mutilate, that the young ones
frequently perish from lack of nourishment. The poor cattle lead about
this season a truly miserable life. Those that escape the teeth of the
caribe, the coil of the anaconda, that great water serpent, or the jaws
of the equally dreaded crocodile, are in continual danger of falling a
prey to the lion or the jaguar, while congregated upon the _bancos_ and
other places left dry amidst the rising waters. None, however, escape
the tormenting sting of myriad insects which, until the waters subside,
fill the air they breathe. Even at night, when all created beings should
rest in peace, enormous vampires, issuing from the gloomy recesses of
the forest, perch upon the backs of the sufferers and suck their life
blood, all the while lulling them with the flapping of their spurious
wings. In fact, it seems as if in these regions all the elements
conspired against these useful creatures; for, after these varied evils
have abated with the return of the dry season, the hand of man is also
continually against them in harassing hunts, or in firing the ripe
pastures which sweep their realms in devastating fury, driving them in
consternation from the fields of their enjoyment.
The crocodiles of this river are noted for being the most savage and
daring in the Llanos. Although usually styled yellow caymans, to
distinguish them from the common alligator, which is of a darker hue,
they are in fact real crocodiles, with an acute snout, like those
inhabiting the Nile and other celebrated rivers of Africa.
* * * * *
While walking along the banks of the Portuguesa, one may see these huge
lizards collected in groups of half a dozen or more, basking in the
sunshine near the water, with their jaws wide open until their ghastly
palates are filled with flies or other creatures alighting within them.
We tried in vain shooting them with guns; the reptiles were so wary,
that the moment we took aim they rushed into the water. Being at a loss
how to procure a subject for my pencil, I sought the advice of an old
man, an angler by profession, who lived in one of the huts near the
river. He agreed to let me have his canoe with his son to paddle it, and
the requisite number of harpoons, providing I could obtain the
assistance of an Indian boy from the neighborhood, who was a capital
marksman with the bow and arrow. “What!” I exclaimed in astonishment,
“do we expect to kill one of these monsters with so slight a thing as an
arrow?” “No, Señorito,” he calmly answered; “but you must first know
where to find him under water before you can strike him with the
harpoon; the arrow of which I speak is the kind we use in catching
turtles.” These arrows are constructed so as to allow the head, affixed
to the shaft somewhat in the manner of a lance, to come off the moment
it strikes an object in the water. A slender cord, several feet in
length, connects it with the shaft, which last is made of a light,
buoyant reed; around this the cord is wound closely until it reaches the
point where the head is, then fastened securely. The shaft being
extremely light, floats on the surface of the water the moment it is set
free from the head by the struggles of the animal, thus acting as a
guide for its recovery.
The old angler then proceeded to explain that the operation must be
conducted first by sending one of these arrows into the body of the
crocodile to mark his position under water; and then, if practicable, we
might plunge a harpoon into the only vulnerable spot we could hope to
reach, viz., the nape of the neck, after which the animal could be
easily dragged on shore by means of strong ropes attached to the
harpoon.
Accordingly, I went in search of the Indian boy, whom I found under a
tree, seated like a toad on his haunches, skinning a porcupine he had
just killed. At my approach he raised his head and fixed on me his
unmeaning eyes. When spoken to, he only replied to all my questions with
the monosyllables, _si_, _no_. After a little coaxing, and the promise
of some fish hooks, he followed me to the canoe without uttering a word
more. We were not long in getting a chance to test the skill of my new
acquaintance. As we approached the river banks, a large crocodile hove
in sight, floating down the stream like a log of wood. Our position was
most favorable to send an arrow rattling through his scales, and my
young Nimrod lost no time in improving the opportunity. Stepping a few
paces in advance, and bending gracefully over the precipice, he let fly
at the reptile’s head his slender, yellow reed, _por elevacion_, viz.,
shooting the arrow up into the air at an angle of forty-five, which
causes it to descend with great force upon the object, after describing
an arc of a circle in the manner of a bomb-shell. Although the distance
was fully three hundred paces, the arrow struck the mark with the
precision of a rifle ball. A violent plunge of the huge reptile was my
first intimation that the trial had been successful, and a moment after
I perceived the golden reed, now attached to him, skimming swiftly over
the surface of the water. We hastened for the canoe, and immediately
gave chase up the stream, as the crocodile had taken that direction. We
were rapidly gaining upon him, when, alarmed at the sound of the
paddles, he sunk in very deep water, as was indicated by the reed. This
circumstance rendered it impossible to employ our harpoon. We tried in
vain to start him; he stuck to the muddy bottom whence neither pulls nor
curses could move him. We hoped that in time he would come to the
surface to breathe, and then we might strike him with a harpoon; but in
this we were equally disappointed. After waiting for him two hours, we
gave him up, along with the arrow head sticking in his own.
I made various other attempts to secure a specimen, but with no better
result, as the river was yet too high to sound for them.
While in this place, I was told several incidents in relation to the
cunning and instinct of these saurians, one of which appeared to me most
remarkable in an animal of the reptile tribe. The ferryman here
possessed at one time a great many goats. One day he perceived that
several of them had disappeared, and not being able to account for it in
any other way, he at once laid the blame on the hated crocodiles,
although these creatures seldom carry their attacks beyond their own
element. His suspicions, he discovered in the end, were well founded,
having witnessed the destruction of one of his goats in a very singular
manner. It appeared that a crocodile had in some mysterious way
discovered that goats delight in jumping from place to place, but more
especially from rocks or mounds. Rocks, however, being rather scarce in
the country, their treacherous enemy undertook to gratify their taste
for this innocent pastime, and at the same time cater to his own.
Approaching the water’s edge to within a few feet from the bank, he
swelled out his back in such a manner as gave it the appearance of a
small island or promontory. The stupid goats perceiving this, varied
their gambols by jumping from their secure places on shore upon the
seeming island, which they, however, never reached, for the crocodile,
tossing up his head at the right instant, received them into his open
jaws, and swallowed them without difficulty.
Crocodiles have a special penchant for dogs also, and never miss an
opportunity of gratifying their taste for the canine. In this, however,
they are often balked by the superior cunning of their intended
tit-bits. One day I observed a couple of tiger-hounds quietly enjoying a
cool bath in the river. Struck with their apparent _nonchalance_ when in
such a dangerous proximity, I found on inquiry that these animals never
approach the water, either to drink or to bathe, without previously
attracting the crocodiles by means of repeated howlings to some distant
spot. This instinct of the dog with regard to crocodiles seems to be
rather of antique date, for I find it recorded in the writings of both
ancient and modern travellers in different parts of the world.
No person can venture near the water without danger from their attacks,
being so treacherous that they approach their intended victim near
enough to strike him with their powerful tails before he is even aware
of their proximity. The bubbling sound of a gourd being filled in the
water by some imprudent person, specially attracts them. To obviate this
danger, a calabash bowl with a long wooden handle is usually employed
for the purpose; yet, even this is not unfrequently snatched from the
hands of the water-carrier. If by accident a human being falls a prey to
this tyrant of the river, the reptile is then called _cebado_, which
appellation implies every thing that is bold, ferocious, and treacherous
in an animal of the species, as from that time they not only waylay
persons, but follow them in the canoes, in hopes of again securing this
dainty morsel. There are, however, men bold enough to meet the enemy
face to face in his own element. The man who makes up his mind to this
encounter is well aware that this must be a conflict to the death for
one of the antagonists. The ferryman related to us a feat of gallantry
worthy of a better cause, performed here by a Llanero with one of these
monsters. The man was on his way to San Jaime on a pressing errand.
Being in haste to get there the same day, he would not wait for the
canoe to be brought to him, but prepared to swim across, assisted by his
horse. He had already secured his saddle and clothes upon his head, as
is usual on similar occasions, when the ferryman cried out to him to
beware of a _caiman cebado_, then lurking near the pass, urging upon
him, at the same time, to wait for the canoe. Scorning this advice, the
Llanero replied with characteristic pride, “Let him come; I was never
yet afraid of man or beast.” Then laying aside a part of his ponderous
equipment, he placed his two-edged dagger between his teeth, and plunged
fearlessly into the river. He had not proceeded far, when the monster
rose and made quickly towards him. The ferryman crossed himself
devoutly, and muttered the holy invocation of _Jesus, Maria y José_!
fearing for the life, and, above all, for the toll of the imprudent
traveller. In the mean time, the swimmer continued gliding through the
water towards the approaching crocodile. Aware of the impossibility of
striking his adversary a mortal blow unless he could reach the armpit,
he awaited the moment when the reptile should attack him, to throw his
saddle at him. This he accomplished so successfully, that the crocodile,
doubtless imagining it to be some sort of good eating, jumped partly out
of the water to catch it. Instantly the Llanero plunged his dagger up to
the very hilt into the fatal spot. A hoarse grunt and a tremendous
splash showed that the blow was mortal, for the ferocious monster sunk
beneath the waves to rise no more.
Proud of this achievement, and scorning the tardy assistance of the
ferryman, who offered to pick him up in his canoe, he waved his bloody
dagger in the air, exclaiming, as he did so: “Is there no other about
here?” and then turning, he swam leisurely back to take his horse
across.
The _canoero_ who related this adventure then added: “So delighted was I
on that occasion, that I killed my fattest hen to treat the man to a
good _sancocho_, for the caiman had devoured all my goats.”
But this is only one of the many exploits constantly being enacted in
these regions, by the bold race of men inhabiting them.
[Illustration]
There is still living at San Fernando, a town at the confluence of the
Apure and Portuguesa rivers, another individual equally bold in
attacking crocodiles, in which warfare he uses only a wooden mace or
club. He is possibly one of the greatest swimmers in that or any other
country, having repeatedly accomplished the run between San Fernando and
El Diamante--a plantation which he owns three miles below the
town--without once stopping on the way. Armed with his heavy club in one
hand, and a bottle of rum in the other, to keep himself in good spirits,
this modern Hercules will, for the fun of it, during a spree, provoke a
fight with a _caiman cebado_; and so effectual has been his warfare,
that he has actually succeeded in driving them away from the pass,
formerly so infested by them, that scarcely a year elapsed in which
numbers of persons were not carried off by them, helpless washerwomen
especially.
I observed, also, at La Portuguesa, a great number of fresh-water
porpoises or _toninas_, as they are called there, swimming with rapidity
against the current, and bending their backs gracefully like their
congeners of the sea. Crocodiles appeared to avoid them, and would
invariably dive out of the way at their approach. It is probable that
from this circumstance arose the current belief that _toninas_ will
befriend persons when they chance to fall into the water, against the
attacks of crocodiles. It is, moreover, asserted that these cetacea will
rescue a man from drowning, pushing him on to the shore with their
snouts. In acknowledgment of this animal philanthropy, the hand of man
is there never raised against these inoffensive creatures; and so
conscious are they of this, that they seem rather to delight in his
neighborhood, sporting around the canoes which ascend the river, and
spouting jets of water and compressed air like miniature whales.
CHAPTER IX.
THE APURE RIVER.
We tarried several days at La Portuguesa to afford our horses time to
recover from the fatigues of the previous rough journeys. We also
expected to incorporate there another drove, which having been kept
throughout the summer grazing in the ever-verdant meadows of this river,
were now in very fine condition. In the mean time, we were agreeably
occupied in hunting, fishing and dancing; the people of the neighborhood
being sufficient for our social entertainments.
Every morning we rode out to the savannas to hunt an ox for our meals.
The remainder of the day was occupied in scouring the adjacent woods and
plains after our steeds, who seemed as if conscious of the life that
awaited them beyond La Portuguesa; for it required all the ingenuity and
sagacity of the Llaneros to discover their hiding-places, and bring them
again to the corrals. The evenings were devoted to dancing and singing
by the light of half a dozen _candiles_, or lamps made of burned clay,
and filled with the grease of crocodiles. The habitations being
considerably scattered along the banks of the river, we employed a
number of runners for the purpose of bringing the company to the
_fandango_, as these nocturnal revelries are called, who came in canoes
or wading through the mud as occasion required.
And now, refined and courteous reader, picture to yourself a motley
assemblage, brought together without any regard to color, age, or
position, under an open shed or barracoon dimly lighted, and you will
form an idea of our _soirées dansantes_, which for merriment and
courtesy might with good reason have been the envy of the most polished
_reunions_.
The orchestra was composed of a guitar scarcely larger than the hand
that twanged it, a banjo of huge proportions, and a couple of noisy
_maracas_, rattle-boxes made from the shell of the calabash fruit, and
filled with the seed of a Marantha or Indian shot. No music is
considered complete without this accompaniment, which, as well as I
could judge, filled the place of castanets, or the less romantic “bones”
of negro minstrelsy. A wooden handle is attached to each, to enable the
performer to shake them to and fro, which he does with appropriate
gestures and contortions expressive of his different emotions. A
corresponding choir of singers, picked from our own suite, was attached
to the players. All Llaneros are passionately fond of music, and display
considerable talent, composing many beautiful songs of a national
character, called _tonos_ or _trovas llaneras_. Few in the country are
not gifted with the power of versification, and there are among them
many famous _improvisatori_. Whenever two of these are brought together,
a competition for the laurel crown is the invariable consequence. This
amicable strife sometimes occupies several successive hours, ending only
when one of the bards is fairly silenced by the other; the victor is
then declared the _lion_ of the fête and receives accordingly not only
the congratulations of his admirers, but also secures the smiles of the
most sparkling eyes in the company. It is really surprising to see men,
who cannot distinguish one letter of the alphabet from another, compose
and extemporize poetry which, although rude in character, is
nevertheless full of interest and significance. Most of their songs and
ballads refer to deeds of valor performed by their own heroes; while
others recount their love adventures, and daily struggles with the wild
and unsubdued nature which surrounds them. Their instruments, when
handled with skill, produce very harmonious sounds. The _bandola_ or
banjo bears no resemblance to the one in common use among the negroes of
the States. It is, in fact, a guitar of large proportions, shaped
somewhat like the lute of old. The guitar of the Llanos is the reverse
of its associate the banjo, being considerably smaller and with only
five strings, on which account it is called _Cinco_. Still, it is a very
noisy little instrument, all its cords being made to resound at once by
running the fingers of the right hand up and down over them, while those
of the left stop them at the right moment.
The dancers do not grapple with each other, as is the practice among
some of the more enlightened, but dance alone, joining hands
occasionally for a few moments, and then separating and whirling round
by themselves. First, a woman paces round the room in double-quick step,
looking for a partner; when a suitable one is found, a graceful waving
of the handkerchief summons him before her; then both go through their
evolutions until the woman chooses to withdraw. The man then with a
polite bow invites a second partner, and so on to the end of the first
dance. This is styled the _Galeron_, in which only the most skilful
dancers take part, as it requires great flexibility of joint and limb to
execute all the intricate and graceful posturings and swayings of the
body, constituting the principal charm of the performance. They have a
variety of other dances, such as _La Maricela_, _El Raspon_, _La Zapa_,
&c., all of which, however, are of the same character, the chief
difference being in the _double entendre_ of the stanzas sung as
accompaniment to the music. _La Maricela_, especially, is a very
exciting dance, from the satirical _bon mots_ hurled by the bard of the
evening at each couple as they pass. The facility with which these
verses are improvised is most amusing, and would even astonish the most
accomplished Neapolitan _improvisatore_. Some of them are capital hits
upon the personal appearance, &c., of the dancers, and none fail to find
some point for ridicule.
* * * * *
Three or four days we sojourned among these jolly people, and then again
set out for the scene of our future adventures, stopping for the night
at San Jaime, once a thriving town, but now nearly deserted in
consequence of the desolating civil wars which have afflicted the
country for several years. On our way thither, we traversed a succession
of beautiful prairies, bound by rings of magnificent forest trees, and
watered by numerous creeks and lagoons filled with water fowl. Unlike
the dreary wastes we had already crossed, which, “like the ocean, fill
the imagination with the idea of infinity,” the plains stretching
between the Portuguesa and Apure rivers are characterized by the
rankness and luxuriance of the vegetation. Owing to the periodical
inundation, the landscape wears here the green mantle of spring even
during the hottest months.
This yearly inundation is one of the most curious phenomena of this
region. At the approach of the rainy season, those two magnificent
offsprings of the Sierra Nevada, the Apure and Portuguesa, tired as it
were of their long repose, suddenly rise in their heated, muddy beds,
and leap over their borders, at first in playful gambols; then in
fearful and rapid course, converting these widely extended plains into a
vast lagoon. To the few spots which escape the general submersion, the
inhabitants retire with their chattels and flocks in canoes held in
readiness for the purpose.
Thus the land is kept in a state of constant irrigation and fertility
unsurpassed in any country, although at the expense of the comfort of
the inhabitants, who are compelled to abandon their homes to the
crocodiles and anacondas of the stream. When the waters subside, the
intruders are expelled by the rightful owners of the dwellings; the few
articles of furniture they possess replaced in the damp rooms, and they
again devote themselves to domestic pursuits until the next inundation
forces them anew to seek a home elsewhere. I was shown at the pass the
marks left by the water on the walls of the cottages, indicating in some
instances a rise of twelve feet.
* * * * *
I was struck with the size and luxuriance of the trees along the course
of these rivers. My attention was particularly attracted by the _saman_,
a species of Mimosa, with delicate, feathery flowers of a pinkish hue,
and gigantic, umbrella-shaped boughs. There is in the valleys of Aragua
one of these which, from time immemorial, has elicited the admiration of
travellers, and received the protection of the law since the discovery
and settlement of the country, for its magnificent proportions and the
great age which it is supposed to have attained.
Extensive tracts of land are entirely taken up by individuals of this
class. It would be impossible to conceive any thing more grand in nature
than a forest of these trees. It might be said of them that each is a
forest in itself; and were all the beautiful parasites that cling to
their trunks and branches for support spread upon the ground, they would
cover several acres. All along the course of the great rivers Apure,
Guarico, and Portuguesa, the _saman_ is found in such countless numbers
that the combined fleets of the civilized world might be reconstructed
from this inexhaustible supply. The axe of the northerner could readily
convert those stupendous forests into vehicles of commerce and
civilization, were it not for the wasting fevers, endemic of that
region. Now they only serve as protective haunts for desperate bands of
robbers and cut-throats, let loose by unprincipled politicians.
[Illustration]
Equally rank and luxuriant are the grasses in these alluvial lands. We
were compelled to drive before us all the relay horses and other beasts
of burden to open a passage and save our bare feet from being dreadfully
lacerated by the _gamelote_, a tall, cutting, and worthless grass, with
blades almost as sharp as a “Toledo.” It grows so closely and rapidly as
to obliterate in a few days the paths made by travellers, killing every
other species in its way. Unfortunately, it is perfectly useless as
fodder, except for _Chigüires_ or water-hogs, which feed on it when
nothing better offers, and to the flesh of which it imparts its
disagreeable flavor; the _gamelote_ is therefore consigned to the flames
as soon as it is ripe enough to burn, which it does with as much seeming
fury as it displayed against the feet and legs of travellers in its
green days.
On the second night of our journey, we pitched our camp near several
ponds, literally crowded with alligators and fish and water fowl of all
varieties, which kept up a continual strife, to our great discomfort.
Not only was the water rendered noxious by the numerous creatures in it,
but even the air was filled with the effluvium and mosquitoes arising
therefrom. We were compelled to dig wells in the vicinity of the lagoons
to obtain water for our use; but no artifice could shield us from the
unmerciful attacks of the mosquitoes, especially the kind called
_pullones_, from the length and strength of the proboscis. We tried in
vain to escape their painful sting by rolling ourselves from head to
foot in our ponchos and hammocks, at the peril of suffocation; the
needle-like proboscis of the insects actually penetrated through the
folds of our covering so as to draw blood. Nor would the smoke of the
blazing fires around the camp drive them off, as was anticipated.
Fortunately, they only paid us an early visit, retiring all at once
before midnight, and leaving us to the tender mercies of their kinsfolk,
the noisy mosquitoes or _zancudos_. These, although not so tormenting
with their sting, were none the less so with their music, while no part
of our bodies could be left uncovered without being instantly besieged
by swarms of these “howling-insect wolves.” This, however, was the only
occasion upon which we were troubled by mosquitoes during our journey,
as they only appear in force during the rainy season.
I noticed here for the first time a low range of hills or _médanos_,
mere accumulations of sand tossed from place to place by the winds
across the boundless plain; to-day, they rise above the surrounding
prairies; to-morrow, they are levelled with the dust of the savannas:
fit emblem of the ephemeral republics of the South! These _médanos_ had
been overrun by the _gamelote_, giving them the character of permanent
hills, from which the place takes the name of Medanos de San Martin.
It is scarcely necessary to say that there was no temptation to prolong
our stay there longer than was needed by our horses, who revelled all
night in the fine meadows around the lagoons. Packing up once more, we
bade adieu to that inhospitable encampment long before daylight.
Struggling through miles of _gamelote_, we reached the cattle farm of
Corozito towards noon. Don Luciano Samuel, the proprietor, extended to
us the hospitalities of his demesne with the characteristic grace and
frankness of the people in those regions. From thence to the Pass of
Apurito, on the river Apure, was only a few hours’ ride; and the morning
being the best time for crossing the river with our animals, we rose
early in order to reach it before the breeze should commence blowing.
Owing to the thick vegetation on its banks, we did not discover the
river until we were close upon it; and then, with what delight did I
again view the broad surface of this magnificent stream!
Although born near its shores, I had but a faint recollection of its
broad expanse. Perhaps its turbulent waves had rocked my raw-hide
cradle during one of the periodical inundations; for, from earliest
childhood, I have borne marks left by the teeth of the _caribe_.
What glorious recollections of the fierce contest for liberty did its
waters bring to memory! Not the lordly Thames, with its “woven-winged”
argosies, teeming with the merchandise of the earth; the enchanting
Delaware, framed in romantic cottages and orchard groves; nor yet the
splendid Hudson, renowned for its floating palaces and legends, but
more, that on its banks nestles the home of Irving, awakened in my
breast such emotions of heartfelt admiration as did this silent
messenger from the Sierra Nevada! There, amidst the thunders of the
Heavens and rolling avalanches, it takes its rise, precipitately
descending to the plain below through a succession of frightful leaps,
which shake the primeval forest to its very foundations. And so it
comes, that its surface is often loaded with an immense accumulation of
fallen trees from the various zones of vegetation it traverses in its
course. Thus the delicate ferns and other Alpine plants are commingled
with those of the burning climes below, and finally deposited in the
wide estuary forming the delta of the Orinoco. When future generations
shall disentomb them in a petrified state, their geologists will no
doubt attribute this singular agglomeration to wonderful changes in the
temperature of the earth.
The river Apure, properly speaking, is formed by the confluence of two
other streams, the Sarare and Uribante. The former has its rise among
the New Granadian range of mountains, although a great portion of its
waters flow now into the Arauca, consequent on the great deposits of
sand and drift wood accumulating at its mouth.
The Uribante, or Upper Apure, may be considered the main channel of this
river, with a total length of six hundred and forty miles, five hundred
and sixty-four of which are navigable for large vessels. It takes the
name of Apure after its junction with the Sarare; but is again
subdivided into several ramifications called _caños_ or creeks, each of
which has a particular name; among them, La Ebilla, Apurito and
Apure-Seco are the most important; these again unite with the main
channel, and form islands of surprising fertility. These islands are
invaluable as _potreros_ for the cattle, when other parts of the country
are parched with the droughts of summer, the steep banks and wide
channels of the rivers serving as the most effectual barriers against
their roaming propensities.
The geographical situation of this river, joined as it is to one of the
greatest tributaries of the wide ocean--the Orinoco--at a point nearly
five hundred miles from its confluence with the sea, stamps it as one of
the most important lines of internal navigation in the world, and points
to the wild region of the Llanos as a future emporium of civilization.
To it all the products and other natural sources of wealth from the
adjoining provinces will be brought for immediate exportation to foreign
markets; as, in addition to the vast area of level country traversed by
it, this river receives the tribute of a hundred navigable streams
descending from the eastern slope of the Andes of New Granada and
Venezuela.
The width of the Apure varies considerably according to the seasons of
rains and droughts; sometimes extending miles beyond its actual channel,
but usually not less than one thousand yards broad. Humboldt, who
measured it at San Fernando in the month of May, when it had receded to
its lowest ebb, found it to be two hundred and thirty-six toises broad;
higher up it is considerably wider, gradually diminishing as it
approaches its great confluent. Alluding to this singular phenomenon,
mostly caused by evaporation and infiltrations through the dry, sandy
banks of the river, the same eminent traveller elucidates some curious
facts worthy of notice. He says: “Some idea of the magnitude of these
effects may be formed, from the fact that we found the heat of the dry
sands at different hours of the day from 36° to 52°,[26] and that of
sands covered with three or four inches of water 32°. The beds of rivers
are heated as far as the depth to which the solar rays can penetrate,
without undergoing too great an expansion in their passage through the
superincumbent strata of water. Besides, filtration extends in a lateral
direction far beyond the bed of the river. The shore, which appears dry
to us, imbibes water as far up as to the level of the surface of the
river. We saw water gush out at the distance of fifty toises from the
shore, every time that the Indians struck their oars into the ground.
Now, these sands, wet below but dry above, and exposed to the solar
rays, act like sponges, and lose the infiltrated water every instant by
evaporation. The vapor that is emitted traverses the upper stratum of
sand strongly heated, and becomes sensible to the eye when the air cools
towards evening. As the beach dries, it draws from the river new
portions of water; and it may be easily conceived that this continual
alternation of vaporization and lateral absorption must cause an immense
loss, difficult to submit to exact calculation. The increase of these
losses would be in proportion to the length of the course of the rivers,
if from their source to their mouth they were equally surrounded by a
flat shore; but these shores being formed by deposits from the water,
and the water having less velocity in proportion as it is more remote
from its source, throwing down more sediment in the lower than in the
upper part of its course, many rivers in hot climates undergo a
diminution in the quantity of their water as they approach their
outlets. Mr. Barrow observed these curious effects of sands in the
southern part of Africa, on the banks of the Orange river. They have
also become the subject of a very important discussion in the various
hypotheses that have been formed respecting the course of the Niger.”
At the time we crossed the Apure, it was considerably below the average
width, as we were then in the midst of the dry season; nevertheless, it
presented a formidable obstacle to our progress. There being only one
canoe at the pass, the whole morning was spent in the transportation of
our bulky riding-gear and luggage; and the breeze setting in shortly
after our arrival, the passage of the horses was postponed until noon,
in consequence of the agitated state of the water. It would have been
rather hazardous to expose our valuable steeds to the “chopping sea,”
which, beating against the animals’ nostrils, is apt to stop their
respiration, and as they then lose their steadiness in swimming, are
rendered liable to be drowned.
We were met on the opposite bank of the river by a committee of
gentlemen in their shirt sleeves, like ourselves, commissioned by the
inhabitants of Apurito to tender our Leader the hospitalities of their
village. Prominent among them was the general overseer of his estate.
Commandant Rávago, a tough, wiry, and weather-beaten individual, whose
nose Nature had made of an unjustifiable length, and who discoursed in a
language peculiar to himself. Indeed, it required one to be well versed
in the jargon of the Llanos to understand his dissertations upon matters
and things in general; for he pretended to be a connoisseur in every
thing, except languages; the English, especially, was peculiarly
distasteful to his ears, and whenever he heard us conversing in that
tongue, he declared in his patois, that it reminded him of a pack of
horses neighing to each other. Notwithstanding his uncouth manner and
appearance, our overseer was a very shrewd fellow, and quite _au fait_
in all matters appertaining to cattle farms.
As for the village or port of Apurito, it was a mere assemblage of
mud-plastered cottages, thatched, like all houses in that region, with
palm leaves. Some of them had doors and windows of planed boards; but
the greater part were free to whoever and whatever chose to walk or
_crawl_ into them; no church, no school-house, no building devoted to
public meetings of any sort. The Alcalde, that most important
functionary in small Spanish communities, held his audiences in the
narrow corridor of his hut, while the _sala_ was devoted to the
all-absorbing game of _monte_. Once a year the Padre, next in importance
to his Honor the Alcalde, paid a visit to the village, when all the boys
and girls who had not been baptized were brought before him at his
lodgings, where the ceremony was performed in a somewhat informal
manner, and without special regard being paid to the strict injunctions
of the Church. There were a few storehouses scattered along the banks of
the river, where all business transactions were carried on. These were
principally in hides, which are given in exchange for the few articles
of barter brought from the Orinoco. Hides, in fact, are the bank notes
of the Llanos; and although rather voluminous and uncleanly, they change
hands as readily as any “paper” that was ever in “the market.” These are
taken to Ciudad Bolívar, formerly Angostura, in bongos and one-mast
sailing vessels called _lanchas_, which return laden with salt, knives,
blankets, and printed calicoes, articles of prime necessity among the
inhabitants. Other ports along the Apure, such as Nutrias and San
Fernando, carry on a very extensive trade in these goods. The
first-named town adds largely to her exports, bringing in the
agricultural products of the adjoining province of Barinas. These are
coffee, cacao, indigo, and tobacco; the last being highly prized in
Germany for meerschaums, and always obtaining a ready sale at Bolívar.
The course of the Apure being nearly in a straight line from west to
east, the trade winds blowing across the plains in the summer season
play a very important part in propelling, even against the current, the
heaviest craft sailing up the river. During the rainy season, the
westerly winds combine with the current of the stream in expediting the
progress of vessels. Of late, several steamboats have been added to
those already engaged in this traffic; and I am told are doing a very
profitable business. God speed them!
“During the time of great floods,” writes Humboldt, “the inhabitants of
these countries, to avoid the force of the currents, and the danger
arising from the trunks of trees which these currents bring down,
instead of ascending the beds of rivers in their boats, cross the
savannas. To go from San Fernando to the villages of San Juan de Payara,
San Rafael de Atamaica, or San Francisco de Capanaparo, they direct
their course due south, as if they were crossing a single river of
twenty leagues broad. The junctions of the Guarico, the Apure, the
Cabullare, and the Arauca with the Orinoco, form, at a hundred and sixty
leagues from the coast of Guiana, a kind of interior delta, of which
hydrography furnishes few examples in the Old World. According to the
height of the mercury in the barometer, the waters of the Apure have
only a fall of thirty-four toises from San Fernando to the sea. The fall
from the mouths of the Osage and the Missouri to the bar of the
Mississippi is not more considerable. The savannas of Lower Louisiana
everywhere remind us of the savannas of the Lower Orinoco.”--_Travels to
the Equinoxial Regions._
CHAPTER X.
SAVANNAS OF APURE.
After a thorough examination of animals and baggage, to see that all was
as it ought to be, we left the uninteresting village of Apurito for our
cattle-estate of San Pablo de Apure, a few miles further south. As we
passed the last house fronting the river, Mr. Thomas descried a
jaguar-skin, which the owner of the hut had spread to dry upon the
fence. Wishing to examine it more closely, he spurred his mule ahead and
was in the act of seizing the skin, when the animal, whose view of it
had until then been obstructed by the other beasts, coming unexpectedly
into close proximity with the--to him--fearful object, drew back in
terror, snorting, kicking, and plunging so violently as to capsize the
unlucky artist upon the sandy beach. The abhorrence with which mules
regard the South American tiger, is one of the most curious phenomena of
animal instinct with which I am acquainted; not only do they manifest it
at sight of the creature, but also by their scent, while the animal is
still a long distance off, and yet, in most cases, they have never seen
a tiger, as was the case in the present instance, this mule having been
reared in the _potreros_ of San Pablo de Paya, where tigers are rarely,
if ever, met with.
After a ride of a few hours through alternate glades of gigantic mimosas
and verdant savannas, we reached San Pablo before night had cast her
gloom over those solemn wilds. The house was neat and well located,
commanding an extended view of the country and innumerable herds of
cattle grazing in the distance. There were, besides, a large _caney_ or
barracoon for the accommodation of the men and their chattels, and a
detached hut in which the culinary functions of the establishment were
to be performed.
The appellation of San Pablo, conferred on this farm also--although the
owner possessed already another of the same name--made me suspect that
snakes were not uncommon in that country, the reality of which fact I
ascertained the first time that I strolled any considerable distance
from the house. In a country where saints are supposed to exert an
unbounded influence over all human affairs, it is not unusual to give to
houses and localities, threatened with some special calamity, the name
of the saint who is considered the patron or defender from that
particular evil: thus places which are frequently visited by
thunderstorms, are called after Santa Barbara; those infested with
snakes, receive the name of San Pablo, &c., &c.
Although this farm formed part of the demesne we came to inspect, we did
not remain there longer than was absolutely necessary to investigate
into its general condition.
When the order was given to remove to El Frio--another farm further
westward--we gladly saddled horses and started off at a brisk pace over
those fresh and beautiful prairies which, with their perpetual grassy
carpet, caused us to feel as if we were coming into a land of promise
and contentment, instead of one of toil and hardship. Indeed, every
thing denoted that we were now entering on far different scenes from
those we had left across the river. It seemed a terrestrial paradise,
where a beneficent Providence had congregated every animal most needed
by man. Now it was the slender forms of deer in herds bounding swiftly
over the greensward; now the gristly wild hogs and capyvaras making
hastily for the nearest swamp to avoid the eager chase of our men.
Occasionally might be seen a redoubtable wild bull, retiring sulkily and
slowly at the head of his shaggy troop, as if wishing to dispute our
right to enter his domain. Vegetation, however, seemed to flourish here
less than in other places we had visited, as, excepting a few scattered
palms of a new variety, and some straggling Matas--which, from the
mirage continually before us, appeared like fairy groves set in clearest
water--nothing but the fine and level lawn met the eye for many miles.
Unlike the higher plains, where only a coarse herbage predominates, the
savannas of Apure are characterized by a luxuriant growth of various
grasses, which, like those of the Portuguesa, preserve a uniform verdure
throughout the year. These grasses--some of which are as soft and
pliable as silk--are most important in the economy of cattle-breeding in
the savannas watered by the Apure and its tributaries. The prodigious
increase of animals in these plains is mainly owing to the superiority
of the pastures over those of the upper regions of the Llanos, from
whence the farmer is compelled to migrate with his stock every summer.
I noticed in Apure three varieties of grass, which in richness of flavor
and nutritious qualities can hardly be surpassed by any other fodder
plants of the temperate zones. In the early part of the rainy season,
the granadilla--a grass reaching to about four feet in height, with
tender succulent blades and panicles of seed not unlike some varieties
of broomcorn--starts with the earliest showers of spring. It grows with
great rapidity, and is greedily sought by all ruminants; but being an
annual, soon disappears, leaving no vestige of its existence. In the
alluvial bottomlands subject to the periodical inundation, two other
grasses, no less esteemed for their nutriment, have an uninterrupted
growth and luxuriance which the hottest season cannot blast; these are
the _carretera_, named from the beautiful prairie-goose that feeds on
it, and the _lambedora_, so termed on account of its softness, animals
feeding on it appearing to lick rather than masticate it. Cattle and
horses thrive on it very perceptibly, and even calves only a fortnight
old, may be left to shift for themselves amidst those nutritious
pastures.
_Esteros_ is the name by which these perennial meadows are there
designated. They have moreover the
[Illustration: GARZERO.]
advantage of retaining water enough throughout the year to make them the
resort of all kinds of quadrupeds and of every fowl whom “Nature has
taught to dip the wing in water,” the former to allay their thirst and
feast on the fine grass, and the latter for the purpose of raising their
young in the vicinity of ponds well stocked with fish of all varieties.
No description can convey a just idea of the appearance presented by
these lagoons, crowded with almost every variety of animal. The birds in
particular--most of which belong to the extensive family of cranes--seem
to have migrated there from all quarters of the globe. These
fluttering communities of aquatic birds are known in the country
under the appropriate name of _garzeros_, from the many
_garzas_--herons--predominating in them. The immense number of these may
be conceived from the fact that their colonies sometimes embrace
several miles in extent. I noticed there also various kinds of
cranes--_garzones_--one of them, called the soldier, from its erect
bearing and martial air--is over five feet in height, with a bill fully
a foot long. The _garzas_ were of various sizes and colors, some
snow-white, some a delicate blue, others gray or pink, and many of a
brilliant scarlet. Although cranes and herons are species very nearly
allied, yet they verify the old saying, “birds of a feather flock
together,” for each keeps quite distinct from the other. They generally
select the spreading top of a low tree--_caujaro_--growing in vast
quantities near the water, in which to build their nests; these are of
dry sticks very ingeniously interwoven among the branches. Well-beaten
tracks are made under the bushes by the tramp of many suspicious
characters of the feline tribe, who make these feathered colonies their
favorite resort, where they improve every opportunity of appropriating
any young birds that may chance to fall from the nests.
As we rode past several ponds, covered with a kind of water-lily, whose
flowers are of a dark purple color, myriads of ducks, of the small
species called _güiriries_, rose in the air, actually for the moment
obscuring the sun. They uttered a shrill note, clearly repeating the
sound from which they are named, so that the hunter easily discovers
their whereabout. There were, besides, great numbers of a larger species
of duck--the _pato real_, or royal duck--so named, I presume, from a
graceful tuft of black feathers with which it is crowned. Here and there
a brace of _carreteros_ soared over head, uttering their peculiar
rolling notes; the hoarse quacking of the male bird, followed by the
shrill cries of the female, make perfect the before-mentioned
resemblance to the rumbling of cartwheels.
During the moulting season, the people in the neighborhood of these
lagoons resort to them from time to time, and drive without difficulty
towards the farm-house as many of these ducks as they may desire. I was
assured by several reliable individuals that not far from San Pablo
there is a lagoon on the borders of which a regiment of cavalry once
encamped, and lived during a fortnight exclusively on these birds,
without any apparent diminution of their numbers.
This prodigious exuberance of animal life has justly entitled the Apure
to the reputation of being a land of plenty; but, alas, it is also a
land of death! as, from the bottom of these extensive marshes miasmas of
a pestilential nature are continually arising, which, at certain seasons
of the year, render this fine country almost uninhabitable for man. They
are also the abode of those enormous water-snakes or anacondas, known in
the country under the name of _culebras de agua_, in contradistinction
to the boa constrictor or _traga-venado_, so termed on account of the
ease with which it gorges itself with a whole deer at once. Both of
these snakes are also remarkable for the strength which enables them to
crush their victims in the coils of their huge muscular bodies; but the
anaconda is by far the more voracious and bold of the two, attacking not
only inferior animals, such as deer, capyvaras, and young calves, but
even that pride of the herd, the _padrote_, cannot always escape the
deadly embrace. Woe to the unsuspecting colt or heifer, who, panting
with thirst and heat, should incautiously plunge into one of these
modern Stygian lakes, for the coil of the monster will in an instant be
around it, followed by a fearful cracking of its bones. This
accomplished, the snake proceeds to cover the whole mangled body with a
slimy secretion from his mouth which assists him in the process of
deglutition. Should it be a stag--the head of which presents the
formidable obstacle of its huge antlers--the snake commences by
swallowing first the hind quarters, trusting to time and the natural
process of decay for the head to drop off. In this plight the anaconda
is often found, looking like an immense log, stretched out in the soft
mud of lagoons, whence they are then easily dragged by means of a lazo,
tied to the tail of a horse. On examining the mouth of one of these
snakes, it will be found that the jaws are furnished with a row of sharp
and crooked teeth, bent inward like tenter hooks; with these he seizes
his prey, and holds it securely until the victim, unable to struggle
longer, drops exhausted. What appears most extraordinary in these
unequal contests, is the tenacity with which the snake adheres to the
soft mud of the lagoon, there being neither rock nor stump to which he
can secure himself. Nor will the efforts of a large bull, no matter how
powerful, be sufficient to drag the snake one inch out of his element,
unless he is first cut asunder. In darting upon a quadruped, the
anaconda invariably aims at its snout, the animal seldom escaping when
once the terrible fangs have been buried in its flesh. It is not an
unusual thing, however, for a bull to cut a snake asunder in his violent
struggles; then the shaggy victor may be seen proudly marching at the
head of his troop with this unsightly trophy hanging from his nose. The
toughness of the anaconda’s skin makes it eagerly sought after by the
inhabitants for straps and various other objects susceptible of injury
from friction, as they outwear those made from any other material. The
fat is also much esteemed for burning, and as a lubricator for the bones
and tendons of persons afflicted with rheumatism, or rigidity of limb.
This oil is perfectly clear and transparent, without any disagreeable
odor, and is readily absorbed into the system by simply rubbing it on
the skin.
Shortly after leaving San Pablo, we had a spirited chase after a herd
of wild pigs. There were upwards of twenty browsing on the borders of a
pond, and in an instant the whole plain--in such repose a few moments
before--resounded with the cries and clatter of our horsemen in eager
pursuit of this delicious game of the Llanos. Many of the men being
provided with lances, they had no difficulty in despatching most of
those whose fate threw them in the way of the remorseless cavaliers. But
an old _berraco_ or boar, which seemed to be the sultan of the grisly
community, harassed by the combined attacks of several horsemen,
suddenly whirled round and made a gallant stand, determined, as it
appeared, not to give up without a fierce resistance. At first it was
supposed that three or four men would be sufficient to bring him down,
and that number were accordingly sent after him; but finding the
engagement protracted, several others, including myself, went to their
assistance. On reaching the spot a fearful spectacle was presented to
us. The infuriated animal, his eyes shooting fire, and fiercely grinding
his tusks, stood at bay a short distance from his aggressors, his mouth
covered with a bloody froth, while one of the men lay bleeding profusely
from a wound on the thigh inflicted by the sharp tusks of the boar. We
learned that Cipriano, the wounded hunter’s name, perceiving that the
lances of his companions only succeeded in irritating the boar, very
foolishly leaped from his saddle, and drawing his sword, deliberately
attacked him without even taking the precaution of covering his
movements with the sheepskin from his saddle, as is practised in
contests with wild bulls. The man boasted with reason of being the most
skilful matador in all the Apure; but in this case he did not reckon on
the tough hide of his opponent; for, at the first rush of the boar upon
him, and in spite of the steadiness with which he aimed the stroke, the
well-tempered steel bent like a reed the moment it encountered the
shoulder of the boar, leaving Cipriano completely at the mercy of the
enraged brute. The consequence, as I have already stated, was a severe
gash, almost laying bare the femoral bone of the unfortunate matador.
The tusks of the wild boar, especially those of the lower jaw, are so
long and sharp, that the animal makes use of them as a bull does of his
horns. The upper ones rest directly upon the lower, and his constant
grinding of them, especially when he is enraged, soon wears the points
into a broad and sharp edge. United, these tusks form a perfect circle
five or six inches in diameter. The services of our surgeon, Dr.
Gallegos, were immediately called into requisition, who dressed the
wound, while the companions of the suffering hunter endeavored to avenge
him. They rained a shower of lances upon the body of the enraged beast,
but, apparently, with no better effect; for, with one powerful stroke of
his tusks, he broke in two the shaft of some and carried away the head
of others. Doubtless we should have succeeded in finishing him after a
time; but the helpless condition of our companion requiring especial
care, we placed him on his saddle, for want of better conveyance, and,
leaving the boar conqueror, proceeded on our journey.
Having killed more animals than we could conveniently carry, we selected
two fat sows for our breakfast, and left the remainder to the flock of
turkey-buzzards which, like a troop of hungry scavengers, followed our
line of march across the prairies.
I may observe here that the wild boar of the Llanos is the common hog
run wild in consequence of the little or no care bestowed upon their
breeding in the cattle-farms, and as they find in these swamps all the
elements they require for their development, viz., roots of various
kinds, sweet herbs, eels, snakes, and mire _ad libitum_, their
propagation is greatly increased. Thus the number of pigs in these
savannas is almost incredible--in the lands of El Frio alone being
estimated at forty thousand--and a just idea may be formed of their
ravages from the fact that, for miles around, those fine prairies have
been completely ploughed up by them, rendering the ground exceedingly
dangerous for horses, and almost useless for cattle-breeding, by
destroying the fine pastures which are invariably replaced by a crop of
worthless weeds.
Wild hogs, nevertheless, sometimes render good service by destroying the
snakes--for which they seem to have a particular penchant--especially
that little scourge of the savannas of Apure, the dreaded _matacaballo_.
The tails of these hogs being especially long, and, as usual, twisted,
they swing them round continually when running--a peculiarity which did
not escape a benighted son of Africa, who was being trained at a
cattle-farm to the business of the Llanos, and which occasioned quite a
ludicrous scene at one of these hunts. He had become already expert in
the use of the lazo, and was one day taken to the savanna by the
overseer for the purpose of procuring an ox for slaughter, when they
fell in with a fine hog, which at once changed their plans, and they
immediately gave him chase. None of the men had lazos, except the negro,
and he was therefore commanded to follow and secure the game; but
although he rode a very swift horse, and was often within range of the
lazo, he was observed each time to slacken his pace without any apparent
cause. “Now then, ... son of ... thy mother,” the Llanero vociferated,
“let go the lazo, or we will roast thee alive in his stead,” shouting at
him also many other no less characteristic expressions. But Sambo,
waving the lazo over his head in order to keep the noose open, would
again stop short of his mark, until the pig, who probably knew by this
time that he was wanted, straining every nerve to reach a swamp hard by,
succeeded at last in gaining a clump of wild plantains that bordered the
_estero_. Here the major-domo, losing his small remnant of patience,
quickly rode up to him, and discharging sundry lashes with his
_chaparro_ upon the sooty skin of his apprentice, asked him, in a
thundering voice: “How now, _my master_, why did ye let the fellow go
without a single effort on thy part to secure him? Have not I taught
thee well enough how to handle a lazo, thou sooty imp?” “Oh! yessa,
massa,” quoth the darkey; “but, look yer, massa, when me wisher to lazo
pig, him wisher to lazo me neither;” imitating, at the same time, with
his arm the swinging of the pig’s tail.
Very beautiful was the appearance of the many herds, each headed by its
_padrote_, on all sides dispersing at our approach. The bulls are
generally of a grave and quiet disposition when collected in herds, and
rather avoid the approach of man unless provoked to self-defence, when
they become very ferocious. Each troop is under the control of the most
powerful bull in the drove, a position which is only attained by dint of
strength and courage; as not only has he to defend his troop from the
attacks of the common enemy, but to maintain his supremacy against rival
enamorados. Thus the _padrote_, or big father, as he is appropriately
styled, can show many scars upon his tough hide, received in these
fierce combats. If a lion or jaguar approach during the night, the
_padrote_ immediately takes all his measures for the defence of his
post. His first care is to compel the herd into a compact mass, and then
advances to engage the enemy in single combat, from which he rarely
fails to come off victorious. In the mean time the herd, within the
limited space into which they have been congregated, with heads lowered
towards the enemy, prepare to repulse the intruder and defend their
young by a formidable array of horns.
Man is the only antagonist whose superiority the _padrote_ will
acknowledge; but even this is not without an obstinate resistance
whenever he has an opportunity. Nor will he retire in a hurry from his
pursuers, but facing about from time to time, often succeeds in
thwarting their intentions and securing an honorable retreat.
When the sun is high in the meridian, troops of these noble animals may
be seen slowly advancing towards the nearest _mata_, seeking to avoid
the excessive heat of the day and to enjoy their siesta in cool
retirement. Here they amuse themselves sometimes in watching over their
harems, sometimes in making their toilet, which is rubbing the point of
their horns against the hard trunk of a palm tree, or any other
convenient object, until they become sharp as awls. Woe! then, to the
imprudent traveller who, overpowered by the heat, seeks refuge in one of
those groves, thus intruding upon the sanctuary of his bullship’s
seraglio. Should he succeed in escaping safe and sound, his horse is
certain of being severely chastised for his master’s indiscretion.
An adventurous Briton, who once penetrated into one of those haunts
sacred to Taurus, came very near losing his life in consequence. He
fortunately escaped with only a few scratches and contusions; but his
clothes were torn from his body by the horns and hoofs of the bull. It
chanced in this wise: The intensity of the sun’s rays had compelled the
traveller and his companion--a shrewd old Llanero, who acted as
guide--to seek shelter under a solitary grove. On a closer acquaintance
they judged it to be the retreat of a wild bull, from the deep scars
observable on the bark of the trees, evidently caused by some animal’s
horns. They were not mistaken, for they soon discovered at a short
distance, quietly grazing, the probable owner of the rural retreat.
Knowing from experience that this would be a very unsafe spot for their
siesta, the Llanero advised that they should move off at once, rather
than be ejected thence, as would surely be the case if they remained
much longer. But John Bull, with characteristic pride, and trusting
entirely to his fine brace of pistols, laughed at the idea of giving up
his comfortable quarters, without at least a struggle for their
possession. Ordering the man to sling his hammock, he carefully examined
his pistols, after which he retired to his aërial couch. The Llanero
shook his head and very wisely omitted unsaddling the horses, contenting
himself with merely unfastening the straps. Presently the bull began to
advance in the direction of the _mata_, which the phlegmatic Englishman
no sooner perceived, than quitting his hammock, he seized his pistols
and went to the encounter. The Llanero crossed himself, and taking the
horses aside, proceeded to secure the saddles and to tie the lazo to the
tail of his own steed. In the mean time the bull continued leisurely
advancing, apparently without much noticing his uninvited guests;
occasionally, however, uttering deep bellowings expressive of his
displeasure. Bang! bang! went the two pistols; but before the smoke had
cleared, the Llanero beheld his companion stretched upon the ground and
fiercely trampled under the feet of the infuriated animal. Swift as
thought, the Llanero sprang into the saddle, and spreading his lazo,
whirled it two or three times above his head; then let it fall around
the horns of the bull at the very instant he was about to transfix the
prostrate traveller. Thus providentially prevented from doing further
injury, he was easily hamstrung and finally despatched by the captors.
That the Englishman escaped being instantly killed, can only be
accounted for by the fact that a bull often misses his aim from the very
fury of his attack.
CHAPTER XI.
EL FRIO.
On arriving at El Frio, we were agreeably surprised at finding more
spacious accommodations than we had anticipated. The house, although
thatched like all the rest with palm leaves, was spacious and well built
of _pajareque_; that is, the framework of the walls was of strong posts
of timber, well lathed and plastered over with soft mud mixed with
straw. In addition to a large _sala_ or reception room, it contained
three or four sleeping apartments; but these last were so full of bats,
that it was impossible to pass a comfortable night in them, especially
on account of the disagreeable odor proceeding from these disgusting
creatures, while the incessant bird-like chirping sound which they made
overhead, completely murdered our first night’s sleep. We tried in vain
to smoke them out by means of dried cow dung. They absented themselves
during a portion of the day, but were sure to return at dusk, bringing
with them an abundant supply of wild berries for their supper, some of
which they were constantly dropping in our hammocks, finally compelling
us to seek refuge in the open air of the corridors and courtyard.
Apart from the mansion stood a row of smaller structures containing the
kitchen and storerooms of the farm, which being useless to us, we
abandoned to the bats and turkey-buzzards. Our cooking, as usual, was
left to our skilful _chef_ Mónico and his satellites, who preferred the
_sans façon_ style of the camp to confining themselves in the narrow
range of a kitchen.
* * * * *
That which chiefly attracted my attention at this farm was the
substantial nature of the fence encompassing the buildings, capable of
resisting not only the sudden rush of a herd of cattle, for which
purpose it was intended, but also a heavy cannonade, in case of need. It
was constructed of enormous blocks of trees, almost impervious to steel
or fire, driven into the ground, each as close to the other as possible,
and neatly trimmed at top so as to present an even surface. I was unable
to comprehend by what means those monster rails could have been removed
from the forest. This, I afterwards ascertained, had been accomplished
during the inundation of the savannas, when they are easily transported
in _balsas_ or rafts made of lighter wood. The trees yielding this
everlasting timber are two distinct species of acacias, known in the
country under the euphonious names of _Angelino_ and _Acapro_, either of
which will turn the edge of the best tempered steel if great care is not
used. I was shown here two uprights to the principal gate of the
_majada_ or great enclosure for cattle, nearly a hundred years old,
still in perfect preservation, although standing in soil subject to
alternate inundations and parching heats.
The _majada_, also formed of strong posts, was sufficiently spacious to
contain three thousand animals, with compartments for the accommodation
of the herds during the various operations of cattle farms. Although
there was abundant vegetable material for the comfort or security of the
inmates, I observed here, as everywhere, a total want of shade trees
around the houses. The Llaneros, although strongly addicted to the
“sweets of savage life,” are decidedly opposed to trees in the immediate
neighborhood of their dwellings. Trees, say they, attract the
thunderbolt of heaven and the wild beasts of the field, being besides
the natural refuge of snakes and mosquitoes during the great floods.
This lack of shade was the more regretted by us as we were then in the
midst of the summer solstice, when the sun pours its vertical rays upon
the dry soil, while each day between the hours of ten and eleven, a
strong breeze arose, sweeping over the exposed plain, and bringing with
it showers of sand; this lodged in our mouths, eyes and ears, and
mingled with the food, thus rendering it unpalatable even to our
carnivorous appetites. And yet, but a short distance from the house
bloomed an inviting grove, two or three miles in circumference; this a
man of taste could have readily converted into a delightful abode,
especially as in the rainy season the inundation of the surrounding
savannas would permit the approach of vessels from the Orinoco, by which
the owner could supply himself with all the comforts of civilized life.
This charming spot was further embellished by a small lake, where we
daily watered our horses, though not without some risk to life and limb
on account of the _babas_ and caimans swarming in its depths. Even the
shallower portions were so filled with sting-rays, caribes, and other
aquatic vermin, as to render bathing in it extremely hazardous. Our
ablutions, therefore, were limited to the occasional scrubbing of our
dusty and heated bodies with wet towels. The _babas_, although still
more repulsive in appearance than their relative of the long snout--the
crocodile--are considered a _bonne bouche_, especially the tail, the
flesh of which is said to rival chicken in its flavor. From this
uninviting fount of the desert, necessity compelled us to replenish our
gourds each afternoon, that the particles of sand and clay with which it
was filled might have time to settle during the night.
The summer breezes, although disagreeable in many respects, are yet most
necessary, carrying off noxious exhalations arising from the marshy
deposits which remain in those low grounds long after the waters have
subsided; otherwise those regions would be uninhabitable. The Apure is
especially salubrious in the dry season, and were it not for their
imprudences, the inhabitants would enjoy perfect health during at least
seven months of the year. But these people, careless of consequences,
and trusting to their iron constitutions, are not deterred, while in the
excitement of a long chase, from plunging into one of these pestiferous
marshes after the object of their pursuit. The result is a severe
reaction of the system, followed by violent spasms, fevers, or that most
horrid of diseases, elephantiasis or _mal de San Lazaro_, so prevalent
in the hot regions of tropical America. Add to this recklessness the
great want of medical resources in the country, and the consequent
wretchedness and misery can be readily imagined. Nevertheless, the
inhabitants seem to care so little about these endemic vicissitudes,
that in time one accustoms himself also to view them in the same spirit
of fatalism which they attach to every event of their lives.
I was never weary of admiring the beauty of the sky and transparency of
the atmosphere at this season. Objects three or four miles distant
appeared as if actually only a few rods from the beholder, a
circumstance which often misled me when in my rambles after game I had
to traverse the plain on foot, occasioning frequent disappointments in
my reckonings.
The radiation of heat evolved from the earth at night, produced by the
perfect clearness of the sky, was so great at times as to produce a very
sensible degree of cold, which rendered the use of blankets quite
acceptable; hence the name of _El Frio_ given to this estate. The
evenings, especially, were so raw and chilly, that in order to keep
warm, we passed a great portion of the night in revelry and dancing by
moonlight, although not one crinoline graced our soirées. But we had
excellent dancers of the _Zapateo_, a sort of “breakdown,” in which most
of our men exhibited a flexibility of feet and ankles which would have
done credit to the most accomplished Ethiopian troop.
Our host _ño_ Juan Manuel, as the overseer was familiarly styled, had
engaged the services of a celebrated player on the _bandola_ from Banco
Largo, and there being no lack of _improvisatori_ among us, these
nightly revels were conducted with all the _éclat_ that circumstances
would permit. Among the bards who distinguished themselves most at such
times were the _Negro_ Quintana, an old Sergeant of the Guard, whose
constant attendance for many years on his beloved Chief and “Master,” as
he styled the General, had endeared him to the latter; and Sarmiento, as
the other was named, who acted in the capacity of _caporal_ to the
cattle farm of San Pablo. Both of these made themselves famous by the
wonderful facility with which they improvised on any given subject. They
occasionally varied the performances by singing to their guitars ballads
whose burden was invariably some adventure arising from the eventful
life in the pampas. Of these choice morceaux the most popular were
“Mambrun,” an imitation of the old French song, “_Malbrook s’en fut en
guerre_,” and “Marcelino.” The hero of this last was a renowned bandit,
who for a long time baffled all efforts to capture him, but who finally
received his deserts from the hands of a traitor, who joined his forays
for the purpose of betraying him to his enemies.
Marcelino was a common _peon_ in one of the cattle farms bordering the
river Matiyure, but being of a restless and daring disposition,
preferred the roving life of a bandit to the more sober occupations of
the farm. Finding himself pursued by the hand of justice, he was
compelled for a time to seek refuge among the Indians south of the great
river Meta, who are at this day sole tenants of those immeasurable
wilds. His superior acquirements and boldness soon gained him the
confidence and respect of the savages, who finally adopted him for their
leader, following him in his marauding expeditions against the
defenceless cattle farms this side of the Arauca. Emboldened by success,
they attacked the wealthy town of that name, whence Marcelino carried
off a beautiful woman, the wife of a respectable farmer of the place,
who employed every means in his power to recover her. All efforts,
however, were for a time fruitless, owing to the wild nature of the
country and the cunning of her captor; but he was finally taken in one
of his expeditions. The intention had been to send him to Achaguas, with
which object he was well bound and placed under a strong escort; but
being a great favorite with all classes of Llaneros, who admire valor in
every form, he was finally given in charge of the famous Manuel
Blanco--a rich land owner of the Apure--at the earnest solicitation of
the latter, who promised to see him safely delivered to the authorities.
On the way thither, however, Marcelino managed to give his bondsman the
slip, and escaped to his favorite haunts again. All further attempts to
retake him failing at that time, a bold sambo from the upper country
volunteered to penetrate into the unknown region, intending to decoy him
and his savage band to a certain cattle farm where a strong picket of
cavalry would lie in wait. Having represented to Marcelino that immense
wealth in money and jewels was possessed by the owners of the farm, the
bandit concluded to come out of his fastness and retrieve his former
fame by a bold dash at the cattle farm of Herradero. On arriving at the
place, where matters having been arranged as had been agreed upon
between Maldonado--the betrayer’s appropriate name--and the officers of
justice, Marcelino and his band were surprised. He endeavored to escape,
but Maldonado spurring his horse toward the unsuspecting bandit, pierced
him with his sword. Without delaying he then pushed on, followed by the
_hateros_, to the camp where the unfortunate lady was still a captive.
They found her surrounded by a train of red skin dames of honor, all of
whom were afterward distributed as servants among the families of their
conquerors.
Nearly all the Indians of that tribe were destroyed on this occasion,
only a few escaping to the Big Forest, where they bewailed among the
monkeys and jaguars of those solitudes the loss of their favorite
chieftain. The ballad which commemorates the event, commences:
“A Marcelino lo mataron
En el hato de Herradero,
Y los Indios lo lloraron
A su capitan vaquero.”
Marcelino the bold was slain,
Slain at the farm of Herradero;
And the Indians lament in vain
Their loved sportsman, chieftain and hero.
Maldonado, who at heart was a rogue of the same stamp as Marcelino,
having tasted of the independent roving life of the bandit, found it so
congenial that he concluded to follow the illustrious example of his
former leader and associate; but wanting in the principal traits which
had raised the latter to his exalted position, was speedily destroyed
and almost precisely in the same manner which he had devised for the
overthrow of the renowned Marcelino. Previous to this, however,
Maldonado, in imitation of his former chieftain, and availing himself of
the defenceless state of the town of Guasdualito, attempted to carry off
from thence la Villafañe, a lady celebrated for her beauty. With this
intent, he brought to her door a horse already saddled for her, and
commanded her to mount and follow him. This she indignantly refused to
do; but finding all entreaties and resistance of no avail, she seized
some poison from a drawer at hand, and with resolution worthy of a Roman
matron, placed it to her lips, exclaiming, as she did so, that she would
surely swallow it if he did not instantly quit her presence. The threat
proved successful; for the bandit, awed by her heroism, left her.
* * * * *
The business of the pampas required us to be up at the first peep of
dawn. A cup of coffee and milk, mixed with ground parched corn--which I
would recommend to all travellers on long journeys of this sort--served
us until breakfast time. I amused myself during the day sketching in
company with my friend, Mr. Thomas, while the men made their
preparations for a grand hunt among the cattle of the estate. The most
important of these arrangements was that of manufacturing from hides
sufficient lazos for the sport. There is a marked difference between the
skins of bullocks raised in the shady parts of the Llanos and those
roaming wild over the deserts of the Apure. Although the former are much
thicker, the lazos made from the hides of cattle constantly exposed to
the sun’s rays are infinitely stronger. The lazo is easily made. A fresh
hide, spread upon the ground with the hair downward, is neatly cut into
a long strap two inches wide. This is twisted into a tight thong and
stretched out to dry between two posts, after which it is well rubbed
with fat. When thoroughly dried, a loop is made at one end; through
this, when required for use, the thong is passed, forming the noose or
lazo proper, while the other end is firmly tied to the horse’s tail,
using its long hair for the purpose. In other parts of South America
they fasten the lazo to a ring in the saddle; but this arrangement,
besides causing too great strain upon the horse’s back, is fraught with
danger to the rider in case of a recoil from the thong if a break occur.
The thorough training which horses receive in the Llanos is invaluable
in such cases, as not only does the success of the chase depend on the
readiness with which he obeys his rider, but even after the game is
secured with the lazo, it is necessary that the horse should range
instantly on a line with the struggling victim; but unless this is
effected before the strain comes upon the lazo, the horse and his rider
are inevitably overthrown. The hunter, at the moment of using the lazo,
coils a portion of the thong, which he holds with his left hand, and
with the rest forms the running noose, which is repeatedly whirled
around his head to keep it open. When within reach of his mark, he aims
at the animal’s head and throws the noose in such a manner as to cause
a rapid uncoiling of the thong in his left hand. Some Llaneros are so
expert as to entangle at the same instant the feet and head of the
animal, on which he is quickly brought to the ground.
* * * * *
We were joined at El Frio by another party of cattle hunters, under the
leadership of an old acquaintance, Colonel Castejon, widely celebrated
in the Llanos for great bravery and skill in the pursuits of the
country. He came to help us in the hunt after wild cattle, and to help
himself to as many animals as he could drive home with his party. We
also had the honor of a visit from the Governor of the Province, Señor
Arciniega, a jovial, talkative, and well-informed functionary, and the
most accomplished marksman of the Apure. It was therefore proposed to
have a grand shooting match in the open field, and with this view we all
started one morning for a creek called Macanillal, about three miles
distant, intending to use the crocodiles, by far the most difficult
animal to shoot, as targets. On entering the woody banks of the creek,
we were agreeably surprised to discover on the soft mud evident proofs
that we had come in the right direction, not only for our anticipated
sport with the water monsters, but also that we were likely to have a
brush with even a more formidable antagonist--the jaguar. Footprints of
this splendid animal were so numerous, that we forgot for a time the
crocodiles and made diligent search for the nobler game. We had small
success, however, having no dogs with us to drive him from the jungle;
for, unless he has the advantage over his adversaries, the jaguar never
shows himself in the day-time.
As we came in sight of the water, I was astonished at seeing its whole
surface bubbling as if in a state of effervescence, and at finding also
on nearer inspection that this was occasioned by the blowing close to
the water’s surface of millions of _coporos_. Other varieties of fish
were also so abundant, that we shot many near the shore, among them a
very fine catfish.
The report of the guns brought to the surface numbers of crocodiles,
which we prepared to assail from the high bank of the creek. To our
honorable guest, the Governor, was conceded the privilege of shooting
the first, which he did with great accuracy, sending a ball directly
through one of the creature’s eyes. Still the shot did not kill him
instantly, as would have been the result with any other animal; and he
plunged through the creek for a time at a furious rate, lashing the
water with his powerful tail, and causing great commotion among the
finny multitude. The other crocodiles in lieu of being alarmed with the
uproar, were only rendered more inquisitive, dashing forward with
gleaming eyes and tusks, which so fascinated my friend the English
artist, as rather endangered his safety in his eagerness to get a
thorough view of the reptiles. Forgetting his proximity to the
precipice, he approached it so nearly as to miss his footing, and would
doubtless have rolled into one of the open jaws below him, but for the
prompt assistance of a companion, who caught him as he was in the act of
falling.
From the same place where the first shot was fired, we succeeded in
killing or wounding not less than twenty crocodiles; but the banks being
high and precipitous, we could not secure the carcases. One of these,
which lay stranded on a sand bank across the creek, being characterized
by a singular hump on his back, which added to his already monstrous
size, I felt a great desire to examine more closely. To accomplish this,
it was necessary to ford the creek lower down, where I was assured the
water was sufficiently low to allow of walking over. The undertaking was
not, however, without considerable risk from the numerous sting-rays and
caribes. But my interest in all pertaining to Nature’s works helped me
over to the other side, whither I was accompanied by Roseliano, a youth
attached to my family, famed as a dare-devil. With his assistance I
dragged the crocodile partly out of water, and was examining the load
which nature had placed upon his back, when Roseliano perceived a
movement of one of his eyes, the other having been shattered by the
bullet; we supposed he had been by this time quite dead. My young
companion, who had expressed his suspicions that the crocodile was only
feigning death, wishing to ascertain the truth, proposed stabbing him in
the armpit with his dagger. Before permitting this, I insisted upon
securing the jaws by means of a large stake which we sharpened at one
end and plunged into his nostrils, and I then leaned upon it with the
whole weight of my body. This precaution saved my companion, but came
very near proving fatal to myself, as the instant the crocodile felt the
cold steel between his ribs he raised his enormous head, lifting me at
least a foot from the ground; but was prevented from injuring me by the
stake which he caught between his powerful tusks, shattering it to
splinters, and then retreated to the middle of the creek. His triumph
was, however, of short duration; for, the blood oozing in torrents from
his wounds, he quickly fell a prey to thousands of hungry caribes.
Sir Robert Schombourgh relates an incident which occurred during his
ascent of the river Berbice, and which further demonstrates the tenacity
of life in the cayman. “One was fired at, floating, and the ball took
off the end of the snout; it received another immediately afterward in
the hinder part of the skull which appeared to have taken effect; still,
the Indians were not sparing in their blows, and when there was not much
likelihood of its possessing a spark of life, it was deposited on the
bow of one of the corials. While the corial was drawn across the rapids,
two of the Arawaaks got courage and took it up in order to lay it in a
more convenient place; they had just effected this, when at one bound it
jumped out into the river and disappeared. The Indians looked quite
stupefied, and never afterward could be persuaded to touch a cayman.”
The creek of Macanillal is also famous for its many water-dogs, or
_perros de agua_ (Myopotamus coypos) and nutrias. The latter is a large
species of otter with a fine glossy fur. The former resembles a beaver
very closely, but has a round tail similar to that of the opossum. Both
animals live in the water, coming out occasionally to sun themselves on
the sand banks. In a hut near the scene of our last crocodile adventure
I saw a skin of the water-dog which measured five feet in length,
exclusive of the tail; but although I often made diligent search for
this singular amphibious animal, I never had an opportunity of making
his acquaintance. Like the otter he is extremely shy, and only the
practised eye of an Indian can trace him near the surface of the water
when he rises to breathe.
CHAPTER XII.
BIRDS OF ILL OMEN AND CARRION HAWKS.
The distant bellowing of bulls assembling their herds--sure sign that
the tiger was prowling near them--lulled us pleasantly to sleep in our
hammock-beds after the fatigues and labors of the day. Not unfrequently
we were treated to a serenading chorus of _araguatos_ or howling
monkeys, and to the hootings of the _titirijí_ or tiger-owl of the
pampas, whose peculiar cries might be readily mistaken, by an
unaccustomed ear, for the angry growl of that spotted bandit of the
forest--the jaguar. The neighboring woods were also the haunts of
several other species of owls and goat-suckers, whose dreary notes wake
mournful echoes by night and fill superstitious imaginations with
fearful and foreboding visions.
The tiger-owl, which may be said to rank among the feathered tribe as
does the jaguar or American tiger among beasts, is nearly the size of a
domestic turkey. Like his powerful prototype, he is spotted with black,
and seldom makes himself heard excepting at night, when calling on his
mate; or during his nocturnal expeditions in the neighborhood of the
farmyard. He is then, not only a terror to the defenceless brood, but
also to the younger inmates of the house, who look upon him with a kind
of superstitious awe, on which account he sometimes escapes punishment.
Less imposing in size than the preceding--although more terrifying in
their way--are the _ya-acabó_ and the _pavita_--two other species of owl
considered harbingers of calamity or death, when heard fluttering around
a house. The first portends an approaching death among the inmates, and
is therefore looked upon with dread even by men who would not flinch at
the sight of the most formidable bull or jaguar. Yet that appalling cry,
_ya acabó! ya acabó!_--it is finished! it is finished!--seems so fraught
with evil mystery, that few hear it unmoved. The only expedient resorted
to, in such cases, is to form a cross with hot ashes in front of the
house, which, it is believed, will drive away this ill-omened messenger.
The _pavita_--although not larger than a turtle-dove, is also considered
_pajaro de mal agüero_--a bird of ill-omen--being no less--they
say--than the departed spirit of some good-natured relative come to warn
his kindred against approaching calamity. In these cases, as it is
believed that nothing is so acceptable to the poor soul as a few Pater
Nosters and Ave Marias, they usually try to disembarrass themselves of
the unwelcome visitor by reciting aloud several of these prayers, after
crossing themselves twice with much devotion. Whenever this owl’s
dreaded cry is heard, it is certain to be followed by a scene of great
confusion and dismay: the children run to the women and hide behind
their skirts; the women seek protection from the men; while these
content themselves with muttering the holy invocation _Ave Maria
Purisima!_ which is ever with them the favorite talisman against danger.
Great varieties of goat-suckers--not unlike huge butterflies fluttering
in the light evening breeze--also make their appearance at sundown, when
may be heard their singularly harsh notes closely resembling human
articulations.
“The harmless, unoffending goat-sucker, from the time of Aristotle down
to the present day”--says Waterton in his “Wanderings”--“has been in
disgrace with man. Father has handed down to son, and author to author,
that this nocturnal thief subsists by milking the flocks. Poor injured
little bird of night! how sadly hast thou suffered, and how foul a stain
has inattention to facts put upon thy character! Thou hast never robbed
man of any part of his property, nor deprived the kid of a drop of
milk.”
“When the moon shines bright, you may have a fair opportunity of
examining the goat-sucker. You will see it close by the cows, goats, and
sheep, jumping up every now and then, under their bellies. Approach a
little nearer--he is not shy, ‘he fears no danger for he knows no sin.’
See how the nocturnal flies are tormenting the herd, and with what
dexterity he springs up and catches them as fast as they alight on the
belly, legs and udder of the animals. Observe how quiet they stand, and
how sensible they seem of his good offices, for they neither strike at
him, nor hit him with their tails, nor tread on him, nor try to drive
him away as an uncivil intruder. Were you to dissect him and inspect his
stomach, you would find no milk there. It is full of the flies which
have been annoying the herd.
“The prettily mottled plumage of the goat-sucker, like that of the owl,
wants the lustre which is observed in the feathers of the birds of day.
This, at once, marks him as a lover of the pale moon’s nightly beams.
There are nine species here” (in Demerara). “The largest appears nearly
the size of the English wood-owl. Its cry is so remarkable, that having
once heard it, you will never forget it. When night reigns over these
immeasurable wilds, whilst lying in your hammock, you will hear this
goat-sucker lamenting like one in deep distress. A stranger would never
conceive it to be the cry of a bird. He would say it was the departing
voice of a midnight murdered victim, or the last wailing of Niobe for
her poor children, before she was turned into stone. Suppose yourself in
hopeless sorrow, begin with a high loud note, and pronounce, ‘ha, ha,
ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,’ each note lower and lower, till the last is
scarcely heard, pausing a moment or two betwixt every note, and you will
have some idea of the moaning of the largest goat-sucker in Demerara.
“Four other species of the goat-sucker articulate some words so
distinctly, that they have received their names from the sentences they
utter, and absolutely bewilder the stranger on his arrival at these
parts. The most common one sits down close by your door, and flies and
alights three or four yards before you, as you walk along the road,
crying, ‘Who are you, who, who, who are you?’ Another bids you, ‘Work
away, work, work, work away.’ A third cries mournfully, ‘Willy, come go,
Willy, Willy, Willy come go.’ And high up the country a fourth tells you
‘Whip poor Will, whip, whip, whip poor Will.’”[27]
There is a bird, however, among these nocturnal serenaders which
impresses you with very different feelings from those produced by the
owl species: this is the _Gallineta de monte_ or forest-hen, a most
beautiful creature both in color and in shape, and not unlike a
water-hen in general appearance: the eyes especially are peculiarly
pretty, being of a brilliant ruby color and scintillate like fire. These
birds sing in concert, and their song--a lively chatter--has a mystic
fascination I am unable to describe. They are also considered delicate
eating; but unfortunately are very difficult to catch, for even after
being shot, unless wounded in the leg, they can outstrip the swiftest
hound, although their wings, being very small, avail them little.
Nature, however, has provided them with long yellow legs for the
purpose.
The ponds and lagoons of the savannas are literally crowded with other
individuals of the feathered tribe, whose lively notes and incessant
chatterings contribute likewise to enliven the night. The most
conspicuous among them are various species of teal-ducks, such as
_güires_ and _yaguasos_, and a long-legged plover--_alcaravan_.--This
last has the peculiarity of uttering a long, shrill sound at hourly
intervals, thus marking every hour of the night after the manner of a
clock’s alarum. It is easily domesticated in the houses, where it
renders some service, not only by marking time, but also by giving
warning of the approach of strangers.
The _aruco_ is another bird of large size, whose drum-like notes are
often heard in the stillness of night. In size and plumage it greatly
resembles a turkey; but its flesh is so spongy, that in lifting one of
these uncouth birds from the ground, it appears like a mere bundle of
feathers. The wings of the male are provided with a pair of sharp spurs,
with which, when fighting, they greatly injure one another.
Another feature of the cattle-farm is the great number of carrion
vultures and other birds of prey constantly hovering around the houses
and corrals, attracted thither by the carcasses of dead animals. The
most conspicuous among them is the _zamuro_ or _gallinazo_, (Cathartes
Atratus,) that constant companion of rude civilization in all tropical
countries, but an indolent, greedy and disgusting associate. As,
however, they occasionally render service in the capacity of scavengers,
they are generally tolerated among the fowl of the farmyard. It is a
gregarious bird, and collects in large flocks on the roof and fences,
where, with knowing glances, they seem to be scanning all the actions of
the inmates. I often amused myself in threatening them with a missile of
some sort; but they never appeared to notice it, until they perceived me
to be in earnest: then with wings half spread and leaning forward, they
watched intently the moment when I should hurl it at them to evade it by
flight or a dodge of the head.--They build their nests in holes which
they dig in the ground. Their young are white, gradually changing to
black as they grow older, and only two are raised by the parent every
year. Although essentially carrion feeders, the olfactories of these
birds are not so sensitive as to discover for them a dead animal--as
many suppose;--but their sight is very good. They fly to immense
heights, and thence examine every portion of the ground below them. In
doing this they may often be observed on motionless wing, whirling round
and round in graceful evolutions.
With the _zamuro_ is often associated another carrion vulture, the
_oripopo_ or turkey-buzzard, (Vultur aura,) of the same size and with
similar habits to the former. It differs however, from its relative in
color--which is dark brown--and in having its neck more destitute of
feathers. It is also more elegant in form and in its graceful evolutions
through the air than the black vulture. The turkey-buzzard has a wide
geographical range, having been met by Audubon as far north as
Pennsylvania, and by Darwin in the arid plains of Patagonia and Tierra
del Fuego. When soaring through the upper regions of the air, it can be
at once recognized by its long, sweeping flight, accompanied by a
buzzing sound, much like the gust of the whirlwind, and perfectly
audible from a great distance.
The _Rey-Zamuro_ or king of the vultures, (Vultur papa,) larger than the
foregoing, is the most beautiful of its kind. Its plumage, resembling
down in softness and fineness, is of a pearly white, excepting the
wings, which are tipped with black. The breast and neck, although
entirely bare of feathers, are decked in the most brilliant tint of
blue, orange, and red, while a sort of membranous excrescence crowns
the head, giving it a truly royal appearance.
This King of the vultures has also very aristocratic habits, never
associating with any, not even those of his own tribe. It is a
remarkable fact that when he alights upon a carcass, amidst a flock of
other vultures, all these last retire, or make a circle round the
banquet. When his majesty has dined, he flies off, uttering a loud cry,
and only then his subjects venture to approach the carrion.
There is in the more elevated part of the adjoining province of Barinas,
another bird of the same class--Vultur barbatus--which partakes of the
eagle and the vulture, but is larger than either. It is called in
consequence _gavilucho_--eagle-hawk--and has been seen at times
descending toward the plains. The legs and wings are very long and
powerful. It is said to be very handsome, but it is extremely shy of
man. The plumage is bluish, red, white and yellow. This bird joins to
the boldness and cruelty of the eagle, the loathsome voracity of the
vultures. It prefers live flesh, especially that of small quadrupeds,
and preys principally upon rabbits, goats, sheep and even young calves.
It raises only one brood in a season, and builds its nest amidst the
most inaccessible ledges of the Cordilleras.
I will close the list of the carrion birds of Venezuela with enumerating
two others, nearly allied to the hawk, but partaking also of the
characteristics of the eagle. These are the _caricari_ and _chiriguare_
(Polyborus Brasiliensis and P. Chimango) corresponding to the
_caracaras_ and _carrancha_ of Brazil and Buenos Ayres, concerning
which Darwin has given this graphic account:
“The _caracaras_ are from their structure placed among the eagles: we
shall soon see how ill they become so high a rank. In their habits they
will supply the place of our carrion crows, magpies and ravens, a tribe
of birds widely distributed over the rest of the world, but entirely
absent in South America.
“The carranchas, together with the chimango, constantly attend in
numbers the estancias and slaughtering-houses. If an animal dies on the
plain, the gallinazo commences the feast, and then the two species of
Polyborus pick the bones clean. These birds, although thus commonly
feeding together, are far from being friendly. When the carrancha is
quietly seated on the branch of a tree or on the ground, the chimango
often continues for a long time flying backward and forward, up and
down, in a semicircle, trying each time at the bottom of the curve to
strike its larger relative. Although the carranchas frequently assemble
in numbers, they are not gregarious; for in desert places they may be
seen solitary, or more commonly in pairs.
“The carranchas are said to be very crafty, and to steal great numbers
of eggs. They attempt, also, together with the chimango, to pick off the
scabs from the sore backs of horses and mules. The poor animal, on the
one hand, with its ears down and its back arched, and, on the other
hand, the hovering bird, eyeing at the distance of a yard the disgusting
morsel, form a picture, which has been described by Captain Head with
his own peculiar spirit and accuracy. These false eagles rarely kill
any living bird or animal; and their vulture-like, necrophagous habits
are very evident to any one who has fallen asleep on the desolate plains
of Patagonia, for when he wakes he will see, on each surrounding
hillock, one of these birds patiently watching him with an evil eye; it
is a feature in the landscape of these countries, which will be
recognized by every one who has wandered over them. If a party of men go
out hunting with dogs and horses, they will be accompanied during the
day by several of these attendants. After feeding, the uncovered craw
protrudes; at such times, and indeed, generally, the carrancha is an
inactive, tame, and cowardly bird. Its flight is heavy and slow, like
that of an English rook. It seldom soars; but I have twice seen one at a
great height gliding through the air with great ease. It runs, (in
contradistinction to hopping,) but not quite so quickly as some of its
congeners. At times the carrancha is noisy, but is not generally so; its
cry is loud, very harsh and peculiar, and may be likened to the sound of
the Spanish guttural _g_, followed by a rough double _r r_; when
uttering this cry, it elevates its head higher and higher, till at last,
with its beak wide open, the crown almost touches the lower part of the
head. This fact, which has been doubted, is quite true.”
These birds are, however, a great blessing to the inhabitants of the
Llanos, who are indebted to them, not only for the destruction of vast
numbers of snakes and other reptiles, but for the service they render
conjointly with the vultures in consuming the offal near houses. They
seek their food both in dry lands and amidst the swampy borders of
rivers; on the one they find serpents and lizards in abundance; in the
other terrapins, frogs and small crocodiles. They are peculiar in always
killing their prey before commencing to devour it. If the _caricari_
meet with a serpent or young crocodile large enough to oppose a long
resistance, he approaches it sideways, shielded by one of his wings
spread out, and striking his prey near the head with his bill, retires
to a short distance to watch the result. A second blow is usually fatal,
upon which, seizing his victim in his claws, he tears it with his bill.
The sluggish tortoises and terrapins are easy prey for the _caricari_;
these he renders helpless by turning them upon their backs, then with
his powerful bill tears out the entrails.
Singing birds are of great numbers and varieties in the Llanos; these
are mostly of the oriole species, all of which seem to delight in the
vicinity of man. They usually select some tree near the house, and from
its slender topmost branches, weave their hanging nests beyond reach of
mischievous boys and monkeys. One of these songsters, the _gonzal_, had
his nest close by the ropes of my hammock, where every morning before
sunrise he awakened me by his sweetly plaintive notes; and so fascinated
was I by this charming neighbor, that I always remained long after the
reveille, listening to his delicious music.
There is another closely allied species, far superior to this or any
other bird of the kind with which I am acquainted. It is the troupial,
whose powerful notes can only be likened to strains of the violin. It is
easily domesticated in houses, and learns readily any air from hearing
it whistled. I have one of these birds at home (in New York) which sings
the Cachuca, Yankee Doodle, and various other tunes, besides distinctly
whistling the name of a person. Its predominant colors are rich orange
and shining black, with white spots on the wings and bill in beautiful
contrast. It is a dangerous pet, however, if at large in a house,
attacking strangers furiously, and always aiming at the eyes.
The _arrendajo_, or mocking-oriole, is perhaps the most extraordinary of
its kind, on account of its imitative proclivities, mimicking every
sound with such exactness, that he goes by the name of mocking-bird
among the colonists of Demerara; according to Waterton, “His own song is
sweet, but very short. If a toucan be yelping in the neighborhood, he
drops it, and imitates him. Then he will amuse his protector with the
cries of the different species of woodpecker, and when the sheep bleat
he will distinctly answer them. Then comes his own song again; and if a
puppy dog or a guinea fowl interrupt him, he takes them off admirably,
and by his different gestures during the time, you would conclude that
he enjoys the sport.”
The arrendajo is, besides, a beautiful bird, and considered by
ornithologists a model of symmetry; his predominant color is a glossy
black, with the exception of his belly, rump and half the tail, which
are of a bright yellow. On each wing also he has a spot of the same
color. His beak is tinged of a delicate shade of lemon, while his eyes
are sky blue, the pupil being a deeper shade of the same.
[Illustration: THE RODEO.]
CHAPTER XIII.
THE RODEO.
We had long been impatiently awaiting the command for a general turnout
and chase among the legions of wild cattle grazing in the far horizon;
and when at length the day was appointed for a _rodeo_ or grand hunt,
the universal gratification was boundless.
It is customary in all large cattle farms to assemble from time to time
the cattle of certain districts for the purpose of selecting those which
require branding and marking, and also to allow the neighboring farmers
to separate from the herds many stray animals belonging to them, which,
from the open nature of the plains, it is impossible to keep within the
boundaries of their own savannas. This operation cannot be accomplished
without a great number of able and expert riders, who, on a given day,
surround a large area of country and drive toward one centre all the
cattle that may be found within the selected space. An extended circle
or ring is thus formed, enclosing a great horde of wild animals; these
are kept in check by the well-concerted evolutions of the _vaqueros_
until the appointed rendezvous is reached, where, after allowing the
cattle to cool down, the different brands are selected; hence the name
of _rodeo_, from _rodear_, to surround.
The object on this occasion was not only to separate all the calves that
required branding, but also to collect a large drove of oxen, so as to
furnish our extensive potreros of San Pablo de Paya with marketable
beeves.
Our first foray against the horned tenants of the wilderness would thus
assume an importance seldom witnessed in that retired corner of the
republic; as also in addition to our own force, we counted upon the
assistance of the vaqueros from the neighboring cattle farms of
Caucagua, La Yagua, and others bordering these savannas. Due notice was
accordingly sent to the respective owners of those estates to muster on
a certain day all their forces upon the field.
The area selected for the hunt embraced at least fifteen miles _à la
ronde_. The hunters, in squads of six or eight, proceeded on the
afternoon of the day before the hunt to their stations at various points
of the savanna, having instructions to start at early dawn for the
appointed centre. We of the staff made a simultaneous move from the
house, driving before us, without distinction, all the animals we
encountered on the route. The cattle being so unexpectedly roused from
their slumbers, naturally endeavored to fly from their pursuers. Soon,
however, meeting those from opposite directions, they whirled in mad
despair, vainly endeavoring to break through the extended line of
horsemen, who were constantly galloping about the struggling mass with
shouts and thrusts from their steel-pointed _garrochas_.
At the commencement it was a truly interesting sight to watch the many
groups of cattle, deer, wild boars, dogs, foxes, and other wild
quadrupeds coming in from all directions as if impelled by one common
instinct; but no sooner did that living ring commence closing upon them,
than, scared by the confusion and uproar of the scene, their terror
quickly grew to frenzy, and they ran from side to side bellowing,
grunting, howling as they went. Solely intent upon the danger that
menaced them, the mother forgot her offspring, and listened no more to
their painful lamentations; the lover abandoned his beloved, seeking
only his own safety in disgraceful flight; and even the fierce bull,
forgetting for a moment that he is sovereign of those realms, lost his
natural spirit of brave defiance, and rushed blindly off in the train of
the frightened multitude. As if to increase the grandeur of the
spectacle, a _garzero_, which had established itself on the borders of a
creek hard by, also caught the alarm, and at our approach flew up in the
air with a tremendous crashing of wing and bill, leaving their young to
care for themselves, and with their discordant and piercing cries to
swell the uproar of the scene. It is impossible to convey an adequate
idea of this vast multitude of frightened cranes and herons of all sorts
which fluttered overhead at that moment; so great was their number that
they spread over an extent of several miles, and actually for a time
cast a deep shadow over the landscape.
Not less than eight or ten thousand head of cattle were brought within
the ring formed of more than a hundred horsemen, who, in preventing the
escape of the animals, were compelled to expose themselves and their
noble steeds to the vindictiveness of the bulls, which were constantly
rushing upon the lines in their endeavors to regain the open prairie.
Whenever this was attempted, a horseman galloped boldly upon the
fugitive, and by interposing himself between the open field and the
bull, forced the latter back to the herd. Wonderfully adroit were the
herdsmen in their avoidance of the repeated strokes aimed at them by the
bulls, even when it appeared impossible to escape being caught between
the animal’s horns. The _garrocha_ played an important part in repelling
these attacks. This instrument, only second in importance to the lazo
when in the hands of expert riders, is made of the slender, yet tough
stem, of the _alvarico_ palm, (ænocarpus cubarro,) by merely sharpening
the top end to a point, or surmounting it with an iron head, around
which a number of loose rings of the same metal are affixed; these, when
shaken close to the animal’s ear, frighten him off with the rattling
sound they produce. The shaft of the goad is fully ten feet long, and
although not thicker than a walking-stick, can bear an immense amount of
pressure without breaking. As a weapon of aggression, this slender palm
stem has become justly celebrated throughout the country, from the fact
of having supplied the primitive bands of patriots who first dared to
oppose the tyrannical rule of Spain with ready-made lances in the
wilderness. The manner in which Llaneros make use of the garrocha is
quite extraordinary. When in pursuit of a bull which they purpose
turning back to the _rodeo_, if the animal be swifter than the horse,
the rider always manages to reach him with the point of his spear. This
he thrusts into the bull’s hide, just above the shoulder-blade, and then
leans forward and rests the whole weight of his body upon the shaft,
assisted in it by his intelligent charger. The equilibrium of the bull
is thus usually destroyed, and he rolls headlong upon the ground. These
falls are often sufficient to prevent further attempts at escape, in
which case the bull is easily led into the _rodeo_. This performance,
however, is one of the most dangerous practised among Llaneros, and is
undertaken only by the most skilful and experienced riders, as, should
the spear glance off while the hunter is leaning upon it, or should he
happen to overturn the bull in front of his horse, he will in either
case receive a terrific fall, and in the latter event, probably come
into collision with the fallen animal.
From the midst, and above all the heads of that tumultuous assemblage of
wild animals, rose the shaggy frontlet of a black bull, whose martial
air and fearless step seemed to proclaim him the patriarch of the herd.
An experienced Llanero, intently watching all his movements from afar,
observed to those near him, that they would soon have fresh sport; and
that “if any one prized the skin of his horse, he would do well to look
to his spurs;” meaning that the black bull evidently intended mischief.
Mr. Thomas, who was busily sketching the novel scene before him,
unaccustomed to the jargon of the Llanos, did not understand this
remark, and therefore quietly continued his occupation. The next moment
the bull was in our midst, charging first upon Captain Valor, one of the
best riders on the field, who, in spite of his name, hastily spurred his
steed out of reach; but the bull still pursuing, charged again and again
upon him, and doubtless the last attempt would have been fatal to either
horse or cavalier, had not the bull been checked in his final onset by
accidentally plunging one of his legs into the hole of an armadillo,
which fortunate circumstance gave the captain time to distance his
pursuer. The bull next sought to vent his rage on the incautious artist,
who, one leg crossed over the neck of his horse as support for his
sketch-book, sat evidently absorbed in contemplation of the powerful and
daring brute, with whose ferocious nature he was totally unacquainted.
Having never before attended sports of the kind, my friend paid little
regard to the menacing attitude of the animal, who rushed upon him with
a fearful bellow that made us tremble for his fate. But for some
unaccountable reason, the bull after one or two ineffectual attempts to
strike his intended victim, wheeled about and disappeared among the
tangled jungle bordering the creek, apparently indignant at the
nonchalance with which John Bull received the advances of his namesake.
Fearing the recurrence of similar attacks, which might have a less
fortunate termination, it was decided to disembarrass ourselves of so
uncomfortable a neighbor; with this object, the requisite number of
horsemen provided with lazos were sent to capture and subdue him.
Instead of seeking safety in precipitate flight, as is generally the
case with wild bulls, this one unflinchingly stood his ground, and
neither shouts nor menaces could induce him to abandon the threatening
attitude he had assumed. It was indeed a splendid sight to behold that
proud monarch of the horned tribe bidding defiance to all about him, his
huge and shaggy head, surmounted by a pair of pointed, powerful horns,
high in air, and with an expression of countenance that was almost
diabolical. His savage upper lip looked as if curled in contempt of his
antagonists, and his eyes gleamed with fury in the light of the morning
sun. Occasionally with his fore feet he ploughed up the earth, which,
falling in showers upon him, he swept from his sides with his tail,
uttering all the while a sort of suppressed roar resembling distant
thunder. Then came the furious charge, when every one was compelled to
run for his life, as nothing could arrest his headlong course. Blinded
with rage, he spared not even those of his own species, killing two
heifers instantly, and wounding a bull so severely that he died shortly
afterward. Each time the men whirled the lazo to throw it over his head,
he dashed forward with such rapidity as to disconcert their aim, until,
finally, a bold and agile sambo, Sarmiento by name, who acted as
caporal, and of whom we shall say more hereafter, dismounting from his
horse and seizing the red blanket from his saddle, prepared to face the
bull without the encumbrance of the lazo. His intention was to bewilder
or _torear_ him by a succession of such feats of agility as are usually
practised by matadors in bull fights; and so successful was he, that in
one of the animal’s furious charges, he succeeded in grasping and
holding his tail; and in spite of the efforts the bull made to strike
him with his horns, Sarmiento followed his movements so closely, that by
a dexterous twist of the tail he succeeded in overthrowing the brute
upon his side; he then drew the tail between the hind legs, and as this
completely deprives the animal of all power of rising, he was enabled to
hold him until others came to his assistance. Then, to prevent further
mischief, the men proceeded to saw off the tops of his horns and to
perform upon him other usual operations. These precautions, however,
proved quite unnecessary, as the bull, exhausted by rage and loss of
blood, shortly afterward dropped upon the ground and expired.
In spite of the vigilance and constant efforts of the men to keep the
animals within the _rodeo_, several other bulls managed to break through
the ranks. The only method of bringing them back was by using the
all-potent lazo, and two men, one of them thus equipped, were despatched
after the fugitive, which on being noosed, was by the second man
speedily thrown upon his side by means of that dangerous appendage, the
tail, in the management of which the Llaneros of Venezuela are so
famous. This accomplished, they pierced the thick cartilage which
divides the nostrils with the point of a dagger; one end of the thong
was then passed through the wound, while the other remained fastened to
the horse’s tail; the Llanero, then mounting his steed, jerked the end
attached to the bull, which brought the prostrate beast at once to his
feet, when he was marched off to his destination without further
trouble, literally led by the nose.
Another method of arresting a bull in his flight, is by a bold
manœuvre termed _colear_, and which consists, as already stated, in
availing themselves of the animal’s tail to overthrow him when at full
speed; but that is not easy of accomplishment, as the bull has then such
entire freedom of movement. The horse also must be perfectly well
trained to these hazardous undertakings, and should obey instantly the
slightest pull of the bit; for if the bull turns suddenly upon his
pursuer, the chances are ten to one that the horse will be severely
wounded. The rider first gallops close to the rear of the bull, and
seizing his tail with one hand, gives it a turn or two around his wrist
to prevent its slipping. When thus prepared, he urges his horse forward,
until the heads of the two animals are on a “dead-heat;” then quickly
turning in an oblique direction, and exerting all his strength, he pulls
the bull toward him, and does not relinquish his hold until he perceives
that the enemy is tottering, when he is easily overthrown from the great
impetus imparted by their rapid pace. Some men are so dexterous that
they can colear with both hands at the same time; which necessarily
gives greater power over the bull, enabling the rider to bring him down
much more readily. The horse, in this case, left to his own well-taught
guidance, assists the manœuvres of his rider, pushing forward at the
instant he perceives that his master is prepared for the pull, and
turning about also at the right moment. How wonderful the instinct of
these noble creatures! that teaches them so readily the importance of
the slightest movement, on which often depends, not only the success of
the enterprise, but their own safety, as well as that of their masters.
If too powerful resistance is offered at the outset by the bull, as is
sometimes the case, the rider still clings to the tail of his adversary,
and throwing himself off his horse while at full speed, the impetus
combined with his weight and strength never fail in bringing the bull
like a fallen giant to the ground; then the man quickly drawing the tail
between the hind legs, awaits the arrival of his companions to assist in
securing the prize.
It was often matter of surprise to me in what manner the Llaneros,
notwithstanding the thorough training of the horses, contrived their
speedy approach to the rear of the bulls, as these were usually
considerably ahead at the start. On one occasion, I was regretting that
my pony was too small to keep pace with the hunters, when one of the
men, who was mounted on a prototype of Rosinante--on which,
nevertheless, he had performed prodigies of strength--turned to me and
said, “_Vaya, niño_, let me show you that this is not the fault of the
horse, but that of the rider;” whereupon we exchanged horses, and off he
went after a powerful bull just escaped. Not many minutes elapsed before
I lost sight of horse and rider in a cloud of dust raised by the beast
in its fall.
Some hours elapsed before the tremendous excitement and confusion of the
wild melée described above had sufficiently subsided to render the forms
of men and cattle visible through the clouds of dust and ashes raised
by the trampling of so many animals. The grass, at this period parched
by the sun and reduced to ashes in various places by the usual
conflagrations, mingled with the dust and rose in dense columns, which
from afar might have been mistaken for the dreaded monsoon.
In the mean while the distracted mothers ran from side to side, lowing
piteously for their missing young. Here and there fierce duellos among
rival bulls took place for the possession of some shaggy one of the
softer sex. Butting their huge fronts together, and goring each other
with their sharp-pointed horns, they fought with the courage and skill
of accomplished gladiators, tearing up the earth in wild fury, and
filling the air with their deep, savage bellowings. A crowd of admirers
from amidst the herd formed a circle around the combatants, and if any
from among their number evinced the least disposition to interfere, he
was immediately chased away by the others, so that there might be fair
play while the fight lasted. Often these encounters proved fatal to one
of the belligerents, as neither will yield the palm without a desperate
resistance.
The bellowing of thousands of animals, with the yells and deafening
shouts of the men galloping about the plain, waving their ponchos and
rattling their _garrochas_, combined to give the scene more the
appearance of a fiendish melodrama, than a purely pastoral assemblage of
men and cattle.
The confusion having at length subsided, four of the ablest horsemen,
penetrating the living mass, which, as they advanced, surged on either
side like the waves of the sea, commenced the difficult task of
separating the animals intended for the brand, and those belonging to
our neighbors. This occasioned another series of evolutions, which only
men trained to such exercises could have accomplished successfully.
It is usual in all cattle-farms to cut a notch or two in the animal’s
ear at the time they are branded, for the purpose of recognizing them
more readily from a distance, a precaution which is particularly
serviceable on occasions like that just described, it being impossible
to read the brand when the creatures are crowded into a herd. Although
most of the calves had not the notch, they belong by right to the owner
of the mother, even if they are found on the lands of another party. Of
it the vaqueros availed themselves in their subsequent apportioning of
the different lots of cattle. This they accomplished in the most
expeditious manner by riding boldly at the animals in question,
hastening or checking their progress through the herd as the case
required. Thus by repeated evolutions of the sort, they finally brought
the animals to the edge of the ring, where an opening was purposely left
for their escape, and then the nearest horseman drove them in among a
small body of tame cattle stationed a short distance from the _rodeo_.
These violent manœuvrings could not be accomplished, however, without
endangering at every step the security of the entire herd. Each time the
drivers turned out an animal the whole mass was thrown into the utmost
confusion, and it required the most consummate skill on the part of the
men to prevent the entire dispersion of the cattle. The fearlessness
with which the drivers plunged into that labyrinth of savage, panting
brutes, advancing close upon the wall of bristling horns which barred
their progress, and boldly driving the infuriated creatures before them
like a pack of sheep, was truly worthy of admiration. The readiness with
which they detected at a distance the mark on the animal’s ears was also
no less noticeable, singling out such at a glance, and immediately
driving them away to their respective groups. When all the brands had
thus been apportioned, each owner proceeded to drive away his own herd.
We found in these cases--as indeed in all similar ones--the assistance
of _madrineros_ or trained oxen, of great service in driving a large
body of cattle across the plains. A dozen of these oxen were sufficient
to lead a vast drove, stopping or advancing at a signal from the
overseer, while the vaqueros kept close watch on rear and flank to
prevent escape and to urge on the cattle, especially the crowd of stray
calves--some of them only a few hours old--which, like a procession of
lost children, kept up a continual bewailing for their mothers as if the
last ray of hope had departed from them. Although their case was indeed
a hard one, and the task of driving them over the rough ground still
harder, we were unwilling to leave them behind, hoping to find their
mammas among the multitude before us. When within a short distance from
the house, we halted to make preparations for the enclosure of the
herds. But one of the most dangerous parts of the proceedings yet
remained, that of forcing the cattle into the corrals.
The entrance to the _majada_--shaped like a great funnel--was, like the
rest of the fences, made of very strong posts, driven into the ground
and barred across at intervals with thick rafters of bamboo. Through
this funnel, or _manga_, the cattle in small lots were driven at full
speed headed by the _madrineros_--those treacherous guides trained to
ensnare their kindred--while the horsemen barricaded the mouth of the
funnel with the breasts of the poor horses. Every thing proceeded
satisfactorily as far as the end of the funnel, the _madrineros_, with
all the cunning of semi-civilized brutes, redoubling their pace at the
moment of entering the great enclosure. Then their wild brethren,
perceiving the treachery, turned upon their captors, and a most fearful
struggle ensued. The bulls, in spite of the deafening shouts of the men,
and the formidable array of _garrochas_ levelled at their heads,
endeavored to force their way back to the open plain, and many of them
actually succeeded in breaking through the barricade of horses. Thus
many noble steeds, which until then had escaped unhurt, met with an
inglorious death. That most of the men escaped unhurt, appeared little
less than miraculous, as not only were they also exposed at every moment
to the vindictive attacks of the bulls, but it often happened that some
of them were unhorsed, when they were in imminent danger of being
trampled by the retreating foe. The superior skill and intrepidity of
man, however, triumphed at length over mere brute resistance, and the
whole herd was in a short time securely quartered in the _majada_.
CHAPTER XIV.
BRANDING SCENES.
“Entre tanto en ancha hoguera
Como encendido tizon,
Ya la marca centellea
Con chispas de azul punzó.”
VENTURA DE LA VEGA.
It was late in the evening when we partook of our only meal that day,
and we afterward retired to rest, but not to sleep, owing to the
incessant noise made by the cattle in the corrals, who, during the whole
night, were rushing to and fro as if goaded by demons. Sometimes we
feared that the fences would give way before their mad onset, while the
dust rose in suffocating clouds, filling the atmosphere and mingling
with our food, which was thus rendered almost unfit for use. The
bellowing, roaring, and moaning of the herd could only be likened to the
wild confusion of a battle-field. Many of the savage bulls in their fury
turned their horns, sharp as bayonets, against their own kindred. The
proud padrote, his dusky mate, and the tender heifer shared alike in the
slaughter. The next day numbers lay gored to death in the dust of the
corrals, while others presented ghastly wounds. Soon the carcasses began
to putrefy, which, added to the particles of dust floating through the
air we breathed, rendered the atmosphere intolerable. Many more of the
cattle died of suffocation, and others from an infectious disease
induced by the crowded state of the herd and the noxious exhalations
from the carcasses. We therefore lost no time in branding them that they
might be set free, lest the infection should extend to the whole herd.
Animals affected in this manner exhibit no symptoms of the disease until
immediately prior to their demise, when they are observed to stagger a
few paces and drop suddenly, as if shot by a rifle ball; and yet the
vultures seem to possess an intuitive knowledge of this approaching
dissolution, in proof whereof, numbers of these feathery satellites of
death can be seen hovering around an animal which the scourge has
doomed, although it is apparently still in perfect health. The
infection, fortunately, is confined to the horned cattle, no instance of
its transmission to other creatures occurring, except in the case of men
venturing to skin the carcasses, when it assumes a different form.
Persons who have thus exposed themselves are seized with a horrible
swelling of the neck, commencing with a pimple not larger than a pin’s
head, and gradually increasing in size until it extends to the
cerebellum. Death is the inevitable result if the patient is not
promptly attended by a skilful physician. There were two or three cases
of the kind among our own people, but by careful treatment we were
fortunate enough to save them. There are, however, every year many poor
fellows in that improvident region, who, not having the same advantages,
are often carried away by the distemper.
The branding of cattle, as conducted in extensive establishments, is a
real festival for the sport-loving people of the Llanos; and each one
feels himself as deeply interested therein as though assisting at a
grand bull fight--the time-honored amusement of the descendants of
Pelayo, the Cid, and other worthies of like celebrity; and indeed the
former, or _hierra_, as that wild pageant is termed, with all its
incidents and dangers, all its noise and bustle, is perhaps the grandest
spectacle of the kind that could be devised for the entertainment and
training of that chivalric race. It is undoubtedly one of the wildest
scenes ever beheld in the pampas, and one which afforded me exceeding
pleasure from the variety of incident accompanying it. The majada is, in
fact, the school in which from infancy the Llanero is trained to conquer
or to die in daily struggles with the brute creation. It is a veritable
Olympic Circus, where the agility and strength for which he is famed are
displayed during the exciting operations performed upon the savage
denizens of the savannas, branding and marking the calves, sawing off
the horns of furious bulls and converting them into oxen for the
improvement of their flesh and disposition.
On the day appointed, all animals confined in the _majada_ are driven
into the _corralejas_ or smaller corrals adjoining the great enclosure,
and there packed as closely as possible to prevent the bulls, always
ready to strike, from doing much mischief among their own kindred.
Meantime the men prepare their lazos and station themselves according to
their respective strength and ability, while the boys kindle a blazing
fire in a safe corner of the _majada_, in which the various brands to be
used are kept at a red heat. These brands generally represent the
initials of the owner, or some sort of hieroglyphic stamp affixed to the
end of a long handle. A record of these is kept by the Justice of the
Peace in each district; and it is considered a great crime to alter or
in any unauthorized manner efface their impression from the skin of
animals. The cattle are usually branded on the haunches; but whenever a
horse, mule, or mare is sold, the brand in a reversed position is again
affixed, this time on its shoulder, followed by the buyer’s brand, the
same operation being repeated whenever the animal changes hands, so that
some poor beasts come at last to be quite disfigured with deep scars.
When all is ready for the fray, the majordomo, climbing to the highest
post of the enclosure, from whence he directs operations, gives the
signal. Here he keeps an account of the calves branded, by notching a
long strip of raw hide. A number of these strips, called _tarja_ or
tally, are carefully preserved in every cattle farm as a record to be
laid before the owner at the year’s end in lieu of balance-sheet.
The principal business of the day being that of branding the calves
collected at the _rodeo_, two or three men armed with lazos, fearlessly
enter the pens at peril of life and limb--for the mothers are ever ready
to defend their young--and proceed to drag the calves out singly by
means of the lazo, though not without many obstinate struggles on their
part, and the more formidable resistance of their parents, which are
kept back at the point of the _garrocha_ by men stationed on the fences.
The contest, however, is not of very long duration; the calf nearly
choked by the lazo, and tormented by a cruel twisting of his tail,
springs forward toward the branding place. The moment he passes the
threshold, one or two little imps pounce upon the tail, jerking it until
they succeed in throwing him down; the lazo is then quickly removed, and
the captor hurries back to the pen for another calf. When a number have
been thus secured, a man goes round with the brand, and in a very short
time the whole lot are stamped with the burning seal of the estate
amidst the piteous bellowings and ineffectual kicks of the helpless
creatures.
These operations, although performed on young animals, are not so easily
accomplished as might be supposed; it being not unusual for full-grown
ones to spring over the fences, or force their way through the narrow
gate of their pen. At such times, the operators outside are in imminent
danger of being assailed by the fugitives, if the latter are not
promptly secured by men stationed for the purpose at the gate of the
_corralejas_. It becomes a much more serious business when a powerful
bull is lazoed. He not only refuses obstinately to be dragged out like a
calf, but requires the combined force and skill of all the men to compel
him from the pen, although the gate is purposely left wide open. In such
cases a picador, climbing to the top of the fence, endeavors to drive
out the animal by repeated thrusts of the goad; that also failing,
another lets himself down close to the bull’s tail, which he twists
violently, and this seldom fails to drive the refractory creature madly
out, followed by the shouts and huzzas of his cruel tormentors. The next
proceeding is to throw him for the purpose of regaining the lazo, and
for the performance of the above-mentioned operations. This, however, is
no easy matter, from the frantic plunges of the bull, who has the entire
range of the lazo. The only certain method is that of dragging him close
upon a post--_botalon_--driven into the ground, where his overthrow is
finally accomplished by the united efforts of several men, one grappling
his hind legs, another seizing the tail, while two others keep a steady
hold of the thong, until the animal, at last exhausted, drops heavily to
the ground.
To justly appreciate scenes like these, one must himself behold the
dusky athlete battling single-handed with a bull just escaping from the
corral. Seizing him by a horn with one hand, the Llanero still holding
it watches his opportunity until he can grasp with the other the
animal’s tail. The bull is then allowed to run as fast as he will, as
the greater his speed the more easily his downfall is accomplished. If
the bull moves too slowly, a few impressive jerks generally accelerate
his speed; but occasionally he returns the compliment by turning
fiercely upon his tail-bearer, who, if not very nimble, risks being
gored to death; yet his skilful antagonist, not only usually succeeds in
evading his attack, but speedily contrives to throw him. No sooner does
this occur, than the vanquished one is surrounded by a host of merry
yelling vagabonds, one brandishing a huge knife, which he sharpens on
the horns previous to performing the operation which transforms the
animal into an ox, and if not previously marked, cuts his ear according
to the rule of the estate whose property he is; another holds a red-hot
brand, which he implants at once upon the quivering hide; while a third
with a small hand-saw cuts off the sharp points of the horns. The whole
operation scarcely occupies three minutes’ time; but notwithstanding
this, the danger is very great if the bull succeed in regaining his feet
before it is finished, as, instead of being subdued, no sooner is he
free, than he turns upon his assailants in renewed fury, and then those
valiant heroes may be seen scattering about the arena like a flock of
partridges. With nostrils widely distended, and foaming at the mouth,
the bull for an instant stands an embodiment of rage and terror,
endeavoring to discover the objects of his vengeance. None, however, are
presumptuous enough to await his onset; they would be levelled with the
dust in an instant, and his conquerors therefore adopt the wiser policy
of a speedy retreat to the highest fence, whence they pour a volley of
abuse upon his shaggy head.
Occasionally, while the men were engaged with one bull, several others
effected their escape in spite of the men whose business it was to
prevent it. The situation of the others then became critical in the
extreme, being exposed to the attacks of the fugitives on the one hand,
and to those of the prisoner on the other; this last they were often
compelled to abandon in the midst of their labors. Those who held
younger animals formed with their bodies a sort of barricade with which
to fend off the aggressor, when no other expedient could be resorted to.
At times it appeared almost impossible to escape the impetuous charge of
the bulls, especially when the men were some distance from the fences;
the only remaining means of safety then consisted in throwing themselves
flat upon the ground at the moment the bull aimed a stroke, as in that
case the animal invariably jumped over their bodies. It is asserted that
bulls in charging always close their eyes, thus missing in blind
precipitancy many excellent opportunities for avenging the outrages
perpetrated on their race. Not so the cows, who are said to keep their
eyes fully open when they are bent on mischief, seldom if ever turning
from their intended victim without leaving some mark, of either horn or
hoof, in token of displeasure.
On one occasion our leader himself very narrowly escaped from one of
these infuriate feminalities in spite of his ability in dealing with
wild cattle, and his dexterity in avoiding their attacks. We had just
entered the _majada_, and were making preparations for the coming
frolic. We stood under the shade of a splendid _matapalo_ or wild
fig-tree growing within the great enclosure, when a cow, which had left
her young behind while chased in the savanna, feeling rather uneasy in
consequence, cleared the fence of the pen wherein she was confined, and
the next moment was among us. All retreated to the fences, excepting our
leader, who, ever rather sensitive about turning his back upon an enemy,
stood his ground somewhat protected by the stout body of the tree. The
cow at first appeared to pay but little attention to him, making
straight for the gate of the _majada_, which she, unfortunately, found
strongly barred against her escape. Then retracing her steps, she sought
to avenge her evident disappointment upon the gentleman in white, whom
she very well recollected having left at the foot of the old _matapalo_.
Still the undaunted soldier, although repeatedly urged by his men to
fly, scorned the idea of seeking the _talanquera_, or, in other words,
climbing the fence in a hurry, thinking at first to avoid the enemy by
stepping round and round the tree; but the cow was too cunning to be
cheated in this manner. After thus chasing him in vain for a few
minutes, she suddenly changed her course, seeking him in the opposite
direction, which brought them face to face. Unfortunately, the General,
who had that morning been sitting for his likeness in the full costume
of the Llanos which he still wore, found himself rather embarrassed in
his movements by the wide folds of the _manta_. This prevented him from
drawing the sword he had retained, which was his first impulse; and he
therefore retreated a few paces into a more open space where he could
_torear_ her until others came to his assistance. With the subtlety of
her sex the cow at once perceived his intentions, and rapidly following
his every movement, watched her opportunity to strike him on the side;
but he, precisely at the right instant, with great presence of mind
threw himself flat upon the ground just as she aimed the blow. Instead,
however, of jumping over him, as is usual with bulls in similar cases,
the cow rushed upon him, when his adroitness in grasping one of her
fore feet so firmly as to arrest further attack until others came to his
relief, prevented any injury beyond a slight scratch on his side and
tearing his _manta_.
It is needless to add that after so disrespectful an assault upon the
revered person of our leader, the cow received no gentle treatment at
the hands of the indignant _vaqueros_: some were for despatching her at
once for their evening meal; others, for affixing a dry hide to the end
of her tail and letting her loose over the plain; while a few,
compassionating her ignorance, among them the aggrieved owner, were only
for depriving her of the means of doing further mischief with the horns.
This opinion prevailing at last over all others, the ruthless hand of
the executioner at once applied the saw to the pride of her head, after
which she was allowed to depart in peace. Thus ended a short, but not
altogether inglorious struggle, which, but for the cunning and address
displayed on both sides, might have terminated fatally to either of the
parties engaged in it.
* * * * *
After the _corralejas_ had been emptied of their contents, there still
remained in the _majada_ several bulls at large, which had escaped
during the confusion; and many of these not yet having been operated
upon, another most exciting chase was afforded to the indefatigable and
athletic hunters. The narrowness of the field, however, which precluded
the use of horses, and the fact that each bull required to be captured
with the lazo, occasioned serious obstacles and much risk to the men
engaged therein. Lack of volunteers there was none, and among them a
powerful red-haired zambo, which freak of nature had obtained for him
the sobriquet of _colorado_--the red man.
This fellow enjoyed a wide reputation in the country for his exploits,
both in field and corral, and on this occasion proved himself deserving
of the fame which he had heretofore achieved. It was he who now first
led the charge. Seizing a lazo of long dimensions, contrary to usual
practice, he proceeded to coil it on his right hand, securing the end
upon his left. Then, cautiously approaching a formidable black bull,
which stood alone in the centre of the _majada_, he sent the whole lazo,
noose and all, uncoiling like a snake through the air until it reached
the animal’s head. Although the distance must have been thirty paces, we
had the satisfaction of seeing the noose settle round his neck as truly
as if placed there by the practised hand of a hangman. From this moment,
Colorado was unanimously proclaimed master of the lazo, an honor which
he enjoyed to the end of the performances, as all that remained in this
case to be accomplished by the others was merely to pull the lazo in
order to bring the bull up to the botalon or upright post, which served
the double purpose of subduing stake for the bulls, and training post
for the boys. To it one or more young bulls were usually brought at the
end of the day’s work, and the boys compelled to mount them in the
manner described in a previous chapter; the animals are then set loose
amidst the crowd of assembled quadrupeds, which are evidently amazed at
the singular spectacle.
[Illustration]
We witnessed several exhibitions of the kind in the _majada_, whenever
we were present at the branding of the cattle; but never do I recollect
any serious accident occurring to the little riders. Thus it is that the
Llaneros educate their boys from infancy to the severest exercises of
their profession, so that they in turn may teach the same to their own
children.
Not always, however, is the Llanero’s triumph over the brute creation
obtained so easily, for many are the instances in which the latter gain
the advantage in these hand-to-horn combats, and in such cases the evil
resulting is very great. Sometimes the men are dreadfully lacerated,
either by the horns or the sharp hoofs of their antagonists, frequently
losing their lives in consequence, from want of proper medical treatment
at the time the wounds are inflicted. The most common phase the disease
assumes is that of tetanus or lock-jaw, which sometimes ensues from only
a slight scratch on the tendinous part of the foot. From the scarcity of
surgeons in the country, and the lack of skill in dressing these wounds,
mortification, aneurisms, malignant abscesses, and a variety of other
complaints are amongst the evils resulting from this otherwise
entertaining sport. In spite of all our precautions, and the assistance
of the surgeon, Dr. Gallegos, we lost three of our best men, and several
others afterward died in consequence of injuries received during that
expedition.
CHAPTER XV.
PLANTS AND SNAKES.
The wide extent of the savannas composing this cattle farm, and the
dispersion of the herds throughout them, compelled us to remove our
quarters to a more central point, from whence we could sally forth in
their pursuit. Orders were issued accordingly for the men to be in
readiness, and the next morning we quitted with regret our comfortable
quarters at the majordomo’s mansion and started for Mata-Gorda, one of
those delightful primeval groves which dot the prairies here and there.
Some idea of the extent of this huge farm may be gathered from the fact
that one may start at a gallop early in the morning from one end of the
savannas and not reach the other until late at night of the same day.
Its area would measure at least eighty square leagues, or about one
hundred and fifty thousand acres of the richest land, but which under
the present backward and revolutionary state of the country is
comparatively valueless to its owner. The number of cattle dispersed
throughout the length and breadth of this wide extent of prairie land
was computed to be about a hundred thousand heads, and, at one time, ten
thousand horses; but what with the _peste_, revolutionary exactions, and
skin hunters, comparatively very few of the former and none of the
latter have been left.
Our first occupation on arriving at the Mata was to set up a hasty ranch
for the protection of our accoutrements and baggage, a structure which
required little labor or expense, the graceful palms affording the best
kind of thatch for the roof, and the surrounding woods sufficient posts
and rafters for the framework. A convenient apartment was provided in it
for the hammocks of our Leader and worthy Surgeon, while the rest of us
were compelled to seek accommodations among the trunks and branches of
the trees.
These arrangements completed, the necessary timber was next cut for the
corrals to be erected for enclosing the coming herds, a work to which
the hunters devoted themselves, while I found greater attractions in my
daily explorations through the tangled forest. The beautiful palms there
claimed my most particular attention. Apart from the splendor of their
growth and other peculiarities to which I have already alluded in a
former chapter, they are sufficient in themselves to supply many of the
domestic and economic wants of man in a primitive state.
I also observed here many useful species of the extensive family of
leguminous plants, such as the _cañafistula_, (Cathartocarpus,) of which
there were several varieties, all of them beautiful timber trees, whose
pods, two feet long, were filled with a black gummy substance possessing
very medicinal properties. In a natural form it affords one of the
mildest and most agreeable cathartics. Belonging to the same family, the
_caro_, _masaguaro_, and _saman_ acacias can scarcely be rivalled in
durability by any other production of the vegetable world. Their pods
also contain a large proportion of a similar gummy substance which
cattle devour greedily, and which fattens them better than any other
kind of fodder.
The _malagueta_ pepper, or donkey-bean, (_Uvaria febrifuga_,) an
excellent febrifuge and antispasmodic, also grows here in the greatest
abundance. Its aromatic seeds are carefully preserved in the tobacco
bladder of every Llanero, along with the tubers of the snake root,
(_Aristolochia bulbosa_,) a plant possessing the same virtues, and
withal the best antidote against the bite of serpents.
Several other medicinal plants, such as the stately _mora_, the wild
sour-sop, and the _mapurite_, are also met with here; the last owes its
name to the peculiar odor, not unlike that of the skunk, which pervades
the whole plant, rendering it any thing but acceptable in the
neighborhood of an encampment.
Of wild fruits there was also a fine array, and among them the most
delicious of all, in my opinion, is the _manirito_, (Anona muricata,) a
fruit scarcely known to horticulture, and still less to the listless
inhabitant of the country where it grows in wild luxuriance; as no one
there has yet thought of bringing it under cultivation. This plant,
which belongs to the same family as do several of the most celebrated
fruit trees of the tropics--the various kinds of custard apples and the
delicious cherimoyer--attains a height of ten feet, and at the season of
maturity, actually bends to the ground beneath its sweet load.
Unfortunately it all ripens at once, so that in a few days the whole
crop disappears. This fruit, like its congener the sour-sop, is covered
with soft prickles. The inside, a sweet and highly aromatic pulp, is
filled with small seeds, which, when the fruit is eaten in large
quantities, as is generally the case, are apt to produce dangerous
strictures. The whole plant is exceedingly fragrant; and by rubbing the
leaves between the hands, they emit a delightful aroma, not unlike that
of new mown hay.
Another pleasant fruit, that I here met also for the first time, was the
wild _madroña_ of the size of a lemon, which it also resembles in shape
and color. It is filled with a most agreeable sub-acid pulp; this
envelops three or four large nuts, not unlike cacao-beans, and tastes
very much like strawberries. The tree producing this delicious fruit
attains a height of twenty feet. The foliage is very dense, with
coriaceous leaves ten inches long, of a brilliant green. A thick yellow
resin, resembling gamboge, exudes from every part of the tree when
wounded; but whether it has been found useful for any particular
purpose, I was unable to ascertain.
Somewhat similar to the latter, although growing upon a plant of an
entirely different nature, is the _cacaita_, or monkey cacao-bean, a
soft and rather insipid fruit, the production of a vine, which monkeys
devour greedily.
By far the largest proportion of the trees were several species of
_guamos_ (Inga lucida) and others of the same order of leguminous
plants, bearing pods eight or ten inches long; these are filled with a
row of black beans, enveloped in a snowy white and sweetish pulp, most
agreeable to the taste. The ripening season of this mild and wholesome
fruit was just commencing, and every day we gathered and consumed
quantities of it.
Another pod-bearing tree of great utility proper to that region is the
_algarrobo_, (Hymenea curbaril,) the locust tree of the New World, which
bears a thick ligneous pod containing several hard, brown, and rounded
beans. These are surrounded by a sweet farinaceous substance, possessing
great alimentary properties. A fragrant resin exudes from the pericarp
of the pods, which, on being burned, yields a perfume similar to the
odor of frankincense combined with that of balsam of Tolú.
I had almost forgotten to mention, among the agreeable fruits of these
parts, several kinds of wild guavas, from the tiny Arrayan, scarcely
distinguishable among the tufts of grass by which it is surrounded, to
the beautiful _paujil_ shrub, bearing in great profusion quantities of
brilliant scarlet, highly perfumed and acidulous fruits. The berry of
the former exactly resembles Jamaica allspice in shape; is quite sweet,
and possesses in a high degree the exquisite flavor and aroma of the
myrtle tribe, to which indeed all these plants belong.
Great care was necessary in selecting spits for roasting the beef, on
account of a most poisonous shrub, the deadly _guachamacá_, abounding
there. It belongs to the extensive family of Apocineæ or Dogbanes, whose
poisonous qualities are known all over the world. So virulent is this
poison, that meat roasted on spits made from the guachamacá, absorbs
sufficient poison to destroy all who partake of it. The lazy Indians
make use of it to kill without trouble the cranes and herons on the
borders of lagoons. For this they procure a number of sardines, besmear
them with the juice of the plant, and spread them along the places
frequented by those birds. The moment one of them seizes the fish, and
before it is fairly swallowed, the bird drops dead; then the indolent
hunter, issuing from his hiding-place, cuts off the parts affected by
the poison, usually the head and neck, and feels no scruple in eating
the remainder.
A dreadful case of poisoning by means of this plant had just occurred at
Nutrias, soon after our arrival on the Apure, which created for a time
great excitement even amidst that scattered population. A woman who
lived with a man in the vicinity of that town became jealous of the
attentions he bestowed upon a charming neighbor of theirs, and
determined to avenge herself, but in some manner that would not excite
suspicion. In those remote regions where coroners and chemists are
unknown, it is impossible to detect murder except where marks of
external violence are visible. Accordingly, she prepared for her lover a
bowl of _masato_, a favorite beverage of the country, made of Indian
corn boiled, mashed in water, and fermented; in this she soaked chips of
the poisonous plant and offered it to him with smiling grace. Delighted
at sight of the tempting bowl, the unsuspecting lover invited several of
his neighbors--among them the hated rival--to share it with him. The
woman, not intending to destroy any but her perfidious lover, during his
absence prepared another bowl, omitting this time the poison. Llanero
politeness obliged the host, however, to mix his portion with the
others, which having done, he invited the company to dip their calabash
cups into the bowl. Out of eleven persons there assembled, among them
several children, not one escaped except the wicked perpetrator of this
wholesale murder; nor even the donkeys and fowl of the household, as
their attentive master had thrown them the remains of the deadly
mixture.
Such is the dread in which the Llaneros hold this plant, that I was not
even permitted to preserve the specimens of fruit and flowers I had
collected, with the object of ascertaining, on my return to the Valleys,
the botanical characters of the species. They almost threatened to
desert, if I insisted upon carrying the leaves among the baggage.
The propagation of this plant throughout the Apure appears to be of
recent origin, none of the oldest inhabitants recollecting to have met
with it until within comparatively a short period.
* * * * *
The men had no small trouble in clearing our camp of many noxious
reptiles; and it became our regular afternoon business to hunt for
snakes. We succeeded in killing a great number in the vicinity of the
ranch, some very poisonous, while others were quite harmless; of the
latter class I found two species of coral snakes, against which an
unjust prejudice exists, that they are among the most poisonous. Of the
former, the _matacaballo_ is the most to be feared. Although scarcely
larger than a good-sized earthworm, his bite is nevertheless almost
instantaneously fatal to man and beast. Unlike his other sluggish and
torpid congeners, this little snake is the more dangerous because always
on the alert. The tramp of a horse, especially, never fails in rousing
them, against which noble animal they evince an inveterate rancor. I was
once occupied in sketching one of these snakes, which I had permitted to
live for the purpose, and I observed that whenever a horse approached
us, the snake rapidly turned his head in the direction of the sound,
seeming as if anxious to strike the animal with his fangs; but as I had
fortunately taken the precaution of disabling him by partially breaking
his spine, he could make but little progress toward the object of his
dislike.
The tendinous part between the hoof and ankle-joint of the horse being
nearest the ground, is consequently most exposed to the bite of the
_matacaballo_; and although the distance from the ankle to the heart is
very great, it not unfrequently happens that the animal drops as if
touched by the electric spark, from which fact I infer that this poison
acts on the nervous system as well as on the blood. Horned cattle and
pigs are fortunately shielded by the thickness of their skin from the
fangs of this destroyer, which cannot penetrate it. Hence this snake has
been termed, _par excellence_, matacaballo, literally horse-killer.
[Illustration]
It was at one time extremely dangerous to drive horses across the banks
of these savannas where snakes are always most abundant; their numbers,
however, have been considerably diminished since the immense
multiplication of pigs in those regions.
Horses have there also another dangerous enemy--a great hairy spider or
species of the tarantula; this inflicts a very poisonous and painful
sting just above the hoof, which in time drops off, although it is never
followed by death.
But among all these evil creatures, there is none so disgusting or so
dangerous as the rattlesnake. The virulence of its poison, and the great
size attained by some, renders them the terror of every man and beast
where they abound. Fortunately for mankind, they have been provided by
an ever-watchful Providence with what is termed a rattle; this is
composed of a number of horny rings placed at the end of the tail,
which, on being shaken, produce a peculiar sound, and serve as warning.
It is said that Nature every year adds one of these rings, thus marking
the age of the reptile. From its loathsome body is exhaled a strong
odor, somewhat resembling musk, in itself sufficient to warn the most
careless, as it is perceptible at the distance of a hundred feet. The
head is peculiarly flat and broad, and the eyes sparkle in the darkness
like specks of fire. The mouth is a ghastly aperture, whence issues a
black and forked tongue, which the reptile moves incessantly when
irritated. Two long fangs, curved inwardly, project in front of the
upper jaw, and through them the fatal venom is discharged. The poison is
secreted from two glands in the form of small bags at the root of the
fangs, admirably adapted for the purpose, being hollow inside throughout
their whole length, and by their pressure against the glands produced by
the act of biting, the liquid is ejected into the wound. Fortunately,
this snake is the slowest in its motions, and the most torpid of its
kind, otherwise the mischief done by them would be much greater, they
being very abundant also in the Llanos. Their favorite haunts are the
hollow trunks of decayed trees and deep fissures in the ground.
Occasionally they are found coiled among thick clumps of grass, which
shelter them from the glaring sun; but they are always ready to strike
any intruder. At night they issue forth in quest of game, returning
again to their hiding-places before sunrise.
In addition to the foregoing, there are several other kinds in the
Apure; among the harmless ones the _sabanera_ is very abundant in the
savannas, from which it is named. Some of these are ten feet long and
occasionally even more. They glide over the ground with astonishing
rapidity, making all varieties of contortions with their bodies, the
forward part of which they keep all the while raised in a vertical
position. These snakes are very useful, as they destroy all the
poisonous kinds they encounter.
The beautiful coral snake, with alternate rings of red, black, and
white, is occasionally seen in the vicinity of ant-holes. Most persons
attribute to it very poisonous qualities; but I have examined its mouth
carefully and found there no fangs, nor any of the characteristics of
poisonous snakes.
[Illustration]
In the same category is placed another inoffensive reptile, a cecilia,
emphatically styled _culebra de dos cabezas_, or two-headed snake--so
named on account of having both ends of its body of equal thickness,
while the eyes are almost invisible. It seems the connecting link
between snakes and earthworms, partaking of the nature of both, is about
a foot long, and rather disproportionately thick for its length, while
its body is covered with minute scales. As this snake has the power of
moving backward or forward with equal facility, it is supposed by many
to be actually possessed of two heads. There is abundant nourishment for
it in the ant nests which it frequents, but it feeds also on earthworms,
and the larvæ of insects, pursuing them with unrelenting perseverance
through the ground. The double motion of this reptile, its great
muscular powers and flexibility enable it to penetrate the deepest
recesses of a colony of ants, and to pierce the earth with wonderful
expedition in search of prey.
ANTIDOTES.
Several antidotes are recommended for the venomous bite of snakes; some
of them possess real alexipharmic virtues, as the _raiz de mato_, to
which I have already alluded under the name of Aristolochia bulbosa, and
the _guaco_, (Mikania Guaco,) a composite plant which the learned Mutis
has rendered so celebrated through the instrumentality of Humboldt; the
others, however, are nothing more than superstitious imaginings, which
see in the tooth of a crocodile extracted on Good Friday, or in some
unmeaning orison whispered in the sufferer’s ear, greater powers than
in all the resources of medical science. Yet such is the leaning of the
benighted children of Nature in these regions toward the supernatural,
that they always give the preference to whatever savors most of the
miraculous. Somewhat of this has doubtless arisen from the mistaken idea
that all snakes are poisonous. Thus if it so happen that the incantation
is whispered over a person who recovers, having been bitten by a
harmless snake, his cure is of course attributed to magic, which is
accordingly proclaimed a sovereign remedy for all similar cases in
future. Saint Paul, as I have already mentioned, possesses not only the
power of arresting the fatal spring of a snake, if invoked in time, but
can also neutralize the poison, even when it is circulating through the
veins. Notwithstanding my want of faith in the intervention of the saint
in question, I confess myself to have been on an occasion extremely
puzzled by one of these cherished superstitions, the famous _Oracion de
San Pablo_, and up to this period have not been able to account for it
in a manner satisfactory to my common sense. As we were one afternoon
driving home a herd of cattle, the majordomo’s horse was bitten by a
_matacaballo_, when at a short distance from the ranch. The rider
observed his sudden start, and at once mentioned the cause thereof. The
ground, overgrown with grass, was diligently searched, and the snake
discovered and killed on the very spot pointed out by the majordomo, who
in the mean time had hastened forward with his horse to the ranch,
knowing that the strength of the poor animal would soon give way.
Scarcely had he alighted when his horse, covered with a cold sweat,
dropped to the ground. A _curandero_ or snake doctor immediately
presented himself and commenced a series of incantations over the
prostrate animal, which it was supposed would soon counteract the
poison. I was anxious to administer spirits of hartshorn, a
well-authenticated remedy for such cases, but the Llaneros opposed this
resolutely, on the ground that it would interfere with their own. The
_Oracion_ was accordingly whispered in the horse’s ear and the patient
then removed to a convenient pasture, where he could find abundant feed
if fate ever restored his appetite. Here he was left, rolling upon the
ground and moaning piteously, while I was positively assured by the men
that in the course of two hours, at most, he would be completely
restored, and my scepticism confounded. Singularly enough, the remedy
acted in this case like a real charm; at the appointed time the horse
started to his feet and commenced browsing the grass around him with as
much gusto as if he had experienced no ailment whatsoever. Whether the
venom of the snake was not, in this instance, strong enough to kill the
horse; or, what is more probable, the reptile’s fang might not have
penetrated deep enough, are questions which cannot be decided, but
shortly afterward the same horse, a beautiful but wild and vicious young
stallion, came very near kicking to death the _curandero_ who restored
him to health.
The Llaneros are not, however, the only people in the country who have
faith in these miraculous cures. It is more or less entertained
throughout the country by persons more enlightened in other respects
than they. It is asserted of a famous _curandero_ in the Valleys of
Aragua, that in extreme cases, if prevented from going in person to the
patient, it was only necessary to send his hat! By placing this talisman
on the injured man’s head, it would not only afford immediate relief,
but arrest the progress of the venom until the owner could come himself
to perfect the cure.
* * * * *
Another singular practice obtains among Llaneros; it is that of
inoculation with the juice of certain plants possessing alexipharmic
virtues, after which the most poisonous snakes may be handled with
impunity. It is asserted, moreover, that _cerrados_--as individuals thus
inoculated are termed--are not only proof against the bite of these
reptiles, but can attract them around their persons by merely clapping
of hands or whistling for them in fields where they abound. Having never
witnessed any of these experiments, I will neither undertake to uphold
the truth of this assertion, nor will I question its veracity; but there
are hundreds of reliable persons in the country who will unhesitatingly
swear to its efficacy; among them, is the testimony of Dr. Benites, a
professional gentleman who has published the result of his experiments
in a small book on the Materia Medica of the country. With the view of
ascertaining the alleged properties of the guaco he devoted a great
portion of his time while at La Victoria in experimenting with various
kinds of snakes; from him I quote the following passage: “The guaco
possesses in a high degree the faculty of preserving man and animals in
general from the terrible and fatal effects of the bites of serpents.
This valuable secret, discovered in Bogota by the celebrated naturalist,
Don Celestino Mútis, in 1788, remains still as such among some
_curanderos_ of our own country, who, under certain mysterious forms,
and availing themselves of the fangs of serpents, puncture several
slight incisions in certain parts of the body, which they fill with the
powdered leaves of the guaco previously made dry, and administer the
same internally mixed in common rum. This property of the guaco is so
reliable, inoculation by means of the juice such as was practised by
Mútis himself so well authenticated, and the facts concerning it so well
attested, that there cannot longer exist the least doubt in regard to
its efficacy. I wished to convince myself by actual experiment, and can
testify that in a thousand trials of inoculation practised by myself in
different ways on patients whom I allowed to be bitten by various kinds
of snakes, I never knew one to fail. Suffice it to say that the
principal amusement of children in this place is to catch, carry about
and play with snakes, and that even young ladies keep them in their
bosoms or coil them around their necks.”
It appears, nevertheless, absolutely necessary to renew the inoculation
at different epochs of a man’s life, as in the case of vaccination it
loses its power after a time. It was no doubt owing to his neglect of
the rule, that a gentleman in the town of Ocumare some years ago fell a
victim to his blind confidence in this sort of inoculation. Don N.
Ugarte had kept a rattlesnake in a drawer during four years; with it he
occasionally amused himself, no more harm resulting therefrom than if it
had been a kitten. One day on returning home from his rounds in the
plantation, he felt in the humor of playing a little with his old pet,
and accordingly took him out of his berth and placed him upon the
writing desk before him. One of the children who had also been
inoculated happening to be near, the father suggested that he should
kiss the reptile; to this, the child objected very decidedly; the
foolish parent, however, insisting, the mother interfered and begged
that her child should not be compelled to touch the loathsome creature;
whereupon the father exclaimed: “How foolish you are! I will show you
how it kisses me. Now, then, pet, give me a kiss;” and so saying, he
leaned forward toward the snake; true to its instincts, the reptile
sprang to his lips and implanted such a kiss that its master never
recovered from the effects. Both fangs of the snake went quite through
his upper lip, and he at once felt himself to be mortally wounded. A
physician was sent for without delay, but he expired before assistance
could reach him.
The guaco is employed, moreover, in various other disorders of the
system with great success. In chronic rheumatism it is an invaluable
remedy both in the form of poultices made of the fresh leaves, or by
simply rubbing the part affected with a decoction of the plant in
spirits, and taking internally one or two ounces of the expressed juice,
morning and evening. Administered in the latter form it is an
efficacious remedy against hydrophobia, if given immediately after the
person has been bitten by a mad dog. General Paez was thus saved, when a
youth, from this dreadful scourge of tropical countries; he has
nevertheless retained in after life some evil effects of the virus still
in his system manifesting itself in a tendency to severe spasmodic
affections, especially at sight of a snake, which invariably induces
violent convulsions.
[Illustration: ARISTOLOCHIA APURENSIS.--NATURAL SIZE.]
Next to the guaco in importance as an alexipharmic, may be classed the
_raiz de mato_ including several varieties of Aristolochias, the roots
of which are intensely bitter. As its name implies, it is said to afford
the _mato_--a large species of lizard--a prompt antidote against the
bite of his old antagonist, the snake. There would seem to exist some
ancient grudge between these two reptiles, many persons asserting that
whenever they come in sight of one another, they instantly rush to the
attack, the _mato_ never failing to overcome his rival by his superior
botanical knowledge; this, or his instinct, prompts him to seek the
plant, and swallowing some of the leaves, returns recuperated to the
fight.[28]
To the facts adduced above, I now have the pleasure of adding the
testimony of such an authority as Gosse, who has devoted an entire
chapter of his truly romantic book[29] to the consideration of a subject
“well worthy of minute investigation by able and unprejudiced men of
science, willing to receive unscientific information and suggestions, in
various parts of the world, particularly in the intertropical regions of
both hemispheres.” Among the many well-authenticated incidents recorded
by him, I select the following as bearing a striking similarity to the
one just mentioned: “Some animals, especially those which prey upon
serpents, seem to be proof against their bites. The ichneumons, or
mangoustes of Africa and Asia, have long been celebrated for their
immunity, and veritable stories have been narrated of their having
recourse to some herb, when bitten, after which they successfully
renewed the attack. Percival, in his account of Ceylon, relates that a
mangouste placed in a close room where a venomous serpent was, instead
of darting at it, as he would ordinarily have done, ran peeping about,
anxiously seeking some way of escape; but finding none, it returned to
its master, crept into his bosom, and could by no means be persuaded to
face the snake. When, however, both were removed out of the house into
the open field, the mangouste instantly flew at the serpent, and soon
destroyed it. After the combat the little quadruped suddenly disappeared
for a few minutes, and again returned. Percival concludes, not
unreasonably, that during its absence it had found the antidotal herb,
and eaten of it. The natives state that the mangouste resorts on such
occasions to the _Ophiorhiza mungos_, whose root is reputed a specific
for serpent-bites. This is a cinchonaceous plant, so intensely bitter
that it is called by the Malays by a name which signifies earth-gall.”
How wonderful the provisions of bountiful Nature are; and still more
singular the readiness of the human intellect, whether in a rude or a
cultivated state, to make them subservient to its wants! The most
extraordinary antidote against the bite of serpents yet within my
knowledge, is the one employed on the coast of Cartagena, not the
“earth-gall,” which they possess of the bitterest kind in Aristolochia
unguicida, but the gall of the reptile itself, an alcoholic solution of
which, administered to the patient in small doses, rubbing the wound
with the same, or with spirits of ammonia, being sufficient to
counteract the virus of the most deadly serpents of that region.
CHAPTER XVI.
TIGER STORIES.
On the second night from our arrival at the Mata, just as most of our
party in their hammocks were swinging off into dreamland, the ominous
cry of _El Tigre!_--the tiger--was heard in the direction of the camp
fires, where a few of the men still lingered. As if lifted by a gust of
the pampero, every man dropped from his aërial couch, and in an instant
the whole camp became a scene of the wildest confusion. Firebrands flew
in every direction, by the uncertain glare of which we gained occasional
glimpses of the jaguar, for such was the intruder, prowling near us like
a huge cat. The horses snorted in terror, the men shouted vociferously,
while our brave Mónico commenced drumming upon his pots and kettles as
if they were so many gongs, with which in his capacity of cook he
summoned us to dinner, creating such an uproar as drowned the voices of
men and beasts, and was horrible enough to frighten away a legion of
jaguars. The odor of the savory spits, at all hours faithful to their
posts around the camp fires, had
[Illustration: THE JAGUAR.]
doubtless proved the magnet of attraction to his spotted majesty, who,
probably disgusted with the style of his reception, made a precipitate
retreat to his stronghold in the forest, growling indignation at our
want of hospitality.
Although among the natives he is commonly known by the name of the
tiger, this animal is actually the jaguar or Felix Onza of naturalists,
no real tigers existing in any part of America. It nevertheless exerts
the same tyranny over other animals as does the tiger or leopard in the
hot regions of the Old World, differing from its congener principally in
the form of the marks upon his skin, which in the jaguar of America are
rounded or in rings, therein unlike the long stripes of the Bengal
tiger. In another species common to the forests of Guayana, the skin is
nearly black, the spots being invisible except in the broad sunlight.
This is considered the most sanguinary and ferocious. Some jaguars
attain a great size, measuring seven feet from the nose to the tail.
They are sufficiently powerful to kill an ox or horse and drag them off
over the highest fences.
When the excitement occasioned by the intrusion of the nocturnal thief
had subsided, few of us were inclined for sleep; several of our men,
therefore, who had been at different times active participators in
similar adventures, volunteered entertaining us for the remainder of the
night with some interesting stories concerning this lord of South
American forests. From them I gathered many useful facts respecting his
habits and disposition, which I shall recount as nearly as possible
verbatim.
Although, perhaps, the most powerful among wild beasts of this
continent, the jaguar is by no means as terrible as might be supposed
from the renown of his prowess. Occasionally when hard pressed by hunger
he ventures within the precincts of man, robbing the corrals of the
farmhouse of their defenceless inmates. Many instances are also related
of his having attacked and carried off a solitary traveller to his lair
in the woods; but he usually evinces the profoundest respect for man
unless driven to extremities, when he has been known to set at defiance
the combined efforts of a host of men and dogs. When thus, by a too
intimate acquaintance with the people and flocks of some particular
community, he has gone so far as to levy blackmail upon them, the
appellation of _cebado_--as in the case of the crocodile--is given to
the jaguar. An animal of this description is said to possess wonderful
daring and instinct, making him by far the most dangerous of the class,
attacking not only tame animals in the corrals, but even individuals are
frequently assailed and devoured by him. It is said also that when he
has once tasted human blood, he becomes insatiable in his eagerness to
procure this luxury. They are then so dangerous, that the owners of
cattle farms usually call a meeting of all the _hateros_ in the
vicinity, capable of handling lazo or lance--firearms being rarely used
in expeditions of this kind--and with the assistance of a pack of
well-trained hounds of a peculiar breed, called _tigreros_ in
consequence, they surround the wood supposed to harbor the tiger, and
beating carefully about the jungle, drive him out into the open plain,
where men on horseback are stationed ready to lazo the game as it
breaks cover. To ensure success, it is only requisite that the horses be
steady and well trained to the sport; and as the tiger, conscious of his
danger, frequently refuses to quit the jungle, a number of daring
matadors are also needed to drive him out or attack him in his lair,
assisted in this by the dogs, which, by harassing him on all sides,
divert him from the assailants.
Jaguars were at one time so numerous in the Llanos, that their ravages
upon the calves and young foals were truly frightful. This circumstance,
in addition to the value attached in other countries to their beautiful
skins, have contributed to reduce the numbers very considerably, as
whenever they make their appearance they are eagerly pursued.
In its wild state the jaguar is an exceedingly beautiful animal; his
motions particularly easy and graceful, and possessing wonderful agility
in bounding among the trees and tall grass of the savannas. When
watching for prey, he generally crouches upon the ground, the fore paws
stretched out, resting his head between them in a manner very similar to
that of the domestic cat; and as he climbs trees with a facility almost
equal to that of monkeys, these are in exceeding dread of him on that
account.
The haunts usually preferred by the jaguar appear to be swampy borders
of marshes and lagoons overgrown with reeds and wild plantain, where
they are sure of finding plenty of game. Water hogs or capyvaras
especially, are easy prey, as they cannot move except in short jumps. It
is asserted that where these animals abound, there is little to be
feared from the jaguar, which always prefers the wild animals of the
field for food, becoming bolder and more dangerous to man in proportion
as these disappear.
* * * * *
My earliest recollection of the jaguar dates from the time when the
famous town of Achaguas was head-quarters for the patriot army commanded
by my father. I was a little fellow not more than three years of age,
when a foraging party fell in with a tigress and her cub; the latter
they secured and brought to Achaguas after a desperate struggle with the
mother. The extreme beauty and youth of the captive soon gained the
sympathies and favor of a host of admirers, especially those of the
female department, in the household of Colonel Mujica, who purchased it
and consigned it to their care. Under their special protection and good
treatment it quickly grew strong enough to take part in all squabbles
among the dogs and cats of the family, which animals always form a
prominent feature in all well-regulated Llanero establishments. At first
the new pet was allowed the entire freedom of the premises, associating
very readily with every stranger who visited the house, and evincing
none of the disagreeable traits ascribed to these animals. I, who
participated in all its juvenile antics, and who supposed it to be only
a large cat, very soon became its favorite playmate, until on one
occasion it carried its pranks so far as to throw me down, at the same
time tearing my clothing to rags with its claws. From this moment it was
considered expedient to chain up my playfellow, and accordingly he was
secured to a pillar in the corridor of the house. It is related of this
favorite, that having afterward broken its chain, it speedily found the
way to the poultry yard where the Colonel kept his game chickens, not
one of which was left to fight its battles over. For this unpardonable
breach of discipline the young tiger received so sound a castigation as
to cripple the poor fellow for life.
Numberless are the tricks recorded of the lame tiger of Colonel Mujica,
they for a time constituting the principal amusement of those of the
army who were in the habit of frequenting the Colonel’s quarters to
while away their idle hours at the favorite game of monte. What finally
became of my uncouth playfellow, I am unable to state; the probability
is that he, as well as most of the brave champions of that memorable
epoch, is dead; at all events, they are buried ... in the dust of the
past.
* * * * *
In a solitary ranch, not far from San Jaime, there once lived a poor
widow, who, out of compassion for a young cub which had been picked up
by some vaqueros undertook to raise it with the milk of her own goats,
sheltering it at night from the damp under the folds of her bed,
covering and treating the foundling with as much affection as though it
were her child. In return, the little fellow became so attached to its
adopted mother, that it could not endure a moment’s separation from her,
and would lie like a cat by the fireside while she devoted herself to
the occupations of the kitchen. As it grew older and stronger, the
woman’s slender stock of goats was rapidly diminished by its repeated
depredations; it was therefore deemed prudent to give it wider range
than the widow’s little farm-yard, and it was encouraged to seek for
game in the neighboring woods. Whenever successful in these excursions,
the intelligent creature invariably brought some home, and with seeming
pride laid it at the feet of its benefactress. On one occasion, some of
her neighbors having come to pass the day with her, she thought that as
game was plentiful and easily obtained, she would spare such of her
goats as had thus far escaped the teeth of her favorite, and, instead,
procure with its assistance a supply of venison with which to treat her
guests. Accordingly, leaving the hut in their charge, she and her
efficient hunter started for the woods, proposing to be back in time to
cook the dinner; but to the astonishment of her visitors, the
dinner-hour arrived, then the night, but no tidings of the hunters; and
up to this time, I believe, nothing has been heard about either of the
former tenants of the solitary ranch, although it is not difficult to
imagine the poor widow’s fate.
* * * * *
We had once in our employ a stout and powerful sambo, who on account of
his name--Bolívar--and his great muscular development, had received the
sobriquet of Bolivote, or big Bolívar. Great was his pride in possessing
not only the same patronymic as the distinguished General of his name,
but also some deep scars on his right arm, inflicted by the claws of a
jaguar, which he improved every opportunity of displaying.
Bolivote had been riding hard during a whole day, and feeling rather
weary, sought repose under the shade of a clump of palm trees, allowing
his horse meanwhile to crop the grass near by. He had lain down at the
foot of a palm, and almost fallen asleep, when he was roused by a
rustling of the leaves overhead, and looking up to ascertain the cause,
beheld with astonishment a large jaguar in the act of springing upon
him. He started to his feet, but was within the tiger’s grasp ere he
could unsheath his sword. Without losing a moment he plunged his finger
into one of the fiery eyeballs glaring upon him, and succeeded in
forcing it from its socket. The pain thus inflicted was so acute, that
the tiger retreated with fearful yells; yet not before he had mangled
with teeth and claws the sturdy arm which had punished him so severely.
* * * * *
During our journey across the pampas, we were shown the spot where not
long before a jaguar had attacked a woman. Her preservation, also, was
due to presence of mind, and to the fact of being armed with a _machete_
or cutlass, with which she had intended cutting a load of wood for
domestic uses. The wood being near at hand, she was in the daily habit
of fearlessly traversing the plain alone. On one occasion she went _al
monte_, to the fields, as they say there, with the intention of
collecting her usual load of fagots. No sooner did she commence breaking
the sticks, than a deep rumbling growl which seemed to shake the ground
beneath her feet, almost paralyzed her movements. Although the sound was
somewhat familiar, yet she never before had heard it so near at hand,
and she was therefore instantly conscious of her perilous situation.
Knowing that an attempt at precipitate flight would only contribute to
increase the anger of the tiger, she decided accordingly upon concealing
herself and remaining perfectly quiet behind a large tree. Vain
endeavor! in a few moments a large jaguar glided from the tangled jungle
and stood before the terrified woman, his eyes shooting fire, his open
mouth parched with thirst of blood. At the dread sight she gave herself
up for lost, and began reciting aloud a prayer to her patron saint,
which the tiger answered with another fearful roar. The jaguar then
commenced tearing up the roots of the nearest tree, looking the while
like a huge cat sharpening his claws. Then gradually approaching the
woman’s hiding-place until within a few yards, with a bound he cleared
the space separating them, and alighted at the foot of the tree behind
which she was sheltered. Without a moment’s loss, the woman aimed a blow
with her _machete_, severing one of the paws which grasped the tree.
This partly disabling him, he retreated a few paces; but soon returning
to the attack, received a second blow, this time on his head, with such
good effect that he fell stunned upon the ground. It is needless to add
that our heroine did not wait to see what might have been the final
result of this blow, but springing from her hiding-place, she so
belabored him with her _machete_ as to completely spoil his skin for
marketable purposes.
* * * * *
Among the troop of idlers and adventurers always following the camp, we
were favored at Mata Gorda with the company of a famous story teller of
the Apure, who, in wonderful encounters with wild beasts, and
marvellous adventures, might almost rival the celebrated Baron
Munchausen, or even the sailor of Arabian Nights celebrity. His real
name was B.; but owing to his diminutive stature and cunning, he had
been honored with the familiar appellation of _Tio Conejo_.[30] Indeed,
so small was he, that if we credit his statement, he was often mistaken
for his own baby, usurping its place in the cradle for the purpose of
enjoying the kisses and other _petites caresses_ usually lavished by the
female sex upon these tender innocents. Among the various incidents of
his eventful life, he had, as a matter of course, something to say
concerning tigers.
“Once upon a time,” said our humorous companion, “I was by the banks of
the river Uribante, and there had an opportunity of cheating _Tio Tigre_
in his endeavors to make mince meat of my humble self. Returning one day
from a successful fishing excursion, I was enjoying my usual siesta when
_El Tio_ made up his mind, as it seemed, to pay me an unexpected visit,
doubtless with the intention of robbing me of the products of my
industry, which I had dressed and salted a few minutes before. Happily I
have for obvious reasons accustomed my eyes to keep alternate watch when
camping out alone, as was the case in this instance, so that if
approached by any evil-disposed individual, I am always able to avoid
danger through the watchfulness of the one on duty; when this sentinel
becomes weary, I allow it to sleep and rouse its fellow.
“Well, _Señores_, as I have said already, one of my watchmen observing
the tiger coming toward me, I sprang from my hammock with the intention
of giving him a warm reception; but, luckily for the spotted vagabond,
my _cuchillo_, which is always by my side, was left forgotten among the
heap of fish I had been dressing. Thus cut off from my only means of
defence, and observing near by an immense gourd of a size such as is
rarely seen in these parts, I slipped into it just when _Tio Tigre_
thought he had me.”
The narrative was here interrupted by a sceptical individual from the
audience insisting upon being enlightened as to the precise dimensions
of that gourd; the reply was, “Why, Sirs, here is nothing extraordinary.
I have seen squashes at the foot of the Cordilleras, each of which would
be a load sufficient for a bongo. I once lost a pack of mules during the
night, and after searching for them around the base of what I supposed a
hillock, I found the sagacious animals inside one of these squashes--for
such was the seeming hillock--supping at leisure on the succulent pulp,
having gnawed for themselves a passage to the interior. But to return to
my story. The tiger, enraged at my sudden disappearance, commenced a
deliberate attack with teeth and claws upon the tough and slippery
shell, with no other result than that of rolling the gourd with me in it
further from him.
“It was hugely amusing to watch from my stronghold the tactics of my
assailant; at one moment
[Illustration: THE PUMA.]
crouched a short distance off upon the ground, he would watch the
mysterious object much as a cat watches a mouse; then with a sudden
spring pounced again upon the gourd, thus causing it to roll before him
like a ball. My only fear was, that the tiger in one of these furious
onsets might precipitate me into the stream below. I was not then aware
that water in deep rivers reaches no lower than the base of their steep
banks, which act as support for the whole body of water above, thus
leaving a clear expanse underneath and the bed of the river entirely
dry, a remarkable fact which I discovered on another occasion when
diving in the Orinoco for a lost treasure belonging to the monks.
“That which I feared at last came to pass. The gourd, pushed by the
tiger, fell spinning into the water, and I found myself sailing down the
stream escorted by a band of hungry crocodiles, who watched me with
eager eyes and open jaws, until my patron saint in the form of a humane
porpoise came to my assistance, frightened off the ugly wretches, and
receiving me on his back, landed me in safety on a desert shore, where,
_amigos_, you will have to leave me for the present, as it is almost
morning, and we must sleep an hour or two before starting for the
_Rodeo_.”
THE PANTHER-TIGER.
Although principally a sojourner in the more elevated parts of the
country, the panther is occasionally seen descending toward the plains
in search of the abundant fare of the pampas. He resembles the jaguar
in many respects, and is called in consequence, _tigre de serrania_, or
mountain tiger. He is, however, easily distinguished from the former by
the shape of his head, which in the panther is more acute toward the
snout, while the spots on his skin are smaller and more closely set.
The panther is by far the bolder and more sanguinary of the two; he
frequents the mountain passes, waylaying stray animals and solitary
travellers; and there are many cases on record in which he has displayed
his bloodthirsty propensities by boldly seeking food even in the very
haunts of man.
Some of the mountain districts of Venezuela are so infested with them,
that few travellers ever venture to journey alone there; as, for
instance, the _montaña de_ Capaya, east of Caracas, and the Cerro de
Aroa to the west, both famed for the number and boldness of these
animals. Under cover of the dense forests with which those mountains are
clothed to the very summit, they lie in wait. Not long since, a
traveller from the village of Aroa, finding the distance greater than he
had anticipated, was compelled to pass the night in the forest. Fearing
the panthers, he slung his hammock between two palm trees as high as
possible from the ground, hoping doubtless thereby to escape them, but
his precautions proved of no avail; the poor traveller fell a prey to
one of these sanguinary beasts. A few days after, a party of muleteers
passing along the same route, found on the spot where the sad tragedy
had been enacted, evidence of the bloody assault. Deep furrows ploughed
in the ground between the palm trees, showed that the panther must have
made frequent and tremendous leaps to reach the unfortunate traveller;
but with the exception of the torn hammock, there remained no vestige of
the victim.
* * * * *
My first vacation trip from the terrors of a South American school and
the angry visage of a harsh preceptor, is still fresh in my mind, as is
also the fright I received upon the road from an imaginary panther while
endeavoring to reach before daylight the nearest inn upon the route.
The road from the capital to the Valleys of Aragua--our
destination--lies for the most part over a high ridge of mountains with
precipitous sides, interspersed here and there with deep ravines and
almost impenetrable thickets of forest trees, fit lurking-places for
wild beasts and banditti. The extreme steepness of the road renders the
aid of mules, or horses of superior mettle, imperative, and for this
exigency our attentive guides had well provided before leaving Caracas.
The party was principally composed of young gentlemen and their
attendants, all like myself bound to the fertile regions of Aragua,
where we purposed passing the holidays with our families; and a wilder
set of madcaps it would have been difficult to find. Every moment
witnessed a malicious trick, sometimes tickling the mules under the
cruppers with whips, until, worried into frenzy, they plunged fearfully
along the road, placing us in danger of being hurled into eternity
through the yawning chasms beneath. Sometimes jerking the tail of a
neighbor’s mule, causing the animal to whirl so violently as to almost
destroy its balance. Occasionally some of the party might be seen
scrambling up the rugged side of a mountain after bright colored insects
or wild berries. At length, the steepness of the ascent no longer
permitting the continuance of our pranks, the guides entertained us with
frightful stories of a tiger said to lurk in these mountains; but
chiefly with accounts of horrid murders perpetrated at various points
along our route, which, judging from the many crosses and stone mounds
raised to the victims by the piety of wayfarers, must have been truly
appalling in number. In those parts it is customary to mark the spot
where a crime of the kind has been committed, with a wooden cross, at
whose foot every passer-by casts a stone, muttering at the same time a
prayer for the repose of the unshriven soul. One of these memorials was
erected to a poor fellow, whose throat had been cut and body frightfully
mutilated for a new poncho and a few reals. At another, a tiger had
seized a wearied poultry carrier imprudently asleep by the side of his
coop, and devoured him and his chickens. In another instance, the tiger
appeared suddenly among a group of muleteers quietly refreshing
themselves by the murmuring waters of a mountain stream, and after
scattering the affrighted group, helped himself to their repast.
These stories, told with great vivacity and much embellishment, excited
in a high degree the fervid imaginations of the youthful cavalcade,
causing them as night approached to keep close together. They, however,
did not deter me, who had ever a peculiar fondness for the beautiful in
nature, from loitering somewhat in the rear of my companion to gaze in
wondering admiration upon the grandeur and wild luxuriance of the scene
which on all sides met my eyes. Absorbed in contemplation I was riding
slowly along, when suddenly, and to my great horror and dismay, I found
myself in presence of, apparently, the dreaded tiger of the mountains.
My imagination, roused by the exciting stories of the muleteers, showed
me the spotted brute seated upon his haunches, his sinister eyes gazing
steadily at me over his right shoulder. Notwithstanding this pacific
attitude, a thrill of terror chilled my veins, while in spite of the
cold prevailing on those mountain ranges, heavy drops of perspiration
streamed from my trembling body. The tiger seeming spell-bound with my
sudden apparition, I endeavored to cry aloud for help; but terror had
deprived me of voice. I then concluded to dismount and place the mule
between myself and the tiger, which impulse was suddenly checked as I
caught sight of the yawning precipice beside me. I had therefore no
alternative, other than the ignominious one of sliding down in the rear
of my mule, a feat I rapidly accomplished without in the least
inconveniencing the patient creature, which all the while stood quietly
awaiting my pleasure. At this moment the moon, until then partially
obscured by the dense fog, shone brilliantly upon the scene, when, to my
great mortification and greater relief, I discovered that the ferocious
tiger of my imagination was only the fallen branch of a tree covered
with leaves, which last my fertile fancy had mistaken for the spotted
skin of the dreaded mountain tiger.
CHAPTER XVII.
SHOOTING ADVENTURES.
We were now in the very midst of the most splendid shooting ground of
the republic, and each day my quest after the feathered inhabitants of
those fine groves was rewarded with an abundant supply of _pavas_,
_guacharacas_, and that most noble and beautiful of all game birds, the
_paujī_ or crested curassow of South America, (Crax alector.) This
fine species is found in all parts of the country, especially in the
woods of the _tierra caliente_, where it can be tracked without
difficulty by the shrill and prolonged whistle with which it calls its
mate, and which can be heard from a long distance. It appears not to
notice the presence of the hunter, allowing itself to be shot down
without making the least effort to avoid the danger. This bird is nearly
the same size as the domestic turkey, and being easily domesticated,
could very well supply the place of that fowl, as the flesh is juicy and
of exquisite flavor. Its plumage is peculiarly rich and beautiful, the
head and neck being white and the rest of its body of a rich olive
brown, excepting the wing tips which are black. An elegant tuft of
curled, glossy black feathers surmounts the head, adding greatly to the
splendor of its appearance. In the more elevated parts of the country
there is another species, the _paujī de piedra_ or cashew-bird, so
called from a singular excrescence on the top of its head, in color a
bluish gray, and bearing some resemblance to a polished nodule of slate.
This bird only inhabits woods growing at about four thousand feet of
elevation, and if possible exceeds in beauty the preceding. Its plumage
of a deep black, with tints of olive green, contrasts exquisitely with
that of the bill and legs, which are respectively of a brilliant scarlet
and deep yellow. They are even more easily domesticated than the
preceding, and are therefore to be met with in many a farm yard of the
Cordillera, where they form one of its most graceful ornaments.
The _guacharaca_ or South American pheasant may also be classed among
the finest game birds of Venezuela, and is extremely abundant
everywhere. In riding along the solitary roads through the plains and
fertile vales of the _tierra caliente_, the traveller may have often
noticed at all hours of the day and even of the night, more especially
at the approach of rain, a most discordant chattering in harsh and
shrill notes; it is the song of the _guacharaca_, a bird of about the
size of the domestic hen, bearing some resemblance to the female
pheasant, and like it of a chocolate color. It is of a sociable nature,
always congregating in flocks of twenty or thirty. The moment one of the
number leads the chant, all the rest join in chorus, uttering distinctly
in hoarse repetition _guacharaca, guacharaca_; hence the name of this
bird. These cries are invariably responded to by all the flocks in the
neighborhood, so that in a short time the whole valley rings from end to
end with their discordant voices. Like all other gallinaceous birds, it
is very easily domesticated with the _paujies_, _pavas_, _gallinetas_,
and several other wild fowl with which the rural inhabitant loves to
stock his yard.
In addition to the foregoing, there are also in the Llanos all kinds of
wild pigeons, doves, plovers, and quails, the latter so abundant that
they can easily be killed by the hundred with a stick. And indeed, so
great is the almost endless variety of fine birds in these wilds, that
it would be impossible, within the limits of these pages, to enter into
further detail concerning them.
Deer were also very plentiful, both in the _mata_, whither they were
attracted by its refreshing shade, and in the meadows around it; but
having no dogs with us, and being unwilling to tire our horses in
unprofitable sport, we refrained from their pursuit. One afternoon,
however, much to my surprise, a merry, clever fellow by the name of
Casimiro, who had followed us from the valleys, entered the camp bending
under the weight of a fine doe which he had killed that afternoon,
together with a buck that an Indian boy was carrying for him. On our
complimenting his extraordinary skill in killing two deer in so short a
space of time, he informed us that he could have brought down any number
of them, and intended retracing his steps at once for more. This proved
no mere boast, for quickly returning to the woods, he soon after again
made his appearance with a similar load, which, seating himself by the
fire, he at once commenced skinning.
I inquired of Casimiro the occasion of his success; he replied by
producing a tube of bamboo about the thickness of the thumb, one end
being covered with a thin membrane. On blowing through the other end, a
sound precisely resembling the bleating of a young fawn resulted. It is
in this manner that the treacherous hunter decoys the anxious doe, whose
every motion he watches from the place of his concealment behind the
branches of some tree, usually the algarrobo, of whose pods deer are
very fond. This detestable expedient is, I am glad to state, rarely
practised unless by hungry sportsmen; and as we were then in the midst
of plenty, and venison besides not being much relished by the
beef-eating population of the Llanos, we had fortunately no occasion to
resort to it in any of our subsequent deer-shooting adventures.
Another device much practised by Indians in these cases, consists in
assuming the guise of the great _garzon_ or soldier crane of the pampas,
whose company appears always welcome to deer grazing in the open
prairie. This crane, which I have mentioned in a former chapter, as
being at the least five feet in height, is mounted upon a pair of long
slender legs, giving it the appearance of walking on stilts; their
plumage is a dazzling white, and they have a pouch under the throat of a
brilliant scarlet color. The bill, too, is quite a remarkable feature,
fully a foot long and very wide at the base, which permits of
swallowing at a mouthful large fish, as well as frogs, toads and snakes,
of which last it partakes with equal relish. All that the hunter has to
do, who intends ensnaring his deer with borrowed plumes, is to hide his
own face with a mask, which must have a long bill resembling that of the
crane attached to it. The mask being securely fastened on, he finishes
his toilet by covering his body to his knees with a white garment.
[Illustration]
In this simple disguise the hunter, equipped besides with his gun or bow
and arrows, makes straight for the game, careful however to approach it
in a contrary direction to that of the wind, deer possessing peculiarly
acute powers of scent. On one occasion, I was fortunate enough to shoot
three of these shy animals out of a small herd, before the rest took the
alarm.
Our young _attaché_, Roseliano, who had witnessed the universal success
of these devices, envying the achievements of his elders, determined to
try what he could accomplish for himself in this line. Accordingly,
choosing for his intended victim a fine stag grazing at no great
distance from the camp, he forthwith proceeded on his experiment. Having
no _garzon’s_ beak at hand, nor even a white garment, with which to
personate the feathered dandy of the savannas, he was for some time at a
loss how to approach the game without alarming it, when a malicious
companion persuaded him that he could ensnare the deer equally well if
he presented himself simply _in puris naturalibus_, assuring him that
the animal would indubitably conceive him to be a rare bird or at least
a new species of _garzon_. Roseliano, finally convinced by these
specious representations, quickly denuded himself; then, gun in hand,
and taking all necessary precautions in regard to the wind, which was
blowing quite fresh at the time, immediately gave chase.
At first the stag appeared to pay little heed to the enticing object,
and allowed it to approach within range; but the moment the gun was
raised, the stag turned round and trotted slowly off, waving his short
tail defiantly. Sometimes he stopped for a little while, seeming to
examine from head to foot this unfeathered biped, afterward resuming his
mastications with perfect nonchalance. At such times Roseliano, with due
precautions, would creep slowly toward him, when invariably the deer,
almost within range, again trotted composedly down the plain, not even
giving his pursuer a chance to aim at him. Occasionally he would turn
about, stamp his tiny hoof upon the hard ground, and again move off
wagging his little tail at him as though to say, “No, you don’t.”
Thus went each, still eluding still pursuing, for a long distance,
without either seeming at all willing to part company, until the burning
sun began to tell upon the bare skin of the young hunter, who
experienced besides sundry painful reminders from the thorny sensitive
plants under foot. At length growing somewhat desperate, he dashed ahead
and sent a random shot after the deer without success, the ball striking
the ground far short of the mark. The deer seemed now to think he had
received notice to quit, for, to the great disgust of poor Roseliano, he
at once bounded gracefully over the tall grass and disappeared from
view.
Within a stone’s throw of our camp were several lagoons abounding in
terrapins and turtles, whilst on all sides the savannas teemed with many
delicious quadrupeds. These, on account of their _penchant_ for the
water, have been declared cold-blooded animals by the church, and can in
consequence be eaten as fish; and as it was Holy Week, a grand hunt was
proposed for the purpose of providing the camp with food which should be
wholesome as well for the soul as the body. Accordingly, early on Good
Friday morning the whole disposable force assembled in front of the
ranch; and after a partial organization, all started on foot in
different directions, some in quest of _cachicamos_ or armadillos,
others for _galapagos_ and tortoises, while the less fastidious did not
disdain to try their skill upon those water hogs, the _chigüires_ or
capyvaras.
The results of the hunt far exceeded our expectation, as in less than
four hours nearly three hundred armadillos, and probably as many
turtles, were brought into camp. The flesh of the _chigüire_ is not much
relished by the Llaneros, although it is excellent for hams when
properly cured and smoked; accordingly the carcasses, the hind quarters
being removed, were left to the turkey buzzards.
The flesh of the armadillo is most delicious, tasting very much like
young pig; and being always roasted in the shell--a thick cuirass formed
of successive horny plates--all its juices are effectually preserved. It
is, however, very rich eating, from the excess of fatness, and therefore
liable to produce indigestion, if not followed by a good dose of
aguardiente and a strong sauce of Chili peppers. It is also said to
exert very injurious effects on persons predisposed to syphilitic
disorders of the system, developing incipient ulcers and various other
cutaneous diseases.
[Illustration]
The armadillo is a harmless, curiously-formed little quadruped, about
the size of a common hedgehog; it burrows in the ground, spending the
greater part of the day in cool retirement, issuing at dusk or very
early in the morning in search of food; this consists principally of
worms, the larvæ of insects or perchance a young snake from the broods
that take shelter among the cells of its subterranean abode--whether by
permission or as intruders, remains to be ascertained. The fact is,
however, that many of these burrows are so full of snakes, that it is
necessary on account of them to exercise considerable caution when
passing near the abodes of armadillos. Two little owls called
_aguaita-caminos_, road-watchers, usually stand like sentinels at the
entrance of these burrows, and by their constant flutterings around the
sportsman, and their uncouth motions, almost invariably succeed in
warning the armadillo. Nevertheless, if the hunter approach in front, he
can always secure it with his hands as its vision in that direction is
entirely obscured by the position of the plates with which the head is
covered. When attacked from the rear or sides, it makes quickly for its
burrow; but if the hunter, however, be sufficiently expert, he may
succeed in getting hold of the long, horny tail of the animal before it
disappears entirely from view. Even then, as this creature possesses the
power of swelling its body when thus attacked, it is rather difficult to
drag it out, unless by some means the size of the burrow can be
enlarged. There is then danger of severe wounds from its sharp claws, as
well as of being bitten by some of the poisonous snakes which share its
home.
What affinity there is existing between this quadruped and the finny
inhabitants of the water, prompting their classification among amphibia,
I was unable to ascertain; but although the capyvara and several others
placed by the church under that category, possess, it is true, great
powers of resistance while in water, the reverse is assuredly the case
with regard to the armadillo, which always seeks the higher grounds so
as to escape submersion during the great floods; and I have often found
it in the midst of extensive plains where no moisture excepting the dews
of night is to be seen for miles around.
When all the different parties, participants in the hunting excursion,
were once more seated round the camp fires, it was quite amusing to hear
their accounts of the various incidents connected with it; one had got
hold of a rattlesnake’s tail, mistaking it for that of an armadillo;
another had stumbled over a crocodile while diving for turtles in a
shallow creek; a third had his toe bitten off by caribes; while not a
few experienced more or less severe shocks from electric eels. In front
of many of the fires, soon blazing under the trees, were arrayed on long
wooden spits entire carcasses of the armadillos split along the belly
and kept open by means of cross bars of green boughs. Directly the coals
were sufficiently hot in the centre of the fires, the galapagos were all
beheaded and thrown, still alive, into the midst of the burning embers.
These chelonia, like all other amphibia, are exceedingly tenacious of
life; their sufferings, therefore, must doubtless be great under this
lingering death, as was manifested by their long-continued struggles in
the fire.
The Llaneros say that these turtles, according to their most exquisite
gastronomers, should be eaten where there is no light, asserting that
they will then be found more rich and juicy; but the actual reason for
this, as I afterward ascertained to my great disgust, was that some of
the choicest morsels are precisely those which to be eaten must not be
seen, as otherwise they would unhesitatingly be rejected.
There are several varieties of fresh water tortoises in the Apure, an
abundant and wholesome food for the inhabitants. The most common are the
_galapagos_, a large species of terrapin, the _terecay_ and the _arrau_
or great turtle of the Orinoco, concerning which the celebrated Father
Gumilla wrote in his “Orinoco Illustrated,” that it would be as
difficult to count the grains of sand on the shores of the Orinoco, as
to count the immense number of tortoises which inhabit its margin and
water. Although confined principally to the broad channel of the
Orinoco, the _arraus_ are met with also in great abundance in the Apure,
the Arauca, and most of the other large tributaries of that river; as
also in the Amazon, according to Bates’ statements, who has devoted a
chapter to this magnificent turtle, and to the exciting scenes which
take place during the gathering of their eggs by the Amazonian Indians
and Portuguese traders. As I intend to allude again to this subject, I
will return to their congeners of the flooded lands west of the Orinoco.
To convey a distinct idea of the prodigious abundance of this species,
it may suffice to say that by merely driving a herd of wild cattle or
horses at full speed into any pond of these savannas, the first wave
produced by the sudden splash will heave up thousands of turtles upon
the beach. Another method resorted to in the Llanos for obtaining them,
is by raking in the soft mud in which these chelonia habitually bury
themselves the moment they are alarmed. After this mud becomes
thoroughly dried by the summer’s heat, they remain under its indurated
crust in a dormant state until the commencement of the rainy season. Yet
even here the poor creatures are insecure, as they are not unfrequently
roused from their siesta by the hunter setting fire to the dry water
plants, the ornaments of these natural ponds; at such times breaking
through the earth crust which environs them, they in vain endeavor to
escape their tormentors, who can then pick them up at their leisure.
In addition to the foregoing, there are two other varieties of tortoises
found amidst the marshes and jungles of the Llanos; they are the
_morrocoy_ or land tortoise, having a hard and rounded shell, and the
_jicotea_, an animal which appears to form the connecting link between
turtles proper and tortoises; both are of excellent flavor, more
especially the former, whose liver, dressed and fried in its own gall,
is undoubtedly superior to that most prized of all epicurean morsels,
_foie gras_. It is very large as compared with the size of the animal,
decreasing however very materially if its owner has had a long fast,
which, as this reptile, like all others of the class, can and does
frequently live a long time without food, has doubtless occasioned the
popular error that it feeds on its own liver when long deprived of other
nourishment.
During the season of great droughts, the _morrocoy_ seeks the hollow
trunks of trees for shelter, where it lives entirely without nourishment
for several months, until, feeling the dampness produced by the first
showers of spring penetrating his subterranean abode, he moves slowly
out to browse upon the tender shoots of water plants and prairie
lilies. The shell of this tortoise is so hard that nothing short of
heavy blows from an axe can separate the thick plates of which it is
formed, and a locomotive engine might pass over it without producing the
least effect upon its unimpressible tenant. Long after the carcass has
been cut up for cooking, and is in water boiling over the fire, the
pieces are incessantly in motion, and it is not until the boiling has
been continued many successive hours, that the meat is fit for eating.
The land tortoise does not deposit its eggs in the sand, as is the
practice with its congener of the water, but drops them indiscriminately
into any convenient hole, leaving the care of hatching them to the heat
of the earth. The egg, which is larger than a hen’s, is extremely white,
spherical in form, and very hard. The male is readily distinguished from
the female by a deep depression of its pectoral plate, that of the
female being perfectly even with the ground.
I have been assured by reliable parties that the blood of the _morrocoy_
is a specific for neuralgia, if rubbed, while still warm, upon the part
affected.
CHAPTER XVIII.
MATA TOTUMO.
Little was accomplished in the way of hunting during the two weeks we
passed at Mata Gorda, occupying ourselves mainly in building a ranch for
the establishment of a caporal and his family, with corrals attached,
sufficiently spacious to accommodate a large drove. Other parts of the
estate requiring immediate attention, we removed from Mata Gorda to Mata
Totumo, a retired corner of the savannas, whose proximity to other
cattle farms exposed it to the constant depredations of poachers. In
this way vast numbers of our cattle were annually lost to us; it had
accordingly become necessary to establish there also a Fundacion, or
small farm with a resident caporal, who should exercise a strict
surveillance and take charge of a small herd of tame cattle as a nucleus
for a permanent settlement in that exposed frontier.
Hardly were we established in the new encampment, when a party of our
men in scouring the savanna encountered a band of these cattle poachers,
who had already collected a sufficient drove to make them comfortable
to the year’s end, and were hastening home with their unlawful booty.
Our people immediately gave chase, but succeeded in capturing two only
of the robbers. After whipping these most unmercifully, as is customary
in the Llanos for similar offences, and giving them in addition the
positive assurance that, if again found within the precincts of the
estate, they would fare even worse, the rascals were at length allowed
to depart without further punishment.
As usual in all our prairie encampments, much time was occupied in
destroying baneful weeds and reptiles. Snakes especially were so
plentiful as to at times greatly endanger our barefooted community. That
habit is second nature, was certainly strikingly exemplified in the
present instance, for in a few days we came to notice the heretofore
dreaded snakes as little as though so many harmless earthworms. Our
fears, if not their cause, being at length entirely removed, we next
erected a shelter from the inclemency of the weather for our abundant
luggage, no small cause of anxiety, situated as we were at a long
distance from the source of any fresh supplies. Afterwards we commenced
raising corrals for our increasing herds. Fortunately building materials
were very abundant; and the bamboo, that graceful representative of the
grasses, was of the greatest utility. Its tall and pliant stems afforded
all that was necessary for rafters and fence rails, serving also various
other uses. To duly estimate the size attained by this giant grass of
the tropics, it is necessary to understand that some stems reach the
astonishing height of thirty or even forty feet, with a corresponding
thickness of six or seven inches at their base; and as these bamboos
spring in immense clusters from the ground, they grow at last into an
aspect which is truly beautiful. Innumerable slender leaves of a
delicate sea green color, clothe in masses the tops of these huge stems,
curving them downward by their weight, and giving them, especially when
sporting with the soft breezes of the pampas, the appearance of waving
plumes of most magnificent proportions, rising, bending, swaying in
long, graceful sweeps over the tops of the surrounding trees. An elegant
writer, describing this majestic Queen of the Grasses, has beautifully
said, “Grace, delicacy, richness of form and color, every element of
vegetable beauty, appear combined in this luxuriant dweller by the
streams of the tropics. Nothing is more cheerful to the eye of the
heated and wearied traveller, than the deep rocky basins formed by
mountain streams when filled with water, and overshadowed by clumps of
bamboo. They often lean over the stream on one side and arch the pathway
on the other, excluding almost every ray of sunlight from the cool
recesses below. Their delicate brittle leaves are stirred by the tiniest
zephyr, and bend to the pressure of the butterfly and the bee. Sometimes
clumps of bamboo stand on either side of the roads and form long vaulted
passages, as if by fretted Gothic arches, with here and there branches
of rich flowers and leaves hanging down like beautiful corbels. When the
gale of the hurricane comes, these groves of bamboo exchange an aspect
of beauty for that of grandeur. They are heaved and tossed like the
billows of the sea, and their rich foliage driven in every direction
appears like surges breaking on the rocks.”
* * * * *
No sooner was the majada in readiness, than we commenced the somewhat
laborious, but at the same time pleasingly exciting business of filling
it, for which purpose we called upon the neighboring cattle farms of La
Yagua and Caucagua for assistance. So effectual were our efforts, that
in a few days we had collected two thousand animals for the brand, most
of which, having long passed the age when this operation is usually
performed, gave us in consequence a great deal of trouble. Occasionally,
by way of relaxation from our labors, we busied ourselves in training
the boys in the manly art of _torear_, or the scarcely less dangerous
one of breaking in wild horses, on which especially the hardy dwellers
of the Llanos eminently pride themselves. During our sojourn at Mata
Totumo, its owner became concerned in an incident highly illustrative of
this peculiar pride, so universal a trait among these children of Nature
and the Sun, illustrative no less of the almost entire freedom from
conventional restraint which exists between master and servant in the
Llanos. Our Leader had taken a strong fancy to a beautiful cream colored
horse, which, although partially trained to the saddle, missed no
opportunity of practising some of his old tricks, a favorite one being
apparently to unseat, whenever possible, his rider. This amusement he
several times indulged in at the expense of his master, and, as it
chanced, always in presence of his pet caporal, Sarmiento, who
invariably gave _carte blanche_ to his own witticisms on such occasions.
To these the good-humored master replied one day by challenging him to
ride the horse round the camp on a run without being thrown, a dollar to
be added to his wages if successful; if the reverse, the same amount to
be thereafter deducted. “Done,” cried Sarmiento, extending his hand
familiarly to his master; and without more words, having blindfolded the
horse by means of a sliding leather strap attached to the bridle, called
_tapaojos_, he placed upon him his own saddle and holsters, and the next
moment was firmly seated on his back. Then, removing the bandage, he at
once commenced belaboring the refractory stallion with his _chaparro_,
showering such powerful blows upon his haunches, that the terrified
animal rushed headlong through the camp, rearing, plunging, and tearing
along the plain at a fearful pace. All in vain were the efforts of the
nigh frantic steed to shake the unmerciful Centaur from his back; the
poor animal had to strive against one with whom contention was
ineffectual, and who finally brought him back triumphantly to the camp
as submissively meek as he had previously been savage and refractory.
* * * * *
Shortly after our arrival in that secluded spot, came the Corporation of
Mantecal, under whose jurisdiction we were, accompanied by many of the
inhabitants, to pay their respects and personal regards to the former
chieftain of the Llanos and late President of the Republic, tendering
him at the same time the hospitalities of the town--a few straggling
huts. It was a surprise party, nevertheless we acquitted ourselves with
becoming hospitality. Two fat calves were immediately slaughtered; and
these, together with numbers of armadillos, galapagos, and a fine sow
from the swamps near by, formed a banquet not unworthy a London board of
aldermen. A hastily constructed table, its top made from laths of bamboo
and tied with _bejucos_ or creepers to four rough posts set in the
ground, was soon raised under the trees; the broad leaves of the wild
plantain formed the table cloth, while the shells of galapagos served
the double purpose of plates and dishes, entirely in keeping with the
rural entertainment.
Here, as well as at Mata Gorda, game was most abundant, and we could at
all times count upon a ready supply with which to vary the more
substantial dishes. Deer were plentiful in the surrounding woods; but I
found them, after killing several, too thin at this season to be worth
hunting, especially as the savannas were teeming with the finest cattle
and wild hogs; the latter are in good condition at all times, and each
day our men brought to camp the spoils of one or more _capones_ hanging
from the saddles.
The ant-bear or great ant-eater, a stout and powerful animal measuring
six feet from the snout to the end of the tail, also ranged these
prairies; but although his flesh is well-flavored and easily procured,
it is never used for food, owing to his repulsive appearance. “He is
chiefly found in the inmost recesses of the forest, and seems partial to
the low and swampy parts near creeks, where the trocly-tree grows.
There
[Illustration]
he goes up and down in quest of ants, of which there is never the least
scarcity, so that he soon obtains a sufficient supply of food with very
little trouble. He cannot travel fast; man is superior to him in speed.
Without swiftness to enable him to escape from his enemies; without
teeth, the possession of which would assist him in self-defence; and
without the power of burrowing in the ground, by which he might conceal
himself from his pursuers, he still is capable of ranging through these
wilds in perfect safety; nor does he fear the fatal pressure of the
serpent’s fold, or the teeth of the famished jaguar. Nature has formed
his fore-legs wonderfully thick, and strong, and muscular, and armed his
feet with three tremendous sharp and crooked claws. Whenever he seizes
an animal with these formidable weapons, he hugs it close to his body,
and keeps it there till it dies through pressure, or through want of
food. Nor does the ant-bear in the meantime suffer much from loss of
aliment, as it is a well-known fact that he can go longer without food
than, perhaps, any other animal, excepting the land-tortoise. His skin
is of a texture that perfectly resists the bite of a dog; his hinder
parts are protected by thick and shaggy hair, while his immense tail is
large enough to cover his whole body.”[31]
Numerous also were the foot-prints of the jaguar; yet, in my frequent
perambulations through the forest, it was never my fortune to encounter
this despot of the howling wilderness, although I one day mistook for
his voice that of the _titirijí_ or great horned owl of the pampas. I
found him perched among the branches of a _guamo_ tree, inclining his
large head toward me with a scrutinizing look peculiar to those birds,
as if taking mental notes of my appearance. Whenever I remained
perfectly quiet he gave utterance to his unearthly hootings, the woods
echoing and re-echoing the dismal sounds. The _titirijí_ would seem to
be possessed of some ventriloquial power, for his voice, loud and deep
as it was, yet appeared to issue from a distance. The frequent effect of
this peculiarity is to mislead the unaccustomed hunter, who by it is
readily induced to wander on and on in unavailing search. Having
contemplated at leisure this singular bird, I finally levelled my
fowling-piece at him, and brought him down with a charge of buckshot
which I had destined for a deer. It proved a very fine specimen, with
wings as large as those of a good sized turkey, while two horn-like
tufts of feathers rose on each side of the head, which, in addition to
the large, glaring eyes, gave him a truly ferocious aspect. His food
consists of all kinds of wild fowl; however, not being over scrupulous,
he devours with equal relish rats, mice and snakes; while even monkeys
of the smaller sort are often his prey. This owl inhabits for the most
part the loneliest and gloomiest portions of the forest; but is
occasionally seen solemnly watching from some convenient tree-top the
various inhabitants of the farmyard.
MANTECAL.
In compliance with an invitation tendered to the General and his suite
by the good people of Mantecal, we started in a few days to visit their
village, not far distant from our encampment. When within three miles of
the place, we were welcomed by a large concourse of the inhabitants
coming to escort us. Almost the whole population turned out, saluting
our entry into the town with the firing of blunderbuses and other
firearms, and further gracing it with a most discordant uproar of
rickety harps, violins, and bandolas, enough to have driven frantic the
“Enraged Musician” of Hogarth.
Mantecal was at one time quite a flourishing town, notwithstanding the
wars which ravaged it for many successive years; but since the great
epidemic of 1832, and subsequently, it has been well nigh depopulated,
while the few inhabitants who were not swept away by the scourge,
abandoned their homes. Thus the once busy community became almost a
dismal wilderness,
“Where at each step the stranger fears to wake
The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake.”
At the time of our visit to Mantecal but few houses remained standing,
sad monuments of past prosperity. We spent three days there, and the
inhabitants, hospitable in spite of their miserable condition,
entertained us to the utmost of their ability. Not only did they provide
the best accommodations the village afforded, but treated us in addition
to a nightly fandango, in which people of all castes and conditions
joined. These festivities ended, we gladly returned to our prairie home,
the more especially that the important duties we had there to perform
would probably delay our return to Maracay several weeks longer; also
the rainy season was fast approaching and each day we had warnings of
the coming tempest then brewing in the south.
We continued to hunt those savannas while there were any _orejanos_ to
brand, adding largely in the meantime to our stock of reserved oxen for
the markets of the upper country, which had already increased to a
considerable drove. We also made several excursions to the neighboring
cattle farms for the purpose of separating from their herds all the
_orejanos_ whose mothers bore our brand. Judging from the number of
calves there collected, and without taking into consideration those
yearly discarded by the mothers, it was easy to perceive that the
revenues of those estates were greatly increased at our cost, their
original stock being vastly inferior to ours. In this manner many of the
minor cattle farms enriched themselves at the expense of wealthy
neighbors.
CHAPTER XIX.
MONKEY NOTIONS.
The _guamos_ were now in full bearing, their luscious pods a grateful
refreshment to the heated and thirsty rambler through the woods. Monkeys
and macaws are particularly fond of this fruit; and on the tops of all
the highest guamo-trees could be seen family reunions of these
chatterers apparently discussing the merits of the crop.
Of monkeys, the most conspicuous in the Llanos are the _araguato_, or
howling monkey (Simia ursina), and the _machango_ (S. sajous), this last
a small grey monkey, very common in most parts of Venezuela. On account
of its wonderful agility and vivacious disposition the machango is much
esteemed as a pet by the inhabitants, many of whom keep one or more tied
to a post in the court-yard, where they enact to some extent the rôle of
buffoon to the whole family. They are, however, very mischievous
creatures, doing every possible damage in the house the moment they are
at large; but are especially destructive to cacao plantations and
cornfields. When about to commence their depredations in these, they
usually assemble in great numbers and exercise many precautions; the
first step is to station several of their number as sentinels upon the
highest trees, or any elevated situation overlooking the avenues leading
to the plantation, whence they warn the others of approaching danger.
The next proceeding is that of placing those of the females--which on
account of their young are prevented from assisting in the foray--in
some safe retreat. The precautions completed, they invest the cornfield
in earnest, pulling down the stocks and tearing off ears of corn with
astonishing expedition, chattering, laughing, and yelling all the while
like a set of mischievous boys in the absence of the dominie. When they
have accumulated a sufficient number of ears, they split the husks, and
tying them in pairs by means of an ingenious knot peculiar to
themselves, called in consequence monkey-tie, they throw them across
their backs, and thus equipped hasten to hide their booty in some safe
nook difficult of discovery by the neglectful majordomo, who not
unfrequently conceals his own defalcations in the yield of the
plantation by ascribing the deficiency to the thieving monkeys. It often
happens that while these last are engaged in their depredations, they
are surprised by the owner of the cornfield, who, eluding the vigilance
of the scouts, suddenly appears and pours a shower of shot into their
midst. Then with shrill cries of alarm the whole troop scamper off
helter-skelter, tumbling, pitching or hobbling along on all fours, but
never dropping a particle of their plunder. The belief obtains in the
Llanos, that when at length safe in their haunts, the careless sentinels
are arraigned before a council of elders, who after due deliberation
condemn them, after which the guilty parties are tied to a tree and
soundly whipped.
No less remarkable is their ingenious method of crossing torrents and
other minor streams which they often encounter in their ceaseless
perambulations through the forest. As among men, all cannot swim with
equal facility, so it is also with monkeys; accordingly the leaders of
the troop, generally the strongest of the party, climb to the spreading
branches of some tree projecting over the stream; one of them then
twists his tail firmly around a branch, and letting his body hang,
seizes upon the tail of the nearest comrade, who in his turn performs
the same operation with the next, and so on until a sort of chain or
living pendulum is formed, which in obedience to the laws of equilibrium
oscillates slowly but constantly from their combined efforts to reach
the opposite bank. This finally achieved, the last monkey secures
himself to the most convenient tree. The others of the chain, now
disengaged from the tree at the opposite side of the stream, wade
through the water, each helped by his neighbor, assisted likewise by the
current. Some are, however, occasionally drowned, the last one in the
chain especially, which circumstance has probably given rise to the
popular proverb, _el último mono siempre se ahoga_--the last monkey is
sure to be drowned. Sagacious as these animals undoubtedly are, it is
often very easy to entrap them. One of the simplest methods consists in
cutting a number of holes in a gourd barely large enough to admit of
squeezing in the monkey’s hands. The gourd thus prepared is filled with
corn and secured to the trunk of a tree, then shaken violently for a
time so as to attract the attention of the monkeys, and a few grains of
corn scattered in the neighborhood of the trap. The gourd is in fact the
dinner bell of the monkeys, which no sooner hear the well known sound,
than they descend in great numbers from their aerial homes, and each in
turn seizing the gourd, grasps through one of the holes a handful of
corn. ‘But in vain do they struggle to withdraw their hands without
relinquishing the prize; and at this critical moment, the concealed
author of their mishap suddenly makes his appearance, and tying their
hands carries them off to his cottage in the woods.
More taciturn and retiring in his habits than the preceding, the
_araguato_--a large reddish monkey of the ring-tail genus--exhibits none
of those mischievous tricks which characterize the former, never
approaching the haunts of man nor ravaging the fields of the industrious
farmer. His only food consists of wild fruits, gathered as, with
astonishing rapidity, he springs from branch to branch. All the limbs of
this great monkey are admirably adapted to his roving habits; in these
he is assisted very materially by his long prehensile tail, which acts
the part of a fifth hand.
The roar of the _araguato_ is so extraordinary, that persons who hear it
for the first time invariably imagine it that of the jaguar. I think I
may assert without fear of mistake, that it can be heard at the
distance of three miles, especially in damp and cloudy weather. “This
most striking of all animal voices is heard occasionally at sunrise and
sunset, and sometimes in the heat of the day, but more frequently during
the darkness of night. When near, the roar is terrific; a naturalist has
compared it to the tempest howling through rocky caverns. It is a voice
so unearthly that, heard unexpectedly for the first time, it would fill
the mind with the most melancholy forebodings.”[32]
“The Indians pretend,” observes Humboldt, that when the _araguatos_ fill
the forest with their howlings, there is always one that chants as
leader to the chorus. The observation is pretty accurate. During a long
interval one solitary and strong voice is generally distinguished, till
its place is taken by another voice of a different pitch. We may observe
from time to time the same instinct of imitation among frogs, and almost
all animals which live together and exert their voices in union. The
missionaries further assert that when a female among the _araguatos_ is
on the point of bringing forth, the choir suspends its howlings till the
moment of the birth of the young. I could not myself judge of the
accuracy of this assertion; but I do not believe it to be entirely
unfounded. I have observed that when an extraordinary incident--the
moans, for instance, of a wounded _araguato_--fixed the attention of the
band, the howlings were for some minutes suspended. The face of this
singular monkey is nearly concealed by a sandy, bushy beard, extending
below and projecting considerably beyond his chin, giving him a very
dignified appearance. So striking is their resemblance to the human
species, that once, after having shot one, I almost felt as though I had
committed a murder. When I raised the poor creature from the ground upon
which he had fallen, his large grey eyes were bathed in tears, and every
feature expressed the deepest agony. Casting upon me a most eloquent
look of reproach, he endeavored to push me aside; but too much enfeebled
by his wound, lay down and calmly resigned himself to the scrutinizing
gaze of my English companions, who discussed and disputed about the
division of his still panting body--one wanting the skin for a smoking
cap and the drum of the throat for the bowl of his pipe, while the other
would be contented with nothing less than the whole carcass. For my own
part, I only desired to get out of sight of the dying creature; and
shouldering my gun, departed in a mood which determined me never again
to lift my hand against these innocent wild men of the woods.
South America may be said to be, _par excellence_, the home of the
monkey tribe. Besides the foregoing, the great forest south of the
pampas of Apure is filled with the cries, yells, and roarings by night
and day--for some are nocturnal and others diurnal--of countless troops
of the various families of these quadrumana, roaming through it, from
the mysterious _Salvaje_ (supposed by many to be a great and powerful
monkey, who, Gorilla-like, seizes upon defenceless women and carries
them off to some inaccessible tree in the forest), down to the tiny
marmoset, not larger than a flying-squirrel, but all possessing more or
less that degree of intelligence and cunning so nearly akin to human
instinct. Some are white-faced, with the rest of the body black; others
black-faced, forming a curious contrast with a thick head of hair
perfectly white. Bates observed on the Upper Amazon a very rare species
with a scarlet face, making the animal look pretty much like an Indian
bedaubed with arnatto,[33] as is the practice of the aborigines in a
wild state. Some have blue noses; others a dark ring around the eyes,
giving the creature a most ludicrous appearance, as if adorned with a
pair of spectacles.
In the same region is found another curious genus of monkeys, namely,
the _owl-faced night apes_, described by Bates and Humboldt as being of
small size, the body about a foot long and the tail fourteen inches, and
are thickly clothed with soft, grey, and brown hair, similar in
substance to that of the rabbit. They sleep all day long in hollow
trees, and come forth to prey on insects, and eat fruits, only in the
night. Their physiognomy reminds one of an owl, or tiger-cat; the face
is round and encircled by a ruff of whitish fur. Bates had one of these
animals given him by a _compadre_, as a present from his newly-baptized
godson, and he describes it as being a great favorite with every one,
from the cleanliness of its habits and the prettiness of its features
and ways; and the Municipal Judge of Ega, Don Carlos Mariana, had
another species of the same genus, which was most amusingly tame,
delighting to be caressed by all persons who came into the house, and at
night sleeping with his master in his own hammock, and nestling in his
bosom half the day as he lay reading.
A very striking feature of most South American monkeys is the strong
resemblance they bear to the Indian race, just as those of Africa
resemble the negro, and those of the Indian Archipelago the Malay race
of men. Some of them look so much like Indians, that one cannot help
imagining there exists a near relationship between these dwellers of the
forest. The _capuchin_ of the Orinoco, which Waterton has made so
celebrated, under the vague appellation of _nondescript_, and the _tití_
of the same locality, may be mentioned as exceptions to the rule, the
former on account of a long, bushy beard, and soft, glossy black head of
hair, nicely parted in the middle, like a refined exquisite, and the
latter with its finely-modelled head and most expressive features, which
added to a high degree of intelligence and sprightly restlessness
possessed by the little creature, make it a favorite pet, with ladies
especially, when reduced to domestic life. The _tití_ is a medium-sized
monkey, with hair of a golden yellow; and what adds to its attraction as
a pet, is its cleanly habits, so unlike those of its congeners, washing
its hands whenever it comes near water, which makes them look at all
times like those of a well-nursed child. But, woe to the elegantly
furnished boudoir, if it should contrive to get loose, which it often
does in spite of precautions, for it will prove a perfect _enfant
terrible_ amongst the choicest trinkets of feminine adornment, smashing
everything within its reach, and examining into every nook and corner of
the wardrobe with perfect infantile curiosity. On the other hand, it
will completely rid the house of spiders and other like vermin, for
which tropical climates are famous, not even sparing the favorite
songster in its cage, for it is quite omnivorous in its tastes. Humboldt
relates of one he kept in his canoe, during his tedious exploration of
these rivers, that it would take particular pleasure in looking over the
plates of a work on Natural History, which the great philosopher used to
turn over occasionally for his own and his pet’s amusement; sitting
itself on the lap of its master, it would look intently on the figures
of the various animals with as much interest as a child would evince,
under like circumstances, but without betraying any especial emotion,
until it came to the plate representing the insects. Although the
engravings were not colored, the _tití_ would now advance its little
hand in the hope of catching a spider, a grasshopper, or a wasp,
whenever it perceived one of these insects, of which it is particularly
fond. It remained perfectly indifferent when it was shown engravings of
skeletons or heads of mammiferous animals. “No other monkey,” adds
Humboldt, “has so much the physiognomy of a child as the _tití_; there
is the same expression of innocence, the same playful smile, the same
rapidity in the transition from joy to sorrow. Its large, handsome eyes
are instantly filled with tears when it is seized with fear.” Even in
the wild state, the _tití_ evinces a degree of cunning seldom found in
others of its class. An instance of this is shown in the manner in which
it robs the bee colony not only of its rich stores of sweet honey, but
also of its industrious tenants; stationing itself at the mouth of the
beehive--usually in the hollow branch of some tree in the forest--the
_tití_ catches and eats up every member of the busy colony as they go in
and out on their laborious errands. When no more insects can be
obtained, and knowing instinctively that within that mysterious abode is
to be found something sweeter still, the little imp diligently commences
to dig into the aperture until a passage wide enough for the hand is
made, and then commences the work of destruction upon grubs and
honey-combs. Should these be placed too far down the opening to be
reached with the hand, the _tití_ introduces its tail--which is
considerably longer than its arms--into the deposit of honey, and
withdrawing it, well bedaubed with the coveted prize, commences to enjoy
it with great gusto.
Isidore Geoffrey St. Hilaire relates of another individual of this
genus, that “it distinguished between different objects depicted on an
engraving. M. Audouin showed it the portraits of a cat and a wasp; at
these it became very much terrified; whereas, at the sight of a figure
of a grasshopper or beetle, it precipitated itself on the picture, as if
to seize the objects there represented.”
Bates mentions another rare species of the same genus, first described
by Humboldt, which was, if possible, more playful and intelligent than
any of the preceding. “This rare and beautiful little monkey is only
seven inches in length, exclusive of the tail. It is named _leoninus_,
on account of the long brown mane which depends from the neck, and which
gives it very much the appearance of a diminutive lion. In the house
where it was kept it was familiar with every one; its greatest pleasure
seemed to be to climb about the bodies of different persons who entered.
The first time I went in, it ran across the room straight-way to the
chair on which I had sat down, and climbed up to my shoulder; arrived
there, it turned round and looked into my face, showing its little
teeth, and chattering as though it would say, ‘Well, and how do _you_
do?’ It showed more affection toward its master than toward strangers,
and would climb up to his head a dozen times in the course of an hour,
making a great show every time of searching there for certain
animalcula.”
The same writer describes the ingenious mode of obtaining live
specimens, as practised by Indian hunters. “The mother, as in other
species of the monkey order, carries her young on her back. Individuals
are obtained alive by shooting them with the blow-pipe and arrows tipped
with diluted urarí poison. They run a considerable distance after being
pierced, and it requires an experienced hunter to track them. He is
considered the most expert who can keep pace with a wounded one, and
catch it in his arms when it falls exhausted. A pinch of salt, the
antidote to the poison, is then put in its mouth, and the creature
revives.”
As I write this in the quiet seclusion of the country, I hear among the
trees surrounding one of the finest mansions in Connecticut, the
twittering chatter of another little monkey, or marmoset, a _tití_ of
the coast of Cartagena, which I procured from hence not long ago. It is
quite small, of a reddish-brown color, with a face resembling more an
African negro (for it is jet black) than the aborigines of the opposite
coast. A thick woolly coat of white hair covers its head, so that at a
distance the little creature looks as if ornamented with a cap of
snow-white feathers. Enjoying with myself the freedom of the hospitable
mansion, it is allowed to roam at pleasure among the branches of the
trees, but as the sun goes down, it invariably seeks the comforts of its
bed, prepared by its kind mistress, inside a market-basket in her own
room. Monito--this is its name--is an early riser, which makes it rather
inconvenient for the other inmates of the room; for, although the
windows are left open through the night, it will not stir until its
breakfast has been placed before the little scamp, who, in the meantime,
keeps such squealing and twittering as to rouse “Nini” and her mamma.
Its hunger satisfied, it bounds away to the tree-tops, leaping from
branch to branch with astonishing agility, which never fails to attract
a crowd of squirrels, which, mistaking it for one of their tribe, run
towards the stranger; but no sooner do they perceive the jetty phyz and
snowy locks of Don Monito, than, with one yell of astonishment, and the
utmost horror depicted in their countenance, they scamper off to a
respectable distance. Then follows a sort of inquiring colloquy between
both parties, all chatting at the same time, and making the air resound
all the while with the chirping palaver. It does not get beyond this,
however, for, at the first advance made on either side, one of the
parties, or both, scamper off ingloriously, thus verifying the saying--
“He who fights and runs away
Lives to fight another day.”
Not satisfied with the abundant fare of spiders caught around the roof,
Monito comes regularly to the house at certain hours, to be fed on more
dainty food, consisting of bits of sugar, cake, and delicious grapes,
fresh from the grapery, which the thoughtful ladies of the mansion have
in readiness for their guest. At times it pays a visit to the laundress,
at her establishment, for whom it has evinced a strong attachment,
owing, I suspect, to the fact that said dame invariably treats the
favorite to a good slice of bread and butter, of which it seems to be
very fond also. Selecting a comfortable place in some corner of the
room, it spends an hour or so chatting to the worthy laundress all the
while in a language only intelligible to itself. I fear, however, that
the country air of a northern climate does not quite agree with the
little South-American, for it has been observed, at times, in the
morning, shaking from head to foot, and seeking some convenient place on
the roof of the piazza, where it can have the full benefit of the sun’s
rays, a sure sign of a coming attack of chills and fever. This
circumstance, and the fact of its having become more irritable and
morose than usual, has induced me to procure, from a friend in town,
another small monkey, in whose company it came from South America,
although of a different species, to see if the presence of its former
associate will restore its spirits; but to no purpose, for, after a fair
trial, we find that the attentions of this last, which is a most
restless and mischievous creature, pulling the invalid’s tail and
silvery tufts of hair, whenever they are brought together, instead of
proving a comfort to Monito, throws it into violent fits.
The monkey in question is the _cari-blanco_, white-faced, of the River
Sinu, a higher grade of ape than the marmosets, and is, in consequence,
one of the most intelligent individuals of the family. It is really
entertaining to see such a small creature aping childhood so well as to
amuse itself and the rest of the family whose hospitality it enjoys,
with a doll and some marbles which it stole from the baby; and one of
the ladies having shown it a musical toy, which she blew to attract its
notice, the mimicking creature at once snatched the toy from her hand,
and immediately applied it to its mouth, endeavoring to produce the same
sounds, although without effect; whereupon it tried a like experiment on
the doll--which it carries constantly under its arm--but with no better
results. Another source of amusement is derived from a kitten belonging
to the baby, the sight of which produced at first as much astonishment
and curiosity as the interview between Monito and the squirrels brought
about. Now they are as good friends as if they had known each other a
lifetime; so much so that the baby finds it difficult to separate her
pussy from the dreaded monkey, which “Nini” abominates ever since Monito
bit her badly, for want of experience on her part in dealing with these
spiteful creatures.
It is a fact worthy of notice, that most monkeys, especially those of a
higher grade, manifest on all occasions a strong attachment to young
animals, especially puppies and kittens, caressing and handling them
with the same care that a human being bestows on the young of their own
kind. I once obtained, in Costa Rica, a large female monkey of the
ring-tail species, which, in intelligence and _monerias_ (monkey tricks)
surpassed any creature of this description I have yet seen or heard of;
so much so that Herr Müller, a German baker of San José, who owned the
pet, had given her the name of “Panchita,” or Little Frances; and so
captivated was I too by Miss Panchita, that I at once entered into
negotiations with the baker for her purchase. But of this more hereafter
in the _Second Series_ of these sketches.
Well, said Panchita was, like the rest of her class, particularly fond
of puppies; but not possessing sufficient discrimination to distinguish
between the ages of animals, and judging of this only through their
size, she seized, on one occasion, a small poodle, which happened to
pass near her, mistaking it for a puppy, and pressing it to her breast
with appropriate demonstrations of motherly solicitude, endeavored to
induce the dog to avail itself of the proffered donation; but a bite
from the ungrateful chap warned the would-be nurse of the dangers
arising from too close an intimacy with strangers. Poor Panchita! Having
brought her along with me to New York, and placed her in Barnum’s
celebrated boarding-school for dumb beasts from all parts of the world,
she shared the fate of the “Happy Family” during the disastrous fire
which consumed that renowned establishment.
As an instance of the affection and intelligence displayed by these
singular creatures, I will mention here another South American monkey,
from the Upper Amazon river, of which the indefatigable collector of
natural history, Mr. Bates, says, alluding to one possessed by a
neighbor of his at Ega: “My friend was a tailor, and the little pet used
to spend the greater part of the day seated on his shoulder, while he
was at work on his board. It showed, nevertheless, great dislike to
strangers, and was not on good terms with any other member of my
friend’s household than himself, I saw no monkey that showed so strong a
personal attachment as this gentle, timid, silent little creature. The
eager and passionate Cebi seem to take the lead of all South American
monkeys in intelligence and docility, and the Coaitá has perhaps the
most gentle and impressive disposition; but the Parauacú, although a
dull, cheerless animal, excels all in this quality of capacity of
attachment to individuals of our own species. It is not wanting in
intelligence as well as moral goodness, proof of which was furnished one
day by an act of our little pet. My neighbor had quitted his house in
the morning, without taking Parauacú with him, and the little creature
having missed its friend, and concluded, as it seemed, that he would be
sure to come to me, both being in the habit of paying me a daily visit
together, came straight to my dwelling, taking a short cut over gardens,
trees, and thickets, instead of going the roundabout way of the street.
It had never done this before, and we knew the route it had taken only
from a neighbor having watched its movements. On arriving at my house,
and not finding its master, it climbed to the top of my table, and sat
with an air of quiet resignation waiting for him. Shortly afterwards my
friend entered, and the gladdened pet then jumped to its usual perch on
his shoulder.”
I will conclude this chapter--already, I fear, too long--with some
further remarks respecting the _Salvaje_, or “Wild Man of America,” as
it is called by those who, to this day, believe that such
_nondescript_--for no one seems to have ever seen it, except the
footprints--exists in the wilds of Venezuela. Both Father Gumilla and
Humboldt allude to the belief entertained by the people of those regions
in the existence of a great anthropoid ape, which was reputed to build
huts, carry off women, and devour jealous husbands. It is curious,
however, to see how these two great expounders of nature’s wonders
endeavor to solve the mystery. While the philosopher of the nineteenth
century explains the “fable,” as he calls it, by suggesting the
existence in these wilds of “one of those large bears, the footprints of
which resemble those of man, and which are believed to carry off
women,” the devout philosopher of nearly two centuries ago boldly
ascribes the doings of the dreaded creature to no other individual than
the Devil himself, ever anxious to do all possible mischief among
Christians, especially those of the newly-organized missions of the
Upper Orinoco and Meta rivers; in proof of this the good missionary
father tells us that, “On one occasion, the infernal voice was
distinctly heard by Capt. Don Domingo Zorrilla, a native of Rioja, in
Spain, exhorting, from the top of a palm tree, the Gentile Indians, who
were ready to come out of the forest and become good Christians, not to
do it.” And, adds the credulous historian: “Alarmed with this terrific
noise, the valiant captain inquired of the Christian cacique who
accompanied him, from whence proceeded those frightful sounds? to which
the cacique replied, that these were the utterances of the Devil, which
the captain believed to be true, so great was the internal horror which
he felt; and I too believed it, by the faith I had in the great veracity
of said captain, and other unmistakable proofs I perceived afterwards at
the distance of only two leagues from the river Ubocá, all of which
happened on the 23d of February, 1716.”
Notwithstanding the strong faith entertained by the narrator on the
“great veracity of the valiant captain,” I am of opinion that the roar
of a well-organized band of _araguatos_ was mistaken on this occasion
for the utterances of his Infernal Majesty.
Still, the story of the _Salvaje_ is not altogether discredited, even by
scientific men of high standing; among the latter I may mention the
accomplished author of the “Romance of Natural History,” who not only
questions the authority of Humboldt in denying the existence of a great
anthropomorphous monkey in America, but boldly comes in support of those
who believe in this possible phenomena. I quote his words: “But it might
be permitted, in return, to ask what “large bear” is known to inhabit
Venezuela; and whether it is true that bears’ footsteps have a signal
resemblance to those of men; and that bears especially attack women. Is
not such a bear in South America quite as gratuitous as the monkey
himself? And, since species of _quadrumana_ are characteristic of the
forests of that region, may it not be possible that some one rivalling
man in stature and strength, may there exist, as well as in Africa and
the Oriental Archipelago? The mighty gorilla himself has only just been
introduced to us.”[34]
[Illustration: AMONG THE CROCODILES.]
CHAPTER XX.
AMONG THE CROCODILES.
Having by this time completed our arrangements at Mata Totumo, we broke
up our camp on the 15th of March and departed for Los Laureles, the
ancient site of another cattle farm, now quite deserted, on the banks of
the river Matiyure.
We found the house in ruins, and only a few remaining posts marking the
boundary of the former corrals. The first duty, therefore, was that of
repairing the fences, an operation which necessitated several days’ hard
labor. Meanwhile I found much enjoyment in exploring the woody banks of
the river, the wildness of whose aspect had for me a peculiar charm.
They were my daily resort, where, encompassed by the glorious solitude,
I essayed to picture for others those lovely scenes which still perfume
the shrine of memory in all their dewy freshness. To one who loves “the
cool sequestered haunts of Nature,” no spot could be more charming,
nothing more inspiring than to recline under the venerable shade of some
wide-branched guamo uplooking to the many-tinted clouds as they sweep
in solemn majesty beneath the blue veil of heaven, and seem to melt into
the tree tops in the distance--trees whose gigantic height and size,
wall with magnificent vegetation the steep banks rising on either side
of the river, mirrored in its tranquil surface. The harsh scream of the
heron, or the ominous hootings of the tiger-owl, alone wake the echoes
where else
“All things are calm, and fair, and passive--Earth
Looks as if lulled upon an angel’s lap
Into a breathless, dewy sleep.”
Yet is this beautiful river celebrated for the number and size of its
crocodiles. As I sat sketching on the banks, I could perceive them
gliding slowly under the still waters, the upper part of the head alone
visible, and seeming to watch me with an evil eye. The beach being
strewn with their egg shells, I concluded this to be a favorite resort
with them during the breeding season. The female lays about forty eggs
in a hole which she digs in the sand, leaving to the hot sun the care of
hatching them. These eggs, twice as large as those of the turkey, are
considered a great delicacy by the Indians and jaguars, who frequently
purloin them before they are hatched.
The _caricari_ is another great enemy of young crocodiles, attacking
them as they come out of the shell. After they betake themselves to the
water, the older ones, prompted no doubt by motives of family pride to
keep them within their own circle, swallow these tender members, thus
preventing all other intimacies. Notwithstanding this admirable
provision of Divine Wisdom, and a constant war maintained by man and
beast against them, they are so numerous in some charcos of the river
that, if stationary, their bodies would completely bridge its surface
from bank to bank.
[Illustration]
Despite their great voracity, the mother exhibits some degree of
tenderness toward her offspring. Possessed, in this case, of an instinct
almost infallible, she returns at a period when incubation is completed,
and assists her young in extricating themselves from the shell. Unlike
the eggs of birds, crocodiles’ eggs are soft and pliable as those of the
turtle, yielding, when handled, to the pressure of the fingers, yet so
tough, that it is difficult to break them, and in appearance resembling
white parchment. At the very moment of liberation, the young crocodiles
display their savage nature in a wonderful degree, biting at every
object within reach; also the same vicious propensity is exhibited by
those extricated even before the completion of incubation. I was once
greatly amused in watching a struggle between two caricaris and one of
these youngsters not larger than a good-sized lizard. Each time the
birds made a dash at him, this little saurian, grunting savagely, darted
forward with wide-open jaws, looking for all the world like a young
dragon. During ten minutes the struggle continued without decided
advantage on either side, when one of the assailants, changing his
tactics, suddenly seized the crocodile by the neck with his sharp claws
and soared triumphantly with him into high air. There loosing his hold,
the bird followed his descent with wonderful rapidity, prepared, when he
reached the ground, to repeat the blow; but already half stunned, the
victim soon yielded to superior cunning.
When the savannas are overflowed by the swollen rivers, these
carnivorous and malicious reptiles spread themselves over the face of
the country, committing great havoc among young animals. So destructive
had they proved to the calves and foals on this estate, that the owner
on one occasion offered a reward of half a dollar a head for every
crocodile killed upon his lands, it being sufficient for the claimant to
produce, in evidence of success, the two great tusks of the upper jaws.
The result of this _ukase_ was, that before the expiration of a month,
more than four hundred crocodiles had been destroyed; yet no sensible
diminution was observable, neither did the persevering dragonade against
them quench in the least their boldness. This expedient proving useless,
they had been suffered to remain unmolested until our arrival at Los
Laureles, when we determined to exterminate those at least which
infested that pass of the river where we performed our daily ablutions
and watered the horses. Accordingly, one day a party of us, well
provided with every necessary, started for a bend of the river where the
water appeared to be very still and deep. None of the usual angling
implements were required in this sport; we used only a strong lazo and a
hoop about three feet in diameter made from a light vine common on the
banks of these rivers. Around this hoop the fresh lungs of a bullock,
cut into thin strips, were twisted and securely fastened. The running
noose of the lazo was then laid over the bait and tied there with
tendrils from the same vine. All being ready, this simple decoy was
launched into the middle of the stream, we retaining on shore the other
end of the lazo. Aroused by the splash, two large crocodiles soon
appeared and rushed for the bait with open jaws. The successful one, in
his eagerness to escape with his prize, burst the slender vines that
secured the noose to the hoop, which last projected beyond his snout,
and the noose on its recoil sliding over, firmly lazoed his upper jaw.
With shouts of exultation we hastened to the assistance of the man who
held the lazo, seeing him unable to cope with the monster, more than a
match for half a dozen men. By our united efforts we finally succeeded
in dragging him to within a few feet of the embankment, when, catching
sight of our earnest faces watching him over the cliff, he tossed up his
head with such sudden violence as to pull the thong through our hands to
its full length, and retreated in triumph to the middle of the stream.
The tough hide, however, from which the thong was twisted, proved equal
to the emergency, and with one more strenuous effort we succeeded in
landing him upon the beach, while
“Le flot qui l’apporta, recule épouvanté.”
Some of us who never before had so near a view of these vicious
creatures, were astonished at its size and strength, and our Esculapius,
assuming an appearance of bravery, approached among the first to
contemplate the vanquished foe, but evidently quaking with apprehension
of the huge tusks before him. His terror at length proving stronger than
the dread of his companions’ gibes, he seized the lazo, tugging with
such desperate energy to close the fearful chasm that the thong slipped
from his hands, he lost his balance, and the next moment found himself
lying almost within reach of the still open jaws. From these,
notwithstanding a considerable corporeal impediment, he escaped by
springing with the agility of a cat up the embankment, where he
remained, perhaps to ascertain whether the poet’s statement that
“distance lends enchantment to the view,” was correct by the crocodile
case before him. At length the object of his regards almost ceased
struggling, sure sign that his strength was failing; then with one more
pull we hauled him partially out of water, but no power could force him
entirely therefrom, as each time on reaching the bank he braced his fore
feet with unconquerable strength against it, so forcing himself back
into the stream. In this predicament we had no other resource than to
despatch him, and two or three sharp blows of a hatchet administered by
the roguish Roseliano, severed the upper jaw, with its beautiful row of
teeth, from the head, a surgical operation performed under the
supervision of our eminent Esculapius. The patient expired--no doubt to
the Doctor’s relief--not on his hands, and the “subject” was abandoned
to the myriads of caribes which, although their teeth could produce
little impression upon his tough cuirass, feasted with avidity on his
blood so long as it flowed from his mutilated head.
We prepared a large supply of bait in like manner to the former, all of
which was seized by the hungry crocodiles with the same fatal results to
them. In the short space of three hours we succeeded in killing six
large ones, and could no doubt have destroyed a greater number, had not
the lazo been gnawed through by caribes, that pest of all rivers in this
region.
The Indians of the Orinoco river, where the crocodiles are said to be
still larger and more savage, if possible, than those of its tributary
streams, make use of other devices for ridding themselves of those at
least that infest the places frequented by them. One of these
contrivances is as novel as most of the productions of their fertile
imaginations are for ministering to their wants, and consists in
shooting at the monsters’ eyes arrows tipped with a wild cane said to be
very poisonous to crocodiles, so much so that a few minutes after they
are seen floating on the water quite dead. Another device, equally
effective, consists in securing a strong rope, or lazo, to the middle of
a short but stout stick of hard wood, which is then covered up with a
large fish or piece of meat, and thrown in the water: not many minutes
elapse before the crocodile seizes and swallows the bait, stake and all,
when it is quickly hauled on shore by means of the lazo in the hands of
the Indians.
By way of sport, these people avail themselves of the same artifice to
_torear_, as they call it, a crocodile on shore when sunning itself, but
this time without the bait, as the man alone is sufficient allurement to
rouse the monster’s appetite, especially if it is a man-eater
(_cebado_), the only improvement made on the stake being that of
sharpening both ends of it. The Indian now seizes the stick by the
middle, and fearlessly approaches the crocodile, which at once makes a
dash at its antagonist with its jaws wide open; but the _toreador_
easily evades the onset by stepping aside a little, as the reptile, on
account of the configuration of its spine, cannot turn round upon him,
except after describing a long circle; a second and a third onset are
equally unsuccessful, as the sportsman purposely avoids the collision by
moving off when the animal comes up close to him. Having by this time
proved his dexterity the Indian gives it the _coup de grace_ by plunging
the stick in a vertical position into the ghastly jaws of the fierce
monster, which, feeling confident of crushing its enemy this time
between its powerful tusks, shuts them with a crash which only assists
in forcing both ends of the stake into the upper and lower jaws; thus
transfixed, the once terror of the river now becomes the sport of the
Indian boys, who eagerly seize upon the thong, and ignominiously drag
the reptile powerless over the sand.
Our men secured a large supply of fat from the intestinal membrane of
the crocodiles: a sovereign remedy for bruises and cutaneous diseases
among horses. By exposing this fat to the sun, in horns slightly
punctured at the end, a fine oil equal to that of the whale, is obtained
by percolation and collected in basins placed under the horns.
Selecting the jaws of the dead crocodiles containing the finest tusks,
we distributed the latter among our friends for tinder boxes and
amulets. It is universally believed throughout the Llanos that the
tusks, when worn next the flesh of man or beast, will preserve the
wearer from the poison of snakes, especially if obtained on Good Friday.
For this reason the smaller ones, set in gold or silver, are worn
suspended from the rosaries which form one of the principal ornaments of
the people in those parts. It is further believed that rings made of the
same material will apprise the wearer, of poison mixed in any draught by
causing an instantaneous effervescence of the liquid. The supposed
efficacy of these potential talismans was once peculiarly tested in our
own camp.
Among the few luxuries carried by our commissariat into the Llanos was a
basket of champagne, which was reserved for state occasions. One
afternoon, while almost every person was enjoying his siesta, the
temptation seized one of our men to search for aguardiente among the
_petacas_. His good fortune discovered to him our little treasure of
champagne, and grabbing a bottle he at once commenced cutting with his
dagger the wires that secured the cork. Up this flew at last with a loud
report, which broke the dead silence of the camp and started to their
feet more than one drowsy slumberer.
Our thief, seeing the profuse effervescence gushing out with great
force, endeavored at first to arrest it by clapping his hands over the
mouth of the bottle; but suddenly recollecting that he had on one of
those mysterious tusk-rings, the suspicion flashed to his mind of poison
intended for _el amo_, the master; and when in addition to this the
bewildered knave perceived that apparently the more he endeavored to
confine the liquid, so much more it frothed and bubbled, he was
overpowered with terror, shrieking out in an ecstasy of horror, “Ave
Maria Purisima! Help! Help! _cristianos_; this aguardiente must be
poisoned, or else the devil is in it.”
On hearing these cries, every one sprang from his hammock, imagining the
camp attacked by a band of _malhechores_, and the would-be thief was
thus caught in the very act.
As he was, however, out of his wits with fright, he escaped with only a
mild reprimand, the more especially that we enjoyed several hearty
laughs at his expense. Futile were our efforts at convincing the
frightened fellow that champagne was very good drink; he evidently
distrusted all our assertions. Some was then poured out and drank, and
the bottle passed round; but when it came to his turn, he persistently
refused to touch it. On being asked whether his surprise and repugnance
arose from seeing the liquid rushing out of the bottle, his reply was,
“Oh, no, _Señores_; I am not surprised to see it coming out, but how the
devil did it get in?”
With the intention of finishing a sketch of one of the crocodiles, I
next day revisited the battle field, and to my surprise discovered the
absence of one of the dead bodies; but presently perceived the mailed
carcass floating at some distance on the water. I was for some time at a
loss to discover what had occasioned his change of position, and I
finally concluded that its comrades must have given him honorable
interment in the deep. Desiring to ascertain, if possible, the facts of
the case, I determined to conceal myself near by and keep close watch. I
had been in hiding only a few moments when at least half a dozen
crocodiles approached the deceased, not, as I had imagined, to mourn his
loss, but to feast upon the many fish in their turn gorging themselves
upon the body. Then, almost to my horror, I beheld these monster
insatiates rend in pieces and devour the melancholy remains of the dear
defunct with grunts of revolting satisfaction. Nor did I perceive in
this case any of those “crocodile tears” with which travellers tell us
it is their hypocritical habit to bedew the head of a human victim. It
is said that when they have devoured a man, finding themselves unable to
swallow his head, they convey it to some secluded spot on the river
banks, there to weep over and bewail their inability with cries which
make night hideous.
The size and appearance of crocodiles must be sometimes most
extraordinary, if we may credit our adventurous friend B., who boasted
so intimate an acquaintance with their habits, that one could easily
imagine such familiarity might breed contempt. Judge, O reader, if I
speak not truly.
He related that one day, having labored successfully until noon in his
piscatory pursuit, overcome by fatigue and the intense heat of a
tropical sun, he turned his longing eyes toward shore in search of some
friendly shelter; but perceiving that, between him and the only copse of
trees which relieved the glaring scene, there stretched a dreary waste
of burning sand, he had not courage to traverse, even to reach so
tempting a goal--he sought a refuge more accessible. This to his great
joy he just then discovered in the form of what appeared to be the wreck
of an old canoe thrown on its side near the water’s edge. Here was a
cool retreat wherein to enjoy his siesta; so hastening toward it, his
satisfaction was complete on finding it sufficiently capacious to admit
of slinging to the protruding ribs his _chinchorro_, or grass hammock,
which, with his guitar and gourd of aguardiente, were his inseparable
companions. Refreshing himself with a good pull at the gourd, and
stretching himself in his hammock, he soon slept the profound sleep of
the weary. He awoke to find himself enveloped in a darkness which he
might have supposed that of midnight, but that it was unrelieved by moon
or friendly star. Completely bewildered, he sought a clew to this dark
mystery by moving forward with cautious steps and extended hands,
uncertain into what horror his next movement might betray him, when his
surprised attention was attracted, first to the spongy nature of the
ground, then to the clammy yet warm and sticky walls that on all sides
encountered his extended fingers. The discovery of these facts was
accompanied by the very unpleasant
[Illustration: CROCODILE BASKING IN THE SUN.]
conviction that he had mistaken the open jaws of some sleeping crocodile
for an old bongo. However, with his recovery from the first shock of
surprise returned the stoicism so characteristic of his race, which was
the more entirely reinstated by finding his well-filled gourd with his
beloved guitar lying near. Notwithstanding, however, a reviving draught
from the former, he soon became conscious of a void in his internal
economy, which he at once determined to fill at Mr. Crocodile’s expense;
thereupon drawing his knife, he without the least compunction made a
meal from the tenderest morsels within reach. And so eating, drinking,
sleeping and tuning his diminutive guitar to the cheering strains of
some lively ballad of the Llanos, he remained for days, he knew not how
many, an uncomplaining prisoner within those slimy walls. At length,
while mournfully draining the last remaining drop within his faithful
gourd, his dungeon walls were suddenly made visible to him by a faint
ray of light which penetrated his very soul with the desire once more to
behold its source. Snatching at the dear companions of his imprisonment,
without another moment’s delay he rushed for the opening that admitted
the life-giving ray, and discovered to his delighted surprise that his
jailer, having deserted the water for a siesta upon the sands--which he
recollected was the occasional habit of these monsters--had left
wide-open his prison doors. These he lost no time in passing, seizing
with firm hand as he flew, his _chinchorro_, still suspended from the
crocodile’s tusks he had so almost fatally mistaken for the ribs of an
old canoe.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE CIMARRONERA.
We had been apprised that between a great bend of the river
Matiyure--forming the southern boundary of our savannas--and an
extensive flat overgrown with thorny bushes, there existed what the
Llaneros call a _cimarronera_, or great hiding place for cattle, which,
owing to the impenetrable nature of the jungle, had from time immemorial
baffled the efforts of every majordomo who had hunted these savannas.
Further we had ascertained that the cattle were there as numerous as a
colony of ants; but so savage and shy, as to never venture from their
wild sanctuary. Thither our efforts were to be directed, not only on
account of the good harvest in store, but also for the purpose of
breaking up, if possible, that den of runaways which, if left
unmolested, might in time become a serious obstacle in the way of
reducing those wild herds to at least a partial submission.
The corrals, which I trust the patient reader has not forgotten we were
in process of building, being now ready, we commenced preparations for a
descent upon the fierce hordes of that neglected section. Messengers
were therefore despatched to the people of Caucagua, an adjacent cattle
farm, apprising them of our intention, and with the dawn of day more
than an hundred hunters were assembled on the spot. Among them were some
of the best _enlazadores_ that the country could produce, all of whom,
like the valiant Pentapolin--chosen model of the hero of La Mancha--had
his right arm bared to the shoulder that the wide sleeve of the Llanero
shirt might not interfere with the management of the lazo.
As soon as the sun was high enough to light us through the bushes, a
detachment of hunters penetrated the bristling maze of thorny acacias,
and succeeded in driving out into the open savannas so large a herd of
cattle that it soon swelled to a considerable _rodeo_. No sooner,
however, did they discover the presence of the hunters, than becoming
frantic they rushed from side to side like a band of furies, and,
heedless of the shouts and goads of the horsemen, broke at length
through the ring of even these experienced hunters, scattering again in
all directions. In vain did the fearless pursuers throw themselves
between the wild mass and the jungle; so rapid and entire was the
dispersion that the plain which but now swarmed with the driven,
bellowing, maddened creatures, was cleared as if by magic, leaving the
disappointed hunters in sole possession. Only here and there a faint
cloud of dust in the distance betrayed the course that some of the
fugitives had taken. The men, enraged at this unexpected discomfiture,
could not be restrained from again entering the tangled labyrinth and
dragging thence by sheer force a number of the refractory brutes. After
deliberation, it was decided that several of the hunters should scour
the plain in search of the runaways, while the larger number rushed
again fearlessly into the jungle. These at last succeeded in securing
several fierce bulls, each of which was treated _secundum artem_,
depriving them of the chance of doing much mischief in future; for no
sooner were they down, than the knife and the saw were busy with their
horns, ears, &c. But the business was not accomplished without the usual
average of casualties in these contests, and on that occasion one of our
best hands was greatly imperilled. A ferocious bull was undergoing the
usual precautionary, though severe measures, for his subjugation, when
one of the men standing near, accidentally became entangled in the coils
of the lazo at a moment when the bull, infuriated, escaped from those
who held him. The poor fellow, although thrown violently to the ground
and severely stunned, almost miraculously escaped further injury. The
daring Sarmiento, one of those who witnessed the transaction, enraged at
sight of his helpless companion, sprang from his horse, seized the
sheep-skin which covered the saddle, and holding it before himself,
fearlessly advanced sword in hand to meet the bull, which, not
comprehending the challenge, stood panting and trembling with rage
before his bold adversary. The matador perceiving this, approached him
more closely and shook the sheep-skin in the animal’s face; then, firm
as a rock, he stood and dauntlessly awaited the coming struggle; it was
enough; with head lowered to the ground, and lashing himself furiously
with his powerful tail, the bull rushed upon his antagonist with a
terrific roar, causing every heart to tremble for the safety of the bold
matador. Then we heard a heavy fall, a deep groan; we saw only a cloud
of dust that concealed the scene; but we knew the Llanero had conquered.
Triumphant shouts of approbation filled the air, whilst I knew not
whether most to applaud the fearless grace with which the man had stood
his ground before this, the most powerful of all infuriate creatures, or
the dexterous celerity that had found, and with one fatal blow
penetrated, the narrow passage through the vertebrae into the spinal
marrow. But the scene in that remote corner of the earth recalled
forcibly to my mind the spirited lines in which the author of Childe
Harold thus depicts one of like nature in the midst of refined Europe:
“Foiled, bleeding, breathless, furious to the last,
Full in the centre stands the bull at bay
Mid wounds and clinging darts and lances brast,
And foes disabled in the brutal fray:
And now the matadors around him play,
Shake the red cloak, and poise the ready brand:
Once more through all he bursts his thundering way--
Vain rage! the mantle quits the conynge hand,
Wraps his fierce eye--’tis past--he sinks upon the sand!”
Those who had galloped off in search of the scattered herd finally
returned, bringing a large addition to the stock, and we were driving
them to the _paradero_, when our Leader’s horse, a fiery charger of the
Goagiro breed,[35] little accustomed to the broken ground of the pampas,
lost his footing and fell with him while endeavoring to clear an
extensive _terronero_. Fortunately his rider received no injury; but
loosing hold of the bridle in his fall, the horse was soon careering
over the plain, and would inevitably have made good his escape, had not
some vaqueros hunting in that direction encountered and captured him
after a long race. Accidents of the kind are very common in the Llanos,
and often in consequence many persons are killed or otherwise injured.
The least evil to which the ousted rider may be subjected, is that of
being left alone, perhaps with a dislocated limb, on an extensive plain,
where the unfortunate may perish from hunger or exposure before
assistance chances to reach him. Our friend B., who once found himself
similarly circumstanced, related to us on this occasion the adventure,
which he swore by all the saints in the calendar had actually occurred
to him. Notwithstanding such exalted referees, a few grains of doubt
still disturbed our belief.
“He was once,” he said, “engaged in hunting with a party of vaqueros on
the extensive savannas of Merecure, which form the great cajon or pampa
between the rivers Cunaviche and Arauca. Having started in the morning
with a full complement of men, there was no difficulty in forming the
_rodeo_; but, as in our own case, all their manœuvres proved
ineffectual in keeping together so great a number of untamed brutes,
which finally broke through the ranks as easily as might a herd of wild
hogs through a field of reeds, and vanished in the distance. So great
was the cloud of dust they raised, that when it cleared, B., whose horse
during the confusion had stumbled in the hole of a prairie-owl, thrown,
and then deserted him, found himself solus in the midst of the wide
pampa, and so bewildered and confused by the general stampede, that he
was totally unable to discover the least clew by which to guide his
steps over those trackless wilds. Overcome with the fatigue of his
useless search, he threw himself upon the ground, finally quite
disheartened by the recollection that he had no lazo by which he would
have been enabled at any time to secure sufficient animal food for his
subsistence. Two whole days he thus passed hopelessly wandering and in
search of food, when, upon the third, kind Providence, compassionating
his sufferings, placed in his way a fat calf, which he succeeded in
capturing after a short chase. Having slaughtered it, he roasted the
whole at once lest it might spoil, then ravenously devoured the welcome
repast. This supply lasted several days, when again finding himself
minus food, he determined to put in practice a stratagem that he had
devised whereby to secure for himself in future an unfailing supply of
wholesome nourishment. He had observed the mother of the calf,
apparently in search of her offspring, lingering in the neighborhood,
moaning and bellowing in a most piteous manner. Availing himself of the
first eligible opportunity, he approached her on all fours, entirely
covered with the skin of her own calf, and forthwith commenced drawing
sustenance from the maternal fount; this he accomplished with so much
natural ease and grace, that the tender mother, after a few incredulous
sniffs, felt convinced at last of his being a perfect calf, and
accepting him for her own, bestowed upon him a good licking. Thus
graciously encouraged, and each day more delighted with the unrestrained
freedom of his new life, time rolled on and a year elapsed without his
ever regretting the loss of home or friends; while so powerful was the
effect of this novel mode of existence upon his person, that it had
materially altered his whole appearance, and as the calf skin seemed to
have actually adhered to his own, so he found himself rapidly
assimilating, as well in tastes as habits, to that interesting
quadruped.”
About this period the majordomo undertook another hunt on these plains,
where he quickly succeeded in collecting a large number of cattle; but
although they were all, as usual, extremely difficult to manage, still
there was one of the number, a young bull with a fine pair of horns
twelve inches long, more refractory and troublesome than any of the
others, which fact--as B. was the bull--was owing probably to his
educated instincts, they enabling him to devise a variety of expedients
for the discomfiture of his pursuers. However he was at length obliged
to yield to superior numbers, and the unerring lazo finally brought him
struggling to the ground, when in an instant one of his captors, an
athletic sambo, had drawn his knife and commenced sharpening it upon the
horns of this novel minotaurus, preparatory to performing upon him the
usual necessary operations. But what language can do justice to the
astonishment of all beholders, when the apparent bull, casting aside his
hairy disguise, sprang erect from the ground, exclaiming as he did so:
“Stop, _amigos_! can you have forgotten your old comrade B., who was
lost a year ago in this _cimarronera_?”
So perilous an adventure having convinced him of the risks attending a
savage life, his companions had no difficulty in persuading him to
return home with them, and thereafter found him of immense assistance in
their expeditions, as, being perfectly familiar with the haunts and
habits of the cattle in that cover, he could lead the vaqueros, when
required, with the sagacity of a pointer.
This story, which B. related with the most admirable ingenuousness of
manner, recalled to his recollection a wonderful discovery upon which he
had chanced, while journeying on a pressing errand to Arauca.
He had been riding hard all day across the plains, until at length,
overtaken by night, he was constrained to encamp on the spot. Grass and
water for his horse--a fine trotter--being abundant and at hand, he took
no precaution to prevent his straying, other than that of fastening the
animal’s feet on the right side with a _manea_, a strap with looped
nooses at both ends. In spite of this the horse wandered from him during
the night, a mishap which compelled poor B. to finish the remainder of
the journey on foot, besides being obliged to carry the ponderous saddle
upon his head.
Having accomplished his errand at Arauca, and after an absence of
several weeks, he was returning home by another route, riding a hired
animal, when to his great joy, on the way he found his steed in fine
condition, and his feet still secured by the strap. The horse he was
riding being already tired, he removed the saddle to the back of his own
steed, and immediately mounted him. But to his overpowering
astonishment, he discovered, on resuming the journey, that the gait of
his horse had undergone an extraordinary change, trotting as formerly on
the side that had remained free from the strap, but ambling on the one
which had been so long confined by it. His wife possessing an ambler, he
sold it immediately he reached home, it being thereafter a useless
expense, as, whenever in the future he and his better half wished to
ride at the same time, all that he had to do was to place her on the
ambling side, and then seating himself on the other they trotted and
ambled away to their hearts’ content.
The nights were thus pleasantly spent, after the fatigues of the day,
most of our men having always some incident or story to relate in
connection with their own experience. One evening, Gaspar, the lame
negro who followed our camp in the humble capacity of washerman,
recounted to a circle of admiring listeners a thrilling adventure which
took place on this very spot, and in which he took a very conspicuous
part. He had been a slave to the wealthy Manuel Blanco, who owned at
that time nearly all these savannas, and possessed in consequence untold
wealth in cattle and horses. In that capacity Gaspar was often compelled
to attend the great hunts undertaken by his master against any _tigre
cebado_ that might have committed depredations in the land.
THE JAGUAR HUNT.
“It was during the month of August,” said Gaspar, “when the savannas are
at the height of inundation, that the circumstances I am about to relate
occurred at this farm of Matiyure. At such times the tigers, finding the
low lands rather too damp for their delicate feet, seek refuge among the
_matas_, or in the immediate vicinity of the farm-house, coming out at
night to procure a good supper for themselves and cubs from amongst the
herds congregated on the _bancos_, and not unfrequently it happens they
carry their depredations to the very gates of the _majada_.
“We had heard for several nights in succession what, in the opinion of
our people, was only the bellowing of _padrotes_ assembling their herds,
but which the more sagacious hounds recognized at once as the roar of
their old acquaintance, the tiger, invariably answering each time with a
prolonged and dismal howl. It was easy to perceive, from the prints left
in the mud, that there were several of these animals, perhaps a mother
and her cubs. One fine morning the boys who tended the calves apprised
the majordomo that some wild beast had broken into the _chiquero_,[36]
and carried off the old sow, about giving birth to a litter; next day
the boar was missing, and so on until the _chiquero_ was entirely
relieved of all the inmates. Fearing for our own lives and the safety
of our steeds, the majordomo made arrangements for a grand hunt, for
the purpose of exterminating, if possible, the whole of these marauders.
Our master, who was at that time in the village, was notified of the
plan, as were also all those who might wish to improve this opportunity
for the display of personal prowess.
“The following day we had the satisfaction of seeing our master arrive
at the farm, accompanied by the _Padre_ and a long retinue of
assistants, all of them zambos of undoubted courage and most
accomplished matadors. The _Padre_, a fat little gentleman not yet past
the prime of life, came more as a _curioso_[37] than, as many supposed,
to exorcise the demons of the jungle. Although he had the reputation of
being a very holy father, he did not disdain at times to lay aside the
cassock and join his parishioners in the manly sport of the Llanos.
“We mustered about forty in all, which, together with a dozen or more
tiger-dogs, were considered quite sufficient for our purpose. Some of
the men carried lances cut to within six feet of the steel head, so that
the long shaft might not interfere with their movements in the jungle;
whilst others, trusting more to their own agility and skill, were simply
armed with their swords and a _saleo_[38] to cover their movements. I,
who was neither a matador nor a great horseman at the time, was
intrusted with the hazardous post of leading the dogs into the cover,
and therefore was more exposed than any of the rest to the anger of the
tiger.
“We were not long in tracking the _pintado_ to a neighboring _mata_ by
the fresh prints of his paw in the soft mud and by a number of
turkey-buzzards hovering above the carcass in the woods.
“On arriving at the place supposed to harbor the beast, all those of our
men who had lazos were stationed at convenient distances around the
wood, while I was ordered to lead the dogs into the jungle after the
concealed enemy. This I accomplished with due precautions, aware, as you
all know, that the _pintado_ has the peculiarity of concealing himself
where not even a fox could hide itself without being discovered.
Presently I perceived a very strong smell--not unlike that arising from
a leather vat--which filled the air in whatever direction the dogs led
me, and soon after a tremendous howling from these worthies apprised me
in whose company they had thrust me. Simultaneously with the howling of
the dogs, I heard first a hoarse growling, not unlike a concert of
_araguatos_ just before the rain, and, judging from the increased
barking of the hounds, I concluded that the enemy was in full retreat,
when I thought my time had come to show him my mettle. But lo! scarcely
had I advanced many paces, when, _Ave Maria, Señores!_ the tiger gave
such a fearful roar as to shake the ground and the trees upon it. I do
not know what became of the dogs or the tiger at the moment; for my
part, all I can say is, that, without being aware of it, I found myself
again alongside of my companions, and, what was worse, in the presence
of the majordomo, who, by way of warning, discharged upon my ribs
sundry blows with his _chaparro_. It is needless to add, that after this
I considered myself ten times better off amidst my hounds, whom I had
every reason to expect would keep away the beast from me, I mean, of
course, the tiger. Upon my word, _camaradas_, and with all due respect
to _mi Comandante_ Rávago, here present, I assure you that, of all
savage creatures, there is none so terrible as an angry majordomo.”
“Thou didst find it so,” retorted the weather-beaten overseer, “when,
amidst a shower of bullets from the Spaniards, I dragged thee out like a
lame duck from the plaza at La Cruz; but proceed, my old buzzard, and
tell us what effect did the well-deserved thrashing produce on thy sooty
hide.”
“Guided by the barking of the dogs, I again entered the wood with
renewed determination, for this time, at least, I was well provided with
a lance, which some humane companion placed in my hands, besides a
_saleo_ which I picked up on my way thither. Thus armed and prepared for
the encounter, I fancied myself this time another Marcelino, slaying
everything around me; but how I acquitted myself afterwards the sequel
of my narrative will show you.
“Well, _Señores_, I found _Tio Tigre_[39] at the foot of a large
algarroba-tree, surrounded by my dogs, whose movements he watched all
the time with an evil eye. To all appearances none of the contending
parties had yet come to any decisive move, although the hounds kept
very closely on him. Cat-like, seated on his haunches and playfully
moving his tail from side to side, he awaited the attack of the barking
troop with becoming composure, never betraying the least symptom of
alarm, nor even deigning to stir a foot beyond his post to silence them.
At times he even appeared to disregard their menacing tone, rubbing his
eyes with his great paws as if doubtful which of my fat hounds would
afford him the best meal. Occasionally he licked his thick upper lip
with his fiery tongue, as if savoring beforehand the unexpected morsel
thus brought before him. Finally one of the dogs, which appeared more
courageous than the rest, made a sudden spring at his side, when I
thought my time had come to plunge my lance into his vitals. But before
I could measure the distance that separated me from the enemy, I had the
mortification to see my brave companion stretched lifeless on the
ground. This, I thought, was a bad beginning; but if ever I have a
chance at thy dirty skin (said I to the villain), I am going to dye it
of a different hue.
“My dogs, however, were not to be intimidated so easily after this
unexpected discomfiture: on the contrary, growing more and more
clamorous all the time for the fate of their companion, they seemed
determined on avenging his death by renewing their attacks upon the
enemy. The tiger, however, conscious, no doubt, of the fate that awaited
him beyond his lair, obstinately refused to be driven out like a
polecat, but adhered firmly to his entrenchment at the foot of the
tree.
“Now, there was among my pack of hounds a splendid fellow which had
always been a particular favorite of mine, not only on account of his
superior strength in dealing with refractory bulls, but also for his
friendly attachment to my person, which he had displayed more especially
whenever the majordomo showed himself overzealous on behalf of my master
by an undue punishment on me. Observing that the tiger still persisted
in maintaining his position, I said to Fierabras--for such was my
favorite’s name--Now then, my boy, show him your teeth! while I advanced
two or three steps with the intention of pinning the animal with my
lance to the body of the tree. But alas! vain attempt: with one stroke
from his huge paw, the tiger snatched the lance from my hands, and laid
me flat on the ground, inflicting at the same time the severe gash on my
neck that you may still observe. But that is not all; as the scoundrel,
disregarding all the rules of decency and politeness, very coolly sat
himself upon my face, nearly suffocating me with the weight of his body
and the strong exhalations arising from it. I thought that if I could
get at my _cuchillo_, which I carried by my side, I would soon get the
pride out of him; but in the situation I then was, it would have been
impossible and even hazardous to attempt anything of the kind.
Fortunately the tiger, like his near relative, the cat, seldom worries
his victims as long as they keep perfectly still. By this time some of
my friends outside--not hearing the loud whoops by which I encouraged
the dogs, and fearing something serious might have happened to
me--hastened to the spot from whence proceeded the barking of the dogs,
and endeavored to rescue me from my perilous situation. The tangled
nature of the wood, however, not permitting the men to use their lazos,
one of my companions--a slave, like myself, and a most daring
matador--resolved to attack the tiger with his sword. Seizing the
sheep-skin from the seat of his saddle, and partly rolling it on his
left arm, he advanced boldly upon the tiger, and, with a voice that I
shall never forget, he cried out: ‘Now, then, _hijo ’una put_ ... you
don’t know who Paulino Blanco is, or else you would not be making faces
at me there as if you were a monkey.’ The tiger, who most likely had,
during his nocturnal visits to the farm-house, heard something about the
famous matador, very wisely disregarded the insult flung at him, instead
of rushing on to his encounter like a mad bull. This somewhat
disconcerted the plans of the matador, who was also aware of the danger
of attacking the beast in his intrenchment; but finally losing all
manner of patience, Paulino made a rush on the tiger, not stopping until
he almost touched the animal’s nose with the sheep-skin; then plunging
his sword in the neck of his antagonist, both fell rolling on the
ground, cracking the brushwood as they struggled. In the meantime I was
not slow in improving the opportunity to crawl out in search of my lost
lance, which I soon found, and was enabled by means of it to return the
service rendered by my companion. To plunge the lance into the beast’s
heart and turn him on his side, was the work of a moment, after which
the tiger gradually relaxed his hold upon my prostrate companion, and
stretched himself out to die without a groan, but not before he had
inflicted several deep wounds on the neck and chest of his antagonist.
Thus ended the career of that scourge of the savannas, and my first
experience in tiger-hunting.
“After this adventure it was easy to perceive that chasing the tiger on
his own ground was not an easy task by any means. Therefore our people
were induced to proceed more cautiously in the subsequent search that
was made for the others.
“It was not long before the dogs, which were by this time aroused to a
sense of revenge and self-defence, fell in with the track of another
tiger, probably the wife of the defunct, as it was evident from the
footprints that she was followed by two younger ones. Fearing from past
experience that this second hunt might also prove as disastrous as the
former, it was agreed that all those who carried lances should enter the
wood on foot in order to attack the tigress in a body, should she refuse
to come out to open ground. I, of course, was too faint with loss of
blood to be able to follow up the trail this time; therefore the dogs
had been placed under the guidance of some one else, and shortly after I
had the satisfaction of hearing the bark of my chaps resounding through
the woods, which was a sure sign they had brought the game to a stand. I
was expecting every moment to hear the glad tidings of the destruction
of this female marauder, when, instead of the usual cry of victory, I
heard a tremendous rush and cracking of sticks, as if a herd of wild
hogs were endeavoring to escape. Judge of my disappointment when I
beheld the whole troop of men and dogs hurrying out of the wood; and at
the head of the fugitives no less a personage than his Reverence the
Padre, hotly chased by the enraged tigress, who, having witnessed the
slaughter in cold blood of one of her darlings, could not restrain her
fury any longer, charging headlong into the midst of the group. In spite
of his category, she would in all probability have made short work of
_Su Señoria_, had not the Padre conceived the good idea of dropping his
broad-brim behind him, which fortunately was carried away by a strong
gust of wind, thus exciting the enraged beast to a pursuit. The tigress,
after sporting with the hat like a bird after a butterfly, finding that
it was mere chaff, tore it in pieces, and again turned her attention
towards the reverend fugitive. In the meantime the Padre had not been
very slow in reaching his horse, which was tied at the foot of a
caujaro-tree a short distance from the wood. Unfortunately, just as he
was in the act of laying hands upon the bridle of his steed, the tigress
issued from amongst the high grass, and again charged him. At sight of
the dreaded beast, the horse, giving a toss to the halter in the air,
broke loose and scampered off, leaving his master to the tender mercies
of the tigress.
“Swifter than a monkey, and in spite of his ponderous stomach, the Padre
went up the slender tree, which bent like a reed at every effort he made
to reach the branches, threatening to drop him between the open jaws of
the tigress, which by this time had reached the foot of the tree. Here,
again, his patron saint, as it is alleged, saved him once more from the
impending danger. The truth, in my opinion, is that the tree was not
stout enough for the tigress to embrace it firmly to climb up, otherwise
all the good saints in heaven would not have prevented her from tearing
him down like a frightened _araguato_.[40] His Reverence might have
remained there until the day of judgment, as the tigress had already
crouched beneath the tree, and he had no means at hand for driving her
off, not even through the power of excommunication, but for the timely
arrival of two _enlazadores_,[41] who, observing a horse scampering over
the plain without a rider, were attracted to the spot; these, unfolding
their lazos, threw them at the beast with such precision as to entangle
the animal at one and the same moment; she was thus prevented from doing
injury to either the Padre or themselves; for, every time she endeavored
to spring on the one, the other tighted his lazo to check her movement.
Furious with rage and foaming at the mouth, the tigress endeavored to
bite the lazos through and through; but finding the hide from which the
thong was twisted rather too tough even for her powerful tusks, she
rolled over the grass in trepidation and dismay at finding herself so
unexpectedly in the power of her captors.
“It was a glorious sight to behold the savage creature thus struggling
with the slender lazos that bound her to the ground. Crippled as I was
from the effects of my first encounter with the tiger, I had sufficient
strength to reach the scene of action in time to take part in the death
of his wife also; but ere I dealt the first blow at her, I felt my arm
suddenly arrested by the Padre, who contended that the honor of putting
an end to her accursed existence belonged to him exclusively as being
the aggrieved party on this occasion. I therefore willingly surrendered
my lance to him, he having lost his own spear in the hurry of the
moment; and then he set to work cutting her up with all the nicety of us
folks, as if he had long been trained in the art of wielding a lance.
Nevertheless, the tigress would not allow herself to be so easily
conquered; at every stroke from the Padre’s lance, she seized the pole
with teeth and claws so firmly that we found it difficult to wrench it
from her grasp, and it was not until she had been literally cut to
pieces that she gave up the ghost--to the devil, I hope.
“It was late in the afternoon when we finished our hunt, and turned our
horses’ heads in the direction of the farm-house. We should, no doubt,
have succeeded in killing as many more of these ferocious beasts, but
for the early mishap to myself and the good zambo Paulino, in
consequence of which we both had to be carried--or, rather, we carried
ourselves as well as we could--to the _pueblo_, in order to have our
wounds properly dressed. On our arrival at the house, we found our
mistress--who had already been acquainted with the facts by my
master--awaiting us at the gate of the inclosure, and apparently very
much excited with the news; for no sooner did Paulino pass the gate,
and without waiting for him to dismount from his horse, than she
accosted my companion in the following manner: ‘Well, Paulino, my boy, I
declare ... now tell me, how did the tiger scratch you, my poor fellow,
and what did you do to the scoundrel?’ with other similar expressions of
feminine curiosity. Paulino, who was more matter of fact than we poor
slave folks have generally the credit for, very prudently hesitated at
first to comply with the train of her requests, excusing himself by
saying, ‘Alas! mistress, it was a hard case, indeed; but, to tell you
the truth, I shouldn’t like to show you how.’
“This reluctance on the part of my companion only helped to excite her
curiosity still more, until she commanded him, in a peremptory manner,
to explain to her the circumstances of the case. By this time Paulino
had, with some difficulty, extricated himself from the saddle, and
falling suddenly upon our mistress with a loud yell, he threw her upon
the ground and commenced biting and scratching her just as the tiger had
done to him. The yell from zambo and the shrieks from _mi Señora_ soon
drew to the spot my master, and some gentlemen who had come to
congratulate him on the success of the hunt. Frantic with passion, and
in a tone of voice which made me tremble for poor Paulino, he roared
out, ‘How, now! Who’s taking such liberties with my wife, here!’ To
which Paulino very calmly replied, ‘’Tis nothing, master, I was only
showing mistress how the tiger scratched me!’ ...”
CHAPTER XXII.
LOS BORALES.
Aware of the importance of a plentiful supply of water for the cattle
during the season of drought, we resolved to build a large reservoir in
the heart of the savannas before leaving the pampas, and with this
object now turned our steps toward the lagoon of Los Borales--so named
in honor of a species of water lily very abundant on its borders--which,
although quite a lake during the rainy season, often lost its waters by
evaporation and other causes when most needed. This required a dam to be
raised across one of the many creeks traversing these plains in all
directions, to arrest the flow when the floods begin ebbing, thus
leaving an artificial reservoir where previously only an extensive bog
existed. We installed ourselves within the shelter of a solitary grove,
and immediately commenced raising an embankment to several feet above
the level of the plain, taking the earth for the purpose from the bed of
a creek connecting with the lagoon. Digging to the depth of twelve feet,
we came upon a tree with trunk and branches in perfect preservation,
which, although it had evidently been thus entombed for ages, a breath
of air had power to crumble into dust. As from the time of our arrival
it had rained unceasingly, the water rapidly accumulated in the now
completed reservoir, though our satisfaction received something of a
damper from the fact that the fires were thereby constantly
extinguished, until we bethought ourselves of erecting over them a
covering of green boughs about three feet from the ground. Upon this we
laid large pieces of meat, which, covered with palm leaves, were
speedily cooked by the fire beneath.
In that retired and solitary grove, seated on a pack-saddle, and
surrounded by lazos, bridles, and other emblems of our peaceful
occupation, I wrote under the dictation of our Leader, his emphatic
refusal to accept the Presidency of the Republic for a third time.
Little did we then dream that this spontaneous act of political
abnegation would be hailed with exultation by his enemies, in the hope
of working, as it did for a time, his ruin as well as that of the
Republic; and that the same plains where occurred this disinterested
proof of patriotism, should shortly afterward witness a scene of
bloodshed and persecution to him who, not long before, had been the
acknowledged guardian of his country’s liberties.
Thunder storms were now of frequent occurrence. One night we were
awakened by a fearful clap from the approaching tempest. The prospect
was not inviting. Sheltered in our hammocks only by our _toldos_, and
raising among us all but a very small umbrella of philosophy, we awaited
the coming storm. In a moment it was upon its with a raging wind that
threatened to overthrow and crush us beneath the falling branches of the
trees. Then from the heavens descended so continuous a sheet of
commingled fire and flood, that these at last appeared to become a part
of the atmosphere we breathed. Terrified by this fearful uproar, our
_madrina_ of supernumerary horses, which, fearing the snakes, we had
quartered in the bed of a dried-up lagoon, dashed madly across the
plain, in spite of the combined efforts of their keepers. But no sooner
had these refractory animals abandoned the secure pastures for the high
grounds, than, attacked by snakes, three of them paid with their lives
their insubordination, and one of these unfortunates was afterward
brought staggering into the camp, groaning piteously. Unable in the
darkness to discover the cause of his sufferings, a light was speedily
procured by igniting a rag rolled in fat, when a most revolting
spectacle presented itself; the poor beast, so covered with blood that
he appeared literally to have been plunged into a bath of gore, had
evidently been bitten by a snake, possibly the same which in killing the
others had probably nearly exhausted its poison upon them, so that what
remained of the venom had not power to produce immediate death, but
effected a complete diapedesis or transudation of the blood. A
_curandero_ present undertook to restore the poor animal by means of the
famous _oracion_, but on this occasion his skill was vain--the horse in
a short time expiring, apparently in great agony. The groans of the
dying animal, the thundering of the others along the waste, the shouts
and curses of their pursuers, who in the darkness were in danger of
being trampled under the feet of more than three hundred frightened
animals, mingled with the appalling fury of the elements, until it
seemed as though earth and heaven were struggling for the mastery. This
fearful scene oh, my unhappy country! shadowed forth but too faithfully
thy dark night of despotism; the anarchy, contentions, and wretchedness
of thy children; thy ravaged borders, where the “Wise and Good” had
formerly scattered plenty over the smiling land, and portrays now to me
as faithfully the night when I, with a handful of brave youths from
Maracaibo, was surprised upon the borders of its lake by the myrmidons
of the tyrant Monagas, and carried prisoners to the capital while
endeavoring to save the remnant of constitutional liberty in the
republic.
* * * * *
Our men, finding it impossible during the darkness to trace the
horses--among them all of those used for the saddle--were obliged to
postpone their search until sunrise. At length, as if wearied with its
wild orgies, this tumultuous night passed away, and the morning star
appeared leading the timid dawn. The earth, so late the dark abode of
chaos, now in bloom and beauty, seemed the favored daughter of the
spheres, sparkling in liquid gems, and radiant in the gorgeous splendor
of tropical spring, while myriads of white lilies, far as eye could
reach, mantled the plain, flooding with perfume the pure morning air.
Countless flocks of waterfowl, from the tiny _güirirí_ to the
soldier-like crane of the pampas, crowded the miniature lakes, which
the late storm had left in every hollow of the ground, and made the air
resound with their harsh and varied notes. Conspicuous among these last
were the several species of _garzas_--herons--those “Ladies of the
waters, delicate in form, beautiful in plumage, and graceful in their
movements,” whose slender, arching necks, curving here and there above
and through the sprouting grass, reminded one of the deadly snakes
lurking about the plain. There, too, the _carrao_, a bird less
prepossessing in appearance, but endowed with keen perception of a
coming change of weather, announced by loud cries, from which it derives
its name, the near approach of rain with singular precision. Clouds of
fluttering _gaviotas_ or scissor-beaks (Rhynchops) skimmed the water in
wild, irregular flight, ploughing up the smaller fish with their
scissor-like beaks, and vexing the ear with harsh and piercing cries. On
all sides bellowing herds of cattle and troops of emaciated deer
wandered, panting as they sought for water and fresh food; while,
rescued from the torpor into which the protracted summer drought had
plunged them, the drowsy crocodiles and sluggish tortoises moved slowly
over the plain in search of the reviving element.
It was no easy task to keep the fires burning after the deluging showers
of the previous night, in consequence of which we were threatened for a
while with starvation in the midst of plenty, as not only had our
temporary kitchen been destroyed, but every log of wood was drenched
with water; so were also our scanty garments and ponchos, most of them
being likewise in a few hours covered with the larvæ of myriads of
flies which infested our camp. These _petites misères_ were, however,
forgotten for the moment in the all-absorbing topic of the whereabouts
of our runaway horses. Happily the Llaneros, accustomed from their
infancy to observe the instincts of the animals surrounding them,
possess a sort of intuitive knowledge--with them it might be called a
science--of their movements and impulses.
In following the trail of stray animals amidst thousands intercepting
each other in every direction, it is of course necessary to determine
the right one in order to prosecute the search with some degree of
success. The long experience and sagacity of our sturdy majordomo, whose
word was considered infallible in such matters, were of incalculable
advantage on this occasion. Calmly seated on his hammock, his
weather-beaten countenance turned toward the far horizon, he assembled
around him the wearied watchmen of the missing drove, still drenched by
the late tempest; and directing each squad as to the probable course
followed by the separate groups of horses, he ordered them to disperse
over the plain in pursuit of their uncertain errand. As the subsequent
results proved, on the afternoon of the following day, it was executed
with gratifying punctuality; and here I may be permitted to utter a
passing word of praise in behalf of these hardy cavaliers of the desert
plains, upon whose courage and sagacity often depends, not only the
success of such expeditions, but sometimes even the fate of a whole
army, whose progress would be seriously endangered without a competent
body of cavalry to procure the necessary supply of beef. Scantily
provided with raiment, poorly paid, and the simple fare of the Llanos
for rations, they are at the post of duty at all hours, in the hot
sunshine of day, or “in thunder, in lightning, and in rain” by night,
always cheerful and happy, providing they have with them their
inharmonious guitar and plenty of tobacco with which to satisfy their
appetite for stimulus of some sort. Among the various duties of their
vocation, one of the hardest to which they are subjected is that of
keeping a constant watch over the cattle at night to prevent their
dispersion, as they are compelled to remain for hours on horseback and
“wide awake.” In order to accustom the cattle to the voice of their
nocturnal guardians, a constant chant in a peculiarly plaintive strain,
in which cattle seem rather to delight, is kept up until morning, when
only a few horsemen are necessary to retain them within the grazing
ground. Should the unruly herd, despite their vigilance, take alarm, as
is often the case, or evince any symptoms of uneasiness, the first care
of the men is to close in, in circle, and if this prove unavailing, they
place themselves at the head of the stampede, in order to check, if
possible, the progress of the affrighted multitude; but woe to the
unfortunate watchman whose horse, missing his footing, throws his rider,
for he will be trampled to death in an instant!
* * * * *
One afternoon we were apprised by a special messenger from El Frio, that
a tall, red-faced Englishman had arrived from the Orinoco, bringing any
quantity of fire-arms, ammunition, and--what appeared most
extraordinary to our informant--a genuine negro servant who could speak
English. As no written communication had been despatched along with the
bearer of this unexpected piece of intelligence, we had not an idea of
who this British Nimrod might be. We, however, hastened to welcome the
stranger, and for the purpose left Los Borales next morning for
head-quarters. On arriving, we were most agreeably surprised at meeting
no less a personage than Lord James Butler, now, as I understand, Earl
of Ormond. We then recollected that the previous year, when his lordship
had honored us with a visit at our home in the valleys of Aragua, he had
promised that should we carry out our projected expedition to the
pampas, he would meet us there. Accordingly, in expectation of this, he
had quitted Barbadoes--where he was stationed with his regiment--in his
yacht for the river Orinoco. There he left it and prosecuted the
remainder of the voyage in a clumsy bongo, up the Apure, arriving at San
Fernando nearly a month after quitting Ciudad Bolívar. At the former
place he was advised to proceed to Achaguas, where he would most likely
hear of our whereabouts. Obtaining there the requisite information, he
immediately set out for our cattle farm, distant about fifteen leagues;
but instead of providing him with a guide across the trackless waste, he
was merely furnished with a refractory mule, which they assured him
would take him to the next cattle farm, whence he would be directed
onward. He had not proceeded far on his solitary way, when the vicious
animal, taking fright at a prairie-owl just as night was approaching,
suddenly whirled round, and my lord, despite his long legs and English
horsemanship, lost his balance, was dismounted, and, what was worse,
left to shift for himself in the midst of a wide plain; the mule,
finding, perhaps, the load rather too much for him, scampering off
without even a parting compliment. Nor was his sable squire at hand to
render him the requisite assistance, as he had been left behind in
charge of the numberless accoutrements for the chase. Fortunately a peon
accidentally encountered the mule on his way home, and knowing the
tricks of the animal, secured him, and brought him back to the
discomfited traveller.
His lordship related this adventure with much humor, and on our
expressing regret that he had met with so disagreeable a _contretemps_,
he coolly replied that he scarcely considered it in that light, and
rather regretted its speedy termination as having, possibly, deprived
him of some curious experiences.
Although the best room in the house had been prepared for his
accommodation, we observed with surprise that when night came, he
insisted upon having his hammock slung in the open air. This, we
afterward discovered, was in consequence of his great horror for the
_murcielagos_ clinging in clusters to the thatch-roof of the house; and
I must confess also that the guest-chamber in our Manor of the Pampas
had few attractions, and could offer none of the allurements of the
_dulce domo_ to his lordship of Kilkenny Castle. Wines or delicacies of
any kind we had none; but as we were well aware that the hospitable
Englishman always offers some choicer beverage than water to his guests,
we caused an old corozo-palm tree standing in front of the house to be
cut down, and from it we procured every afternoon a plentiful supply of
palm-wine. To obtain this, a trough is scooped out in the upper part of
the stem among the footstalks of the leaves; the opening is then covered
with the square piece of bark just cut out, and the wine or sap allowed
to accumulate in the trough during the night. A few hours are sufficient
to produce a pleasant vinous fermentation with a sweetish taste and a
flavor similar to that of Malaga wine; but if left to ferment for a
longer period, it acquires decidedly intoxicating properties.
Although our sports were nearly over at this time, we endeavored to
entertain our distinguished visitor as well as circumstances would
permit. We escorted him several times to the savannas in search of game,
and even got up a _rodeo_ and branding frolic for his special amusement,
with both of which he appeared highly delighted. During the excitement
of the _rodeo_ he had another adventure, similar to that I have already
related as having occurred to my friend, Mr. Thomas, with a wild bull,
and which came very near proving more disastrous than his lordship’s
previous one with the refractory mule. We had just surrounded a large
herd of cattle, when, like the artist, inspired by the excitement of the
chase and its accompanying scenes, Lord James seized his sketch-book and
commenced to delineate them. He had not been long thus occupied, when a
bull, attracted perhaps by the commanding attitude of the draughtsman,
broke through the ring, and made at him with fury in his eyes.
Unconscious of danger, he continued his occupation with as much
composure as if at a stag-hunt in the West Riding of Yorkshire. It was
too late to render him assistance, and we watched the issue with
breathless anxiety; but the bull, apparently awed by the immovable
attitude of the rider and his fearless composure, contented himself with
making a tremendous demonstration at the breast of the horse without
either touching him or his rider, and then, turning tail, vanished in
the distance. It was highly amusing to hear his lordship inquire the
meaning of all that flourish of trumpets, when a witty Llanero, standing
near, replied to him that it was evidently intended as a salutation from
the wild multitude to the honored guest.
Startled by the noise and rush of so many animals over the plain, the
foxes--in the pursuit of which Englishmen are so lavish of trouble and
expense--could be seen running to and fro, endeavoring to escape; no
sooner did the noble son of Albion discover that this favorite game was
also to be found in the pampas, than he abandoned the exciting hunt of
the wild cattle for the first fox that crossed his path. He had not
proceeded far, however, when another fox, and then another, and finally
a legion of them offered to his eager pursuit. Bewildered by so many
bushy tails, he gave up the chase in disgust; and I am sorry to state
that this species of _embarras de richesse_, spoiled sport for him in
all his subsequent sorties, excepting when, on a visit to the creek of
Macanillal, we “caught a tartar” in the shape of a full-grown
crocodile, which we mistook for a young one. This adventure, however,
afforded him a good deal of amusement, and some surprise to those
engaged in the undertaking. It so happened that only the end of the
reptile’s tail was out of water in a very shallow spot, the rest of its
body being entirely buried among the roots of a large stump. Judging
from the apparent smallness of the tail that we could easily drag out
the creature, and his lordship having expressed a desire to obtain the
specimen for preservation, Roseliano immediately volunteered his
services. He tried in vain, however, to bring it to light unassisted,
whereupon a lazo was brought into requisition, and having noosed the
tail therewith, we succeeded in pulling the reptile out of its
hiding-place, when, to our great astonishment and trepidation, we
discovered that it was a large and full-grown female crocodile with a
brood of young ones among the roots of the old tree. She struggled
furiously in defence of her brood, several of which we captured and
presented to our guest; but when the time came for disposing of the
mother and recovering the lazo, we found that it would prove no child’s
play, inasmuch as she had full command of her jaws. After several
ineffectual attempts to stab her while in water, we succeeded at length
in dragging her partly from her lair, and then only were we enabled to
unfasten the noose. A stab or two in the armpits, causing a flow of
blood, speedily brought the caribes to finish the job, after which we
returned to the house, much gratified at having rid the creek of this
dangerous family.
On our way back I met with a severe accident, and narrowly escaped
serious injury from it. We were cantering along a beautifully level
piece of ground, covered with short grass; this suggested to my English
friends the idea of testing the relative swiftness of our horses. Off we
at once started, and had proceeded but a short distance, when we found
our way obstructed by a dried-up creek. The Englishmen, as a matter of
course, delighted, leaped it at a bound; but my pony, not being
sufficiently strong to clear the obstruction, missed the opposite bank
and fell, rolling over with me into the ditch. I was a good deal bruised
in consequence, and the house being still at considerable distance,
suffered intensely in reaching it. This accident prevented me from
joining in the other sports devised for the entertainment of our noble
guest, who, however shortly afterward bade us adieu and returned to the
sea coast. He preferred, on this occasion, the route through Nutrias and
Barinas, that he might escape the tedious descent of the rivers; a
messenger was therefore despatched to Ciudad Bolívar, ordering his yacht
to meet him at Puerto Cabello. Disabled by my recent mishap, I could
not, much to my regret, accompany him; a guide of his own selection was,
however, furnished in the person of our negro troubadour Quintana, for
whom his lordship had evinced a decided predilection, even extending to
him an invitation to visit “Old England,” the friend and protector of
benighted Africa; but we could not spare him for so long a trip; and as
Llaneros have an innate aversion to trusting themselves on unknown
waters, the acquaintanceship terminated on the borders of the Caribbean
Sea.
After the departure of our noble guest from El Frio, we began to think
that it was also high time for us to be getting ready for our return
homeward. The task of retracing our steps, however, was not an easy
thing to accomplish with three thousand oxen to look after, besides the
other animals we brought there; and this in the face of the approaching
inundation of the savannas.
As soon as our preparations were completed, we took our final departure
from El Frio, which perhaps we were destined never to revisit, stopping
at San Pablo for a few days to make further arrangements at the pass for
crossing the river with our immense train of animals and baggage. On our
way to San Pablo, we were nigh being put to rout, and our labors
scattered to the winds, by an invasion of a small bloody fly termed
_mosquilla_, which makes its appearance at the commencement of the rainy
season, and which, for destructiveness to flesh and blood, surpasses any
thing I have yet seen in the shape of an insect. In an instant we were
enveloped in a swarm of these terrible creatures, which fastened
themselves upon us and the cattle with a tenacity like that of hungry
leeches, maddening both man and beast, and causing streams of blood to
flow from the bites. The only relief we found for a while was to drive
the cattle at full speed across the plain; but this expedient, although
for the time it frightened away the flies, came very near producing also
a complete dispersion of the herd. We therefore resigned ourselves to
endure their torturing attacks until they had gorged themselves with
blood.
[Illustration: OUR LEADER.]
CHAPTER XXIII.
OUR LEADER.
THE ROMANCE OF A PATRIOT’S LIFE.
From San Pablo we despatched men on to Apurito, where we proposed
crossing the river with the cattle, to make preparations for this
toilsome work; and then started for Achaguas, the inhabitants of which
town had tendered our Leader an earnest invitation to visit his old
head-quarters. After an easy ride of about three hours, we forded on
horseback the arm of the Apure River which, running in a south-easterly
direction, forms with the Arauca and the main channel of the former the
island of Achaguas, on which the capital of the province, a collection
of mud hovels, is situated. A brood of scaly crocodiles basking in the
sun, and a herd of tame cattle refreshing themselves in the middle of
the stream, were the only signs of animation we perceived on our
approach to the renowned capital of the Apure. In spite of its present
dilapidated condition, Achaguas did not fail to interest me more than
any other spot in Apure, being my birthplace, and the stronghold for
many years of my country’s independence. The Governor of the province,
Señor Arciniega, accompanied by the few officials in the place, came out
after a while to greet our Leader, as did also the veteran General
Cornelio Muñoz, former Commander of the famous _Guardia de Honor_, or
_Colorados de Paez_, which under the leadership of both these generals,
performed so many prodigies during the long struggle between Royalists
and Patriots, which resulted in the final overthrow of Spanish
domination in Colombia. At that epoch of historical interest to the
friends of liberty in America, Achaguas held the most conspicuous
position as the headquarters of the patriot armies, led by the subject
of the following remarks.
The arms of the republic were at first unsuccessful, and Venezuela
submitted to the government of the mother country, the Spanish
commander, Don Domingo Monteverde, having triumphed over the patriot
forces in 1812. By this time, however, a new champion of the republican
cause was rising in the south, amidst the wild scenes I have endeavored
to depict in the foregoing pages. This champion was Captain José A.
Paez, then a youth of twenty Aprils, who conceived the happy idea of
collecting a horde of undisciplined Llaneros in the plains of Casanare
to oppose the overwhelming forces of Spain. His intimate acquaintance
with the country, and his thorough mastery in all the sports of the
Llaneros, admirably fitted him to carry out his plans successfully. How
he came there, and by what means he acquired the requisite proficiency
for the arduous enterprise, the following anecdote of his early career
will explain. When seventeen years of age, an uncle of his, the good
Priest of Araure, his native place, entrusted him with a large sum of
money to deliver safely into the hands of the curate of a distant
parish, furnishing him for the journey with a mule, an old pistol, and a
rusty sword; for, even at that period of comparative quiet and peace
(1807) it was dangerous for a traveller to venture over the roads alone,
and carrying with him the tempting metal. The future President of the
Republic, highly elated at the great confidence reposed in him, with the
usual inexperience of youth, spoke freely about his commission in the
first inn he stopped at to get his meals. The consequence of this
imprudence was, that shortly after he left the inn, he was attacked on
the road by three men, who, as a matter of course, demanded _la bolsa ó
la vida_. The youthful traveller, however, dismounted with the old
pistol in his hand already cocked, and now threatening one and then the
other of his assailants, endeavored to repel them. At last, being too
closely pressed, he fired the pistol at the nearest robber, with such
good aim that he killed his adversary on the spot, while the fragments
of the barrel, which burst at the same time, struck another in the face.
Then charging resolutely upon the third bandit with the rusty sword, he
quickly put both to flight, leaving behind them the corpse of their
wretched comrade. Notwithstanding the obvious propriety of his conduct
on this occasion, acting as he did in self-defence, the young man feared
the consequences; he imagined himself already accused, persecuted,
without the means of proving his innocence, and therefore determined to
hide himself by going into the interior of the plains, hoping thus to
escape a punishment which his error made him regard as inevitable.
Determined to gain an honest livelihood, he sought employment on the
cattle farm of La Calzada, in the province of Barinas, where he soon
became inured to the fatigues of the ranger’s life; acquiring at the
same time, under the tuition of a cruel negro majordomo, that
proficiency in horsemanship which later in life gave him the superiority
over the enemy.
Proud and jealous at the same time of his white apprentice, whom he
imagined had been sent there by his master to spy his actions, the negro
overseer of La Calzada spared no opportunity to put to the test the
courage and strength of the future champion of those plains, sometimes
compelling him to break in the most vicious horses, which often led him
off for days into the open fields; at other times ordering him away upon
the most hazardous ventures of the Llanos. Not satisfied with this show
of authority over his pupil, the brutal black Mentor of young Paez ended
the fatigues of a hard day’s labor by ordering him to bring a pail of
water and wash his muddy feet! But the tide of fortune soon changed; the
whirlwind of revolution offered Paez a new field of adventure, and the
humble peon of La Calzada rapidly gained the highest posts in the
patriot army, while the haughty overseer went to increase the ranks of
the opposing foe. In the course of events the majordomo was brought one
day a prisoner to Paez, who not only spared his life, but kept him
always near his person, his only revenge being to imitate the tone of
his former tyrant when calling upon young Paez to exercise the functions
of the slave: “_Niño José Antonio!_ bring a bowl of water to wash my
feet!” to which the old negro humbly replied, “I see, _niño_, you have
not forgotten your old tricks.”
* * * * *
When the revolution broke out, on the 19th of April, 1810, Paez enlisted
in the militia of Barinas as a common soldier, and soon after was
promoted to the rank of sergeant of cavalry. This, however, being rather
a slow process of promotion, he proceeded to organize an independent
body of cavalry, with which he rendered important service to the cause
of independence. But the path of glory was not without thorns, and our
young leader found himself a prisoner in the hands of the merciless
Spaniards, owing his preservation, as it was then believed, to the
influence of a miracle. In those days a war without quarter was fiercely
waged. The province of Barinas having been again occupied by the
royalist forces, Paez fell into the hands of the cruel Puy, was thrown
into prison and ordered to be executed in the city of Barinas the next
day. At that time military executions of captured enemies were conducted
by leading them out during the night to some lonely spot, where they
were despatched with the lance or the sword. Paez and a number of his
fellow-prisoners were thus being led out one night, when he observed, as
he was leaving the prison, that he was uncovered; believing himself to
be only going to make his deposition before the Governor, he requested
his companion in the cell to lend him his hat. The Spanish officer in
charge of the mournful cortege, failing to recognize him under this
guise, ordered him back to be exchanged for the owner of the hat, who,
he supposed, was the identical “captain of the rebels.” Thus he obtained
unwittingly a respite of one day. The following night he was awakened
about eleven o’clock by a great noise of horsemen and infantry in the
street. He imagined they were coming to lead him and the rest of his
fellow-prisoners to the place of execution. He prepared, therefore, to
die; but Providence saved his life once more. The noise of arms and
horses in the street had been occasioned by an alarm in consequence of
information received by Governor Puy, that a considerable army of
patriots was encamped on the banks of the Santo Domingo river, on which
Barinas is situated, and was about marching on the city. Several
parties, coming from different directions, confirmed the information
received by the Governor, and the panic became general. It was supposed
that the patriots in large numbers intended to take the Spanish garrison
by surprise and seize upon the Governor. The latter, therefore,
immediately abandoned Barinas with his forces, leaving only a few men to
guard the prison, for in his hurry he had forgotten to execute the
prisoners, as he had done before on similar occasions. This was the time
for Paez to make a bold effort to save his life. The next morning he
embraced the opportunity, broke his fetters, helped to release his
fellow-prisoners, and overpowered one of the sentinels, who attempted to
oppose his escape. Paez then fled to put himself once more at the head
of a small band of patriots, to harass the enemy in the same province
of Barinas. On the morning succeeding the alarm, the royalists could not
discover an enemy for more than fifty miles around the city. The alarm
and panic occasioned by the reported approach of an enemy in the night,
confirmed by so many persons, some of whom had gone out to reconnoitre,
and the most singular disappearance, or absence, of this host on the
following morning, gave rise to the popular belief, existing to this day
among the common people, that the life of Paez was saved by the friendly
intercession and miraculous appearance of an army of departed spirits,
known as the _Ejército de las Animas_.
The next exploit of the future champion of the Llanos took place amongst
the rugged mountains of Merida, to which point the remnants of the
republican forces were retreating after the disasters of 1814. Utterly
disheartened and surrounded on all sides by enemies, they hardly knew
which way to turn. The column to which Paez belonged finding itself
unexpectedly confronted on their march to Bailadores by a superior
force, made a stand at a place called Etanques, while the enemy
endeavored to gain the intermediate heights. The road which led to these
was a narrow and deep cut on the sides of the steep mountain, which did
not permit a force to deploy on being attacked; observing which, Paez,
who had no command of his own, and only figured as an _attaché_ to a
small body of cavalry under Capt. Antonio Rangel, who commanded the
advanced post, strenuously urged the captain to pursue the royalists on
their march; Rangel, however, contented himself with exchanging a few
shots with the latter, and returned to occupy his position. Unable to
restrain himself, Paez, who rode a spirited charger, dashed onward,
making a great noise, as if proceeding from many voices, discharging a
blunderbuss on the rear of the column, which killed the sergeant.
Alarmed with the voices and the report of the gun, the royalists were
seized with a sudden panic, and fled in consternation, throwing down
their arms, and upsetting everything and one another in their
precipitate flight, thus presenting an easier mark to the terrible lance
of their pursuer. The only opposition encountered by the latter was from
one José Maria Sanchez, a man renowned for his courage and much feared
by the people of Merida, who compelled Paez to dismount and struggle
hard with him for the possession of the exterminating weapon. Victorious
at last over his formidable antagonist, the reckless champion remained
complete master of the field. It was then that Paez, once again free to
act according to his own judgment and impulses, conceived the idea of
going through the centre of New Granada to the plains of Casanare, south
of the province of Apure. This plan was the result of experience, which
convinced him that the patriots could not triumph, notwithstanding their
unheard-of efforts, while the Spaniards held possession of the plains
and controlled the supply of horses. The acquisition of the Llanos gave
the superiority to the Spaniards, as, by means of it, they had a source
of supplies and a safe retreat. Paez determined, therefore, to make
that wild region the base of his military operations, and with this
object organized a body of horsemen in the plains of Casanare, which he
soon after led into the province of Apure.
In the language of another, “no man was better calculated to command the
love and respect of his wild soldiery. Great bravery, a thorough
knowledge of localities, an affable and familiar treatment of his
followers, procured for Paez great popularity and an unlimited sway over
the minds of his men. He was one of the best riders in a district of
country celebrated for good horsemen, and understood the management of
the lance, his favorite weapon, almost to perfection. He possessed great
bodily strength and agility, and few could compete with him in the wild
sports of the Llaneros, or inhabitants of the immense plains of
Venezuela.”
The Llanos are, in fact, a permanent camp of military instruction for
their intrepid inhabitants. Accustomed from their infancy to subdue the
wild horse, to master the wild bull, to swim across broad streams, and
to grapple in single combat with the crocodile, the tiger and wild boar,
the Llaneros learn to despise danger. When the war turned them from
their ordinary occupations, the enemy found them ready-made soldiers.
Inhabiting a genial atmosphere and endowed with iron constitutions,
their wants are few and insignificant; in peace, the lazo and the horse;
in war, the horse and the lance. Perfectly acquainted with the country
and unencumbered with heavy accoutrements, the dwellers of the Llanos
cannot be conquered except by men of the same region, and Venezuela
possesses in those limitless plains and in the breasts of their valorous
children, the strongest bulwark of her national independence.
Paez, now master of his own military movements, resolved to meet the
enemy there, and, if possible, to bring about an engagement. On the 16th
of February, 1816, he commenced his march in pursuit of the royalist
chief, Don Francisco Lopez, and in three hours’ space met him at a place
called Mata de la Miel, on the right bank of the river Apure. The
royalist leader had two pieces of artillery and sixteen hundred men,
whom he drew up at once in order of battle. Paez’s forces amounted
altogether to about six hundred cavalry. It was evening and the night
fast advancing, on which account many of the patriot officers were of
opinion that the engagement should be postponed until the following day.
This very reason, however, determined the leader to enter at once into
action, as he feared that his soldiers, observing the great superiority
of the enemy in numbers, might take advantage of the night to desert.
Paez accordingly divided his forces in two columns, placing the one,
composed of New Granadians, under command of Captain Genaro Vasquez, and
the other, composed of Venezuelians, under Captain Ramon Nonato Perez.
The royalists were completely routed, and during all that night and the
two following days the forces led by Paez pursued and captured a great
portion of those under Don Francisco Lopez. Such was the action of Mata
de la Miel. There were left dead on the field four hundred royalists,
and a great number of prisoners were taken together with about three
thousand five hundred horses and nearly all the enemy’s arms. Four
months afterward, in June, Lopez again crossed the Apure with twelve
hundred horsemen and four hundred infantry, but Paez met him near
Mantecal and compelled him to retreat, after losing many men and horses.
Notwithstanding these advantages on the part of the patriot forces, the
result of the following campaigns (1814, 1815, and 1816) was most
disastrous to the arms of the republic elsewhere; Venezuela, New
Granada, and the plains of Casanare again fell into the hands of the
vengeful Spaniards. In 1816, a very numerous emigration of patriots,
consisting of men, women, and children, in a state of great destitution
and suffering, fled to the wilderness from the persecution of the
royalists, and took refuge in the camp of Paez. Many persons of
distinction were to be found among the fugitives, and a system of
government was established for the regulation of affairs. A meeting of
officers was held at Arichuna, and Paez appointed supreme chief, with
the rank of General of Brigade. He applied himself immediately to raise
sufficient forces to oppose Don Francisco Lopez and to acquire, if
possible, some resources in his extreme want. The hardships and
privations endured by the patriot army on the plains can scarcely be
conceived. The soldiers were so destitute of clothing as to be compelled
to use for a covering the hides of the cattle freshly killed; very few
had hats, none shoes. The ordinary and only food was beef, without salt
and without bread. There were, in addition to all this, continual
rains, and the rivers and creeks had overflowed and covered over the
country. They wanted horses, and as these are indispensable to the
Llaneros, they must be obtained before any thing else. Only wild horses
could be procured, and they had to be tamed and broken. This was done in
squadrons, and it was a curious spectacle to see five or six hundred
riders at a time struggling to subdue these wild animals. Around the
ground were stationed several officers, mounted on well-trained horses,
whose duty it was to go after those which escaped from their riders, to
prevent them from carrying away the saddles, although these were made of
wood, with thongs of raw hides. Many years after these scenes, an
eye-witness wrote: “We courted danger in order to put an end, with
honor, to such a miserable life.” To provide against this misery, Paez
now turned his attention to the nearest source of supply, Barinas, a
city abounding in all the commodities he stood most in need of. Although
nearly two hundred miles distant, the patriot chieftain did not hesitate
to invade his old antagonist in the midst of the rainy season. The
undertaking could not, however, be executed without great peril and
hardships, he having to contend not only against the inveterate enemies
who occupied all the approaches to the city, but against the inundation
of the savannas at the time. The expedition, moreover, had to be
conducted with great secrecy, avoiding even the few channels left open
in those inland seas for the transit of men on horseback. Not in the
least deterred by obstacles so formidable in themselves, Paez got
together one thousand picked men, and two thousand white horses,
animals of this color being reputed the best swimmers. With these, he
crossed the Apure and several other streams, then at the height of their
flood, being compelled besides to ford extensive lagoons of various
depths to avoid the numerous gunboats of the enemy, stationed at all the
important passes. On one of these, on the river Canaguá, the expedition
was fortunate enough to capture by surprise a gunboat and a large
quantity of hides, which were left behind with a strong guard for future
use. When near Barinas, Paez sent a detachment to surprise also the town
of Pedraza, to the south-east of the capital, with the object of drawing
the attention of the royalists in that direction. The ruse succeeded
admirably; the small detachment of men carried every thing before them,
penetrating as far as the plaza, and then retreated, according to
instructions, to rejoin the main body. Enraged at their audacity, the
Spanish commander at Barinas sent out a large force in pursuit of the
attacking party, thus weakening his own force. Paez then advanced
against Barinas, disposing his line of march in single file, each
horseman followed by his spare horse, tied to the tail of his own
sumpter. The object of this arrangement was to deceive the royalists
also in regard to the real numbers of the enemy, which from a distance
presented a very imposing appearance. Barinas is situated on the border
of an extensive plain, bounded on the south by the _mesa_ of the same
name, through which Paez made his entry into the doomed city when the
sun was in the meridian. The dreaded army of “departed spirits” did not
produce a more appalling consternation among the royalists than the
apparition of this unexpected body of ragged horsemen. They knew full
well that, owing to the overflow of the savannas, no advance could be
made upon the city from the south. They felt equally secure against any
attack from the north and from the east, which were then entirely under
their control, while on the west they were still better protected by the
lofty Sierra Nevada. Without stopping to ascertain the real character of
the force before them, the royalists collected together in a great hurry
whatever valuables they prized most, and had already loaded several
mules with them, when the enemy, dashing forward in full gallop, arrived
in time to secure the rich booty, after dispersing the owners and their
troops. The half-clad followers of Paez then fell upon the stores and
abandoned houses of the royalists with the eagerness of men who had not
seen a respectable garment in a long time. One of the officers was
fortunate enough to capture a mule loaded with thirty thousand dollars
in gold, while every man in the party got more goods than he could
carry.
Paez only remained a sufficient time at Barinas to arrange the
transportation of the booty, which took up nearly all the spare horses
brought along for this purpose; without these and the hides seized at
Canaguá, it would have been impossible to remove it to the patriot camp
in the wilderness. Owing to the presence of a strong flotilla of
gunboats at the mouth of the river, the captured vessel had to be
abandoned after a while, and the wearisome route across the inundated
savannas resumed by the returning caravan. The hides served the double
purpose of covering for the goods and lighters to ferry them over the
streams. This species of leather canoe is an ingenious contrivance
frequently resorted to in those wild regions wherever there is a
scarcity of boats, and consists in a bag or trough formed by passing a
rope through a number of holes round the rim of the hide, and gathering
it over the goods. One end of the rope of sufficient length is then
handed over to a good swimmer, who takes it between his teeth and tows
the lighter after him. In this manner, the immense booty obtained at
Barinas was successfully transported over one hundred miles of inundated
plains, to the inconceivable joy of the wretched emigrants at the camp
of Arichuna.
After allowing his troop sufficient time to rest from their fatigues,
and finding it to his advantage to resume the offensive, at least to
occupy the attention of his soldiers, Paez commenced his march toward
Achaguas, although the season was still very severe. The march was slow,
as, besides the difficulties of the road, they were encumbered by
numerous emigrants, and compelled, at every step, to procure supplies on
account of the want of stores. The great multitude of men, women, and
children, moving with the army, represented to the life the picture of a
nomadic people without home or country, who, after consuming the
resources of the district they have occupied, raise their tents to
conquer another.[42] In this manner they arrived at the sand hills or
Médanos de Araguayuna, where, having left the emigrants under the
protection of a resolute band of horsemen, Paez incorporated all the men
capable of bearing arms in his ranks, and marched against Lopez, whom he
supposed to be at Achaguas. But after proceeding a short distance, he
learned that the enemy, to the number of seventeen hundred horsemen and
four hundred infantry, was at the cattle farm called Yagual. Paez then
changed his course and took his position between the enemy and the city
of Achaguas. His army was divided into three columns, commanded by
Generals Urdaneta and Servier, and by Colonel Santander; they were
nearly all armed with lances, very few with muskets or carabines, and
the supply of ammunition was scanty. On the 8th of October, they came in
sight of the enemy, and although their number much exceeded that of the
patriot forces, Paez did not hesitate to give them battle. The conflict
was long and severe, but it was decidedly in favor of the patriots. Don
Francisco Lopez was compelled to abandon his position, after sustaining
a severe loss; on the next day he refused to renew the battle, and fell
back upon Achaguas, having previously shipped on the river Arauca all
his artillery and wounded for San Fernando. On the 13th, Lopez, having
made a short resistance, abandoned the town, of which Paez took
possession. Shortly after this, Lopez being attacked by surprise on the
banks of the Apure, was utterly defeated, his forces dispersed, and he
himself lost his life.
At the head of his brave soldiers, Paez rescued the province of Apure, a
part of that of Barinas, in Venezuela, and recovered that of Casanare,
in New Granada. Having increased his force by the new levies raised in
these provinces and in others, he formed that army which subsequently
rendered such important services in the cause of freedom, and whose
exploits have been so much admired.
It is not my purpose to enter here into a detailed account of the events
of that epoch; the limits of this chapter, and the relationship existing
between the author and the subject of this hasty sketch, preclude the
possibility of such an undertaking, especially when better pens have
compiled them in the _Encyclopædia Britannica_--articles, Colombia and
Bolívar; in the _American Cyclopædia_--articles, Paez and Venezuela;
also in _Campaigns and Cruises in Venezuela_, and various other works by
English officers who served in the ranks of the patriot armies at the
time, to which English and American readers of history are especially
referred for a more comprehensive view of that fearful struggle. My
object is to give my readers some idea respecting the nature of that
contest in that part of Venezuela which, after years of unheard-of
privations and almost insurmountable difficulties, furnished at last the
elements which decided the fate of Colombia upon the plains of Carabobo,
Junin, and Boyacá.
Vain were, after this, the efforts of the Spanish invaders to destroy
what they contemptuously called the _Gang of Apure_, in their official
documents. Several expeditions were despatched from Spain about this
time, under the command of the ablest generals, and provided with all
the material for a vigorous campaign. One of these, led by
Lieut.-General Don Pablo Morillo, set sail from Cadiz on the 18th of
February, 1815. It consisted of sixty-five transport ships and other
smaller vessels, convoyed by the line-of-battle ship San Pedro Alcantara
(lost afterwards during the blockade of the Island of Margarita),
mounting seventy-four guns. The total number of men composing this
expedition, including marines, amounted to fifteen thousand. The ships
carrying this formidable armament cast anchor, on the third of April,
1815, in Puerto Santo, to the windward of Carupano, in Venezuela.
Morillo, the commander of this expedition, was a brave, active, and
energetic officer, cool in action, a severe disciplinarian, and was
beloved by his soldiers. Besides this force, there was a royalist army
of five thousand men in Venezuela, commanded by Morales.
At first, General Morillo met with little or no opposition, until, going
to the interior, he encountered the wild horsemen of the plains. The
haughty temper of the Spanish commander-in-chief could not bear that a
handful of demi-savages, as he was pleased to style them, should insult
the pennant of Castile any longer, and he therefore prepared to capture
every one of them, with what results, the sequel of this narrative will
show.
In the early part of January, 1817, the Spanish commanders, La Torre and
Calzada, effected a junction at Guasdualito, on the plains of Apure.
About the same time, the royalist brigadier, Don Ramon Correa, and
Lieutenant-Colonel Don Salvador Gorrin, left San Fernando, and with
their cavalry and infantry attacked the line of the patriots, and
completely routed Guerrero, the republican general, forcing him to fall
back upon Paez, after a bloody battle, in which the patriots sustained a
considerable loss. The siege of San Fernando being raised in consequence
of this triumph, the attention of La Torre and Calzada was directed to
Paez, who presented the greatest obstacle to their occupation of the
river Apure and its adjacent plains. An army of four thousand veteran
soldiers of all arms, including seventeen hundred of the cavalry
commanded by Colonel Remijio Ramos, presented a force sufficient to
inspire the Spanish commander with confidence, particularly as La Torre,
who was a brave and accomplished soldier, was anxious to distinguish
himself among his companions in arms. He, therefore, marched to the town
of San Vicente, following the right bank of the river Apure, with the
intention of attacking Paez, who was then in Mantecal. On the 28th of
January, the patriots and royalists met on the plain of Mucuritas; the
former, with a body of cavalry amounting only to eleven hundred
horsemen, and the latter with the forces already mentioned. The result
of the engagement was as unfortunate to La Torre as it proved
advantageous to the patriots under Paez, who on this occasion made up
for his inferiority in numbers by means of a stratagem which nearly
resulted in the destruction of the entire Spanish army. The order of
battle adopted by the royalist leader was the best which the nature of
the ground and the enemy he had to contend with would permit; his
infantry presented a strong and compact front, while his cavalry was
posted on the wings and on the rear. Paez having only cavalry, could not
come within the range of the enemy’s muskets without running the risk of
being wholly destroyed; and he consequently conceived the idea of
separating the royalist horse from the infantry. The presumptuous
confidence of Colonel Ramos and the inexperience of La Torre in the
Llanero’s tactics, facilitated the execution of Paez’s plan. Having
formed two columns with a portion of his forces, Paez ordered them to
attack the enemy’s flanks, and then immediately to retreat, as if they
had been repulsed. His object was to draw out the enemy’s cavalry in the
heat of the pursuit, and at once surround them with two other columns,
which he had ready prepared for that purpose. This simple manœuvre
had the desired effect, and La Torre’s cavalry was speedily destroyed.
The European hussars alone escaped, because they advanced with less
precipitancy and in better order. The republican leader now ordered the
dry grass of the plain to be set on fire, and it instantly became a sea
of flame. Fortunately for La Torre, his infantry retreating
precipitately in close column, succeeded in reaching a spot which had
been burned some time before. Even there his infantry sustained several
charges from Paez’s cavalry, compelling him ultimately to seek a refuge
in a dense wood on the right bank of the Apure, where the pursuit
ceased for want of infantry on the part of the patriots. Of this battle,
General Morillo wrote: “Fourteen consecutive charges upon my wearied
battalions convinced me that these men were not a small gang of cowards,
as had been represented to me.” On the following morning Morillo joined
La Torre, and continued with him his march to San Fernando without
crossing the Apure, and always in sight of the republican cavalry; Paez
finally perceiving that the enemy avoided a new engagement, retired to
San Juan de Payara.
In 1817, General Bolívar appeared in the province of Guayana, and his
first effort was to open his communication with Paez, who did not
hesitate to recognize his authority, although widely separated from the
Liberator’s head-quarters.
From this period the patriots began to extend their operations; a series
of brilliant actions took place at various points, and the republican
cause appeared to revive on the line of the Apure and the Orinoco
rivers. The acquisition of Guayana under Piar was an important and
decisive event in the history of the war; by means of it, Bolívar was in
a situation to harass the posts occupied by the royalists, on any point
of the immense line embraced by the Orinoco and its numerous
tributaries.
In the latter part of January, 1818, Bolívar joined him with two
thousand five hundred disciplined troops, among them the famous British
legion lately arrived, increasing the republican forces to about ten
thousand infantry and the same number of cavalry, which last was
composed of well-trained men, accustomed to victory on the plains of
Apure. The plan of the campaign having been arranged between Bolívar and
Paez, they resolved to cross over the river Apure and march forthwith on
Calabozo, where Morillo had established his headquarters. But here a
great difficulty presented itself; the patriot forces had no boats in
which to cross that broad and deep river. It was then that Paez
conceived and executed the extraordinary plan of capturing with cavalry
the gun-boats of the enemy stationed on the river, opposite the point
toward which they were marching. An eye-witness and impartial foreigner,
attached to the British Legion, thus describes this hazardous
undertaking: “Bolívar stood on the shore gazing at these (the gun-boats)
in despair, and continued disconsolately parading in front of them, when
Paez, who had been on the look-out, rode up and inquired the cause of
his disquietude. His Excellency observed, ‘I would give the world to
have possession of the Spanish flotilla, for without it I can never
cross the river, and the troops are unable to march.’ ‘It shall be yours
in an hour,’ replied Paez. ‘It is impossible,’ said Bolívar, ‘and the
men must all perish.’ ‘Leave that to me,’ rejoined Paez, and galloped
off. In a few minutes he returned, bringing up his guard of honor,
consisting of 300 lancers selected from the main body of the Llaneros,
for their proved bravery and strength, and leading them to the bank,
thus briefly addressed them: ‘We must have these _flecheras_, or die.
Let those follow Tio[43] who please.’
[Illustration: CAPTURE OF SPANISH GUNBOATS BY LLANERO CAVALRY.]
And at the same moment, spurring his horse, dashed into the river and
swam towards the flotilla. The guard followed him with their lances in
their hands, now encouraging their horses to bear up against the current
by swimming by their sides and patting their necks, and then shouting to
scare away the alligators, of which there were hundreds in the river,
till they reached the boats, when, mounting their horses, they sprang
from their backs on board them, headed by their leader, and, to the
astonishment of those who beheld them from the shore, captured every one
of them. To English officers, it may appear inconceivable that a body of
cavalry, with no other arms than their lances, and no other mode of
conveyance across a rapid river than their horses, should attack and
take a fleet of gun-boats amidst shoals of alligators; but, strange as
it may seem, it was actually accomplished, and there are many officers
now in England who can testify to the truth of it.”
The unprejudiced author of this narrative, which I am compelled to
shorten for want of space, then adds:--“In short, he is altogether a
most wonderful man; and were the numerous and extraordinary incidents of
his life to be formed into a narrative, it would have more the semblance
of romance than authentic biography. He is, above all things, a sincere
patriot, and certainly a bright ornament to his country.”[44]
This dangerous manœuvre was performed at a distance of two miles from
San Fernando, which, from that moment, was cut off from all
communication with Morillo. The patriot army being thus provided with
the means of transportation across the Apure, a body of cavalry was
immediately despatched in the direction of the road leading to Calabozo,
and succeeded in capturing by surprise a party of twenty-five men, who
composed the advanced post of the enemy. In consequence of this
manœuvre, Morillo was also taken by surprise on the 11th of February,
at a time when his hussars and a portion of the battalion of Castille
were at a place called Mision de Abajo, about three miles to the south
of Calabozo. Only a few men from both regiments, with a Colonel,
succeeded in making their escape to the intrenchments in the city. The
sturdy veteran, Morillo, could not believe the report of his Colonel,
that the whole patriot army was marching upon him. Haughtily accusing
that officer of cowardice, he sallied forth in person with his staff to
reconnoitre what he supposed to be a band of guerrillas; but he himself
had to flee for safety into the city, narrowly escaping death through
the stoical heroism of his insulted Colonel, who threw himself between
the Commander-in-chief and the lance of one of Paez’s staff officers.
Instead of investing the royalists at once, Bolívar committed the error
of encamping for the night with all his troops at the village of El
Rastro, about four miles this side of Calabozo. Morillo improved this
opportunity to abandon the city under cover of night, and fell back on
Caracas, by the mountainous route of El Sombrero, where the patriots
could not follow him on account of the inferiority of their infantry.
Paez then returned to the Apure, while Bolívar remained with the bulk of
the army, to be soon after entirely annihilated at La Puerta by the
royalist General. But the Genius of the Andes was untiring in his
efforts to see his country, and the rest of the South American
Continent, free from European oppression.
On the 16th January, 1819, Bolívar joined Paez again at San Juan de
Payara with a newly organized _corps d’armée_, and their united forces
amounted to four thousand men. Bolívar, as a recompense for the
important services rendered by Paez to his country, raised him to the
rank of General of Division, and left him in command of all the forces,
while he proceeded to Angostura, where Congress was to meet in February.
About this time the royalist Generals, Morillo and La Torre, also joined
their forces at San Fernando, amounting in all to six thousand five
hundred men of all arms. With these they immediately proceeded to attack
the patriots at San Juan in the beginning of February. Paez retreated
toward the Orinoco, transported all his infantry to the island of
Urbana, and took up a position, with his guard and two squadrons of
carabineers, at Cunaviche; the remainder of his horsemen he stationed on
the plains of Rio Claro, and a most cumbersome emigration of ten
thousand patriot refugees, that followed his camp, was taken to
Araguaquen. The plan adopted by Paez on this occasion was precisely the
same as the one always practised by him in former campaigns; yet the
royalist General was so infatuated by his eagerness to destroy the “Gang
of Apure,” that he was easily led away into the wilderness before he was
conscious of his danger. On the 11th of February Morillo forced the pass
of the river Arauca, and the patriots fell back, keeping their adversary
under observation; at night, however, they retraced their steps, and in
the morning appeared situated at a short distance in the opposite
direction. Morillo counter-marched, and for many days wandered over that
wilderness, renewing his efforts to overtake an enemy which kept
constantly before him, like the mirage of the desert, and which did him
great injury by driving away the cattle. The only means he could employ
to overtake his opponent and force him to battle, was to use his
cavalry; but this jeopardized the only force which procured the
subsistence of the army, and might thus compromise its safety. Not even
at night were the royalists allowed to rest in peace. On one occasion
Paez caused a number of wild horses to be brought before the enemy’s
camp, and tying dry hides to the animals’ tails, they were stampeded
with shouts and shots towards the encampment. Imagining themselves
attacked by the whole Llanero cavalry, the royalists sprang to their
arms and opened fire on the affrighted horses, which caused that night
more alarm and confusion among them than the two thousand oxen which
Hannibal hurled against the Roman camp. At length, convinced of the
inutility of his efforts, Morillo recrossed the Arauca, and in the
early part of March established his headquarters at Achaguas.
On the first day of April, General Morillo again resumed the offensive,
marching along the left bank of the Arauca and approaching the position
occupied on the right bank by Generals Paez and Bolívar; the latter had
recently returned from the Congress at Angostura, where he had been
elected President of the Republic, and resumed the command in chief of
the army. Morillo made several feigned movements to the right and to the
left, as if he wished to cross the river, and at noon of the 2d, took up
his position nearly opposite that of Bolívar, out of range of the
cannon. For the purpose of drawing him forth, General Paez crossed the
river with one hundred and fifty horsemen, composed mostly of officers
who volunteered for the hazardous undertaking; with these he formed
three small columns and advanced upon the enemy. Morillo immediately put
all his forces in motion; his infantry and artillery commenced firing,
while the cavalry charged upon the small band of patriots, hoping to
overpower by numbers the weak columns of the enemy; he himself directed
his course toward the bank of the river. Paez, in the mean time,
retreated in order, purposely leaving the pass of the river on his rear.
Morillo, observing this, and supposing him inevitably lost, detached
from the army all the cavalry in pursuit of Paez, and directed his fire
upon the right bank, defended by some light troops. As soon, however, as
the republican General perceived that the enemy’s horse were at a
considerable distance from the army, and in disorder, he faced about
suddenly, attacked his pursuers in front and on the flanks, in small
groups of twenty men, and without giving them time to recover from their
astonishment or to re-form the lines, he routed them, occasioning great
loss. In vain they made the most obstinate resistance--in vain the
carabineers dismounted--all their efforts were useless; disconcerted and
taken by surprise, all those who opposed the vigorous attack were killed
upon the spot. The victors pursued the remnants of the force as far as
the enemy’s lines, slaying all whom they overtook. Their infantry,
thrown into confusion, sought refuge in the woods, the artillery ceased
firing, and night prevented the further destruction of the royalist
army. On the day following this encounter, Bolívar issued a decree,
conferring the cross of Liberators (_Libertadores_) on all the officers,
sergeants, corporals, and soldiers, who fought in this engagement, known
in history by the name of Queseras del Medio; while the following
proclamation announced to the army the success recently obtained by the
republican arms:
SIMON BOLÍVAR PRESIDENT, ETC., ETC.
“_To the Heroes of the Army of Apure_:
“SOLDIERS! You have just performed the most extraordinary action
that can be recorded in the military history of nations--one
hundred and fifty men, or, rather, one hundred and fifty heroes,
led on by the undaunted General Paez, have deliberately attacked in
front the whole Spanish army, under Morillo; artillery, infantry,
cavalry, nothing availed to defend the enemy from the hundred and
fifty companions of the intrepid Paez. The columns of their cavalry
have disappeared under the strokes of our lances; their infantry
sought a shelter in the woods; the roar of their cannon was
silenced before the breasts of our horses, and only the darkness of
night preserved the army of the tyrant from complete and absolute
destruction.
“Soldiers! The deed you have performed is but the prelude of what
you can accomplish. Prepare then for the combat, and reckon on
victory, which you carry on the point of your lances and bayonets.
“BOLÍVAR.
“HEAD-QUARTERS AT POTRERITOS MARREREÑOS, April 3, 1819.”
After this engagement, Morillo, finding himself again deprived of his
cavalry in the heart of the savannas, retreated precipitately to
Achaguas, and finally to San Fernando, which place he fortified
strongly, and recrossing the Apure, sought a more advantageous position
against the attacks of his hovering enemy.
The engagement of Queseras del Medio was the precursor of new plans and
bold projects, combined between Bolívar and Paez. The plains of
Venezuela, being now entirely rescued from the enemy, these two Generals
arranged the dangerous and important expedition that was to give freedom
to New Granada. Paez had the honor accorded him of choosing which of the
two should command the expedition. They both agreed that Bolívar should
march into New Granada, and that Paez should preserve, at all risks,
the possession of the plains of Apure. Victory crowned the republican
arms in New Granada, and Paez resolutely and successfully defended the
important territory confided to his care and protection.
On the 17th December, 1819, Venezuela and New Granada were united into
one great republic, under the name of Colombia, with a territory
embracing nearly 500,000 square miles.
The year 1821 is celebrated for the important victory obtained by the
republican army, under Bolívar and Paez, on the field of Carabobo, which
secured Venezuela to the patriots. General Bolívar’s forces amounted to
6,000 men. Only the first division of the army, commanded by Paez, took
part in the battle. This division was composed of the gallant British
Legion, already alluded to, the battalion of Apure, and 1,500 horsemen.
The field of Carabobo is a vast and open plain, lying in a southerly
direction from Valencia. An army endeavoring to enter this plain from
Tinaquillo, as the patriot army was attempting to do, is obliged, after
passing the river Chirgua, to penetrate over the defile called Buena
Vista, lying to the northeast. This defile is a formidable position, on
which a few men can easily arrest the progress of an army. If this pass
be gained, and the many obstructions be overcome, which an enemy can
easily oppose over a rough and craggy road of considerable length, there
still remains a narrow valley to be traversed, formed by hills, which
constitute the entrance on the west to the plain of Carabobo; here the
level ground commences. General La Torre, the Spanish commander, had
stationed in the valley and on both sides on the hills commanding it,
several pieces of artillery, as well as strong bodies of infantry. On
the plain near the opening of the valley the extended line of infantry
was deployed in order of battle, with its right resting upon a thicket;
next followed another line, and between the flanks of both, there were
two strong bodies of cavalry. The second line of battle had on its left
the road to El Pao, and the cavalry on the same side was stationed on
the brow of a hill over which that road passes; the summit of the hill
was occupied by a battalion. Such was the military position of the
Spanish forces, amounting on this occasion to 9,000 men. On the 24th of
June, the patriot General occupied the defile, and from that place
observed the position of the enemy. The narrow road pursued by Bolívar
allowed him only the room necessary to file off, and the Spaniards not
only guarded the outlet into the plain, but commanded the valley with
their artillery and a large body of infantry. The position was
impregnable. It was therefore resolved that General Paez, with
considerable risk and difficulty, should penetrate through a foot-path
but little known, and turn the enemy’s right. This path was extremely
hazardous. It begins at the high road leading to San Carlos, to the west
of the valley; goes over the top of a small hill covered with woods,
which was commanded by the Spanish artillery, and leads into a ravine
where the men were compelled to pass singly, because it was very rough
and full of brambles and briars. When the enemy discovered the movement
of the advancing forces under Paez, he directed part of his own against
the latter, and some of his battalions came up to the ravine, as the
patriot battalion of Apure was beginning to pass it, and a vigorous
firing commenced and was continued on both sides. The republican corps
at last succeeded in passing the ravine, but no longer able to sustain
singly the enemy’s charge, was already giving way, when the British
Legion came up to their support. The enemy had by this time brought into
action four of his best battalions, against only one of the patriots.
But the gallant Britons now filed off and formed in order of battle,
under a murderous fire, with almost superhuman coolness, and kneeling
down, they could not be made to yield an inch of ground. Almost all its
officers were either killed or wounded; but the service rendered by
those brave foreigners was great indeed. Their heroic firmness gave time
for the battalion of Apure to rally and return to the charge, while two
companies of _Tiradores_, led on by the gallant Heras, came also into
the action. The enemy at last yielded under the simultaneous charge of
the bayonet made by these different corps and fell back upon the cavalry
for support. By this time the body-guard of General Paez, six hundred
strong, had passed the ravine, and charging the enemy’s horse on the
rear of its columns, routed them completely and decided the action on
that memorable day. Only one battalion, the famous Valencey,
successfully repelled the furious charges of the patriot cavalry, which
pursued the royalists as far as Valencia. General La Torre, with the
remnant of his forces, shut himself up in the fortifications of Puerto
Cabello, which were finally carried by assault on the 7th of November in
the same year by General Paez.
The victory gained at Carabobo was complete and brilliant, decisive of
the fate of the republic, and glorious to the brave soldiers of Apure,
whose favored leader was raised by Bolívar to the rank of
General-in-chief on the field of battle--an appointment which was
subsequently ratified by Congress “in acknowledgment of his
extraordinary valor and military virtues.” How he afterwards became
Supreme Chief of Venezuela; twice President of the Republic: was
banished by a turbulent party calling themselves _Liberales_, narrowly
escaping with his life to the United States of America, from whence,
after an exile of ten years, he was recalled, and placed again at the
head of the nation by popular acclamation; became thoroughly disgusted
with the unruly disposition of his countrymen, and returned to end his
days in
“The land of the free and the home of the brave;”
he has fully recounted in his Autobiography,[45] recently published in
this country.
CHAPTER XXIV.
SCENES AT THE PASS OF APURITO.
When we were apprised that every thing was ready at the pass, we moved
on from San Pablo with the horses, the cattle following behind by easy
marches, to allow them sufficient time to graze on the rich herbage by
the way.
On our arrival at Apurito, we found the river quite swollen with the
recent showers and already extending from bank to bank. The first
business was to select among our men and horses the strongest and most
capable of enduring the fatigue and of guiding through the boisterous
waves of the Apure the various lots into which the cattle were divided
for the purpose. Our next step was to assemble at the pass a sufficient
number of canoes with expert paddlers to act in concert with the leading
men and horses, by flanking the swimmers in the river. Two long
palisades, running parallel down to the bank of the river and narrowing
toward the water, had already been constructed; through these the
animals, in lots of two hundred at a time, were driven at full speed,
with deafening shouts and earnest goading, while two men, stripped naked
and mounted on two spirited horses without saddles, headed the movement,
plunging headlong into the river pell-mell with the cattle, which were
thus encouraged to swim across. A herd of tame animals was stationed on
the opposite shore to incorporate the swimmers as they came out of the
water. Having done this, the leaders swam back to procure another lot of
animals, a feat they performed for about twenty successive times in the
course of the day. Nevertheless, the task was not so easily accomplished
as was practised with the horses; for it often happened that the bulls
became quite refractory and pugnacious, in which case the men in the
canoes were obliged to hold them by the horns, dragging them along by
main force as they paddled on; at other times the beasts got alongside
of the leading men and horses, and then the danger to both was imminent,
the bulls attacking them in the water; thus many valuable horses were
killed by these infuriated animals, while the men had several narrow
escapes. What with savage bulls, electric eels, crocodiles and
caribes--not to mention other pernicious creatures of the waters and the
broad expanse of the river before them--the task of these bold
adventurers is truly appalling; yet they go to work and accomplish their
task with a willing heart and a perfect _nonchalance_ of every thing
around them. The same might be said also in regard to the noble steeds
which share with them the dangers of the river, acting at the same time
the part of floating bridges to the men, and as decoys to the cattle
during the passage. Their powers of endurance, in this instance, are
the more surprising, inasmuch as they are not allowed even a few
moments’ rest after they land, being kept in constant motion the whole
day.
A number of horsemen with lazos were also stationed along the shore to
secure those bulls which, eluding the vigilance of the men in the
canoes, succeeded in regaining the land; many were drowned, however, in
the attempt, and their carcasses abandoned to the turkey-buzzards, from
an inherent disgust among the people of the Llanos for the flesh of
animals which have not been killed in the usual way. On one or two
occasions, the whole troop rebelled against their drivers and succeeded
in making their escape to their pasture fields, in spite of the horsemen
on shore; others, after reaching the sloping banks across the river
below the pass, were arrested in their flight by the overhanging cliffs,
and finally hurled to a watery grave by the rapid rise of the river.
Thus the cost of these expeditions, although exceedingly interesting to
those participating in the excitement, is sometimes greater than the
profits arising therefrom, and none but Llaneros, who are accustomed to
live on beef and water, ought to indulge in this truly savage business.
Our loss in horses alone, without reckoning the expenses of the
expedition and the danger to flesh and bone, amounted on this occasion
to about thirty animals, which in round figures, setting the value of
every horse at the minimum price of one hundred dollars, would make the
sum of three thousand dollars; while the value of the cattle itself,
many of which were also lost to us, could hardly be set down at five
dollars a head at that epoch. One of the horses was so valuable, that
our Leader requested the Doctor to attend the wounded animal and
endeavor to save his life if possible. On examination, it was found that
his bowels were partly forced out through the wound; but as he would not
allow any body to touch him, it was resolved to tie his feet; then
passing a pole through the legs of the animal, he was lifted from the
ground in a reverse position, to allow the Doctor to operate more
conveniently. It was already very dark, and the group of Llaneros
lifting the patient, with others holding up lighted torches made of rags
and tallow, and the humorous Esculapius leaning over the struggling
beast, presented a scene ludicrous in the extreme. In spite of the skill
with which he performed the operation, and the humane care of the owner,
the horse expired the same night.
[Illustration]
Three whole days were spent in the laborious occupation of forcing the
cattle across the river. Nor were the nights less diligently employed at
the village in the more entertaining recreation of dancing, flirting and
gambling, according to the tastes and inclinations of our motley
assembly. It must be confessed, however, that the latter had more
incentives for the people of that pastoral region than the shepherd’s
reed and crook. Occasionally a fight would occur during these nocturnal
revelries; but this, beyond some hard words and brandishing of swords
and daggers by moonlight, which rather added to the picturesqueness of
the scene, never ended in any thing very serious.
“Caló el chapeo, requirió la espada,
Miró al soslayo, fuése y no hubo nada.”
The river was now rising so rapidly, that in order to reach our camp in
the neighborhood of the village, we were obliged to place canoes across
the main street leading to it, for fear of coming in contact with any of
the numerous tenants of that stream. About this time the fish, conscious
of the approaching inundation of the savannas, commence to ascend the
river in search of those places best suited for spawning; and so great
is the number of those that seek a nuptial rendezvous, that the noise
they make in the water can be heard at some distance from the river.
During their migration the water becomes so tainted with their flavor,
that it is unfit to drink or wash in. Desirous of obtaining some live
specimens for sketching, I procured a _tarraya_, or throw net, which I
requested one of our men to launch near the bank; he did so; but when
he tried to lift it, he found it impossible unassisted, which made us
fear that the net had got entangled among snags at the bottom of the
river. A companion was called to our assistance, and between us three,
we soon brought it up, when, to my astonishment and delight, I found the
net full of _coporos_, _palometas_; and other delicacies; the caribes,
however, soon rendered it perfectly useless, which circumstance I
considered a misfortune, as I could not keep the fish long without
spoiling. Next day I was advised by one of the villagers to place three
or four canoes, partly filled with water, across the stream; the fish,
finding their progress arrested by the obstruction, endeavored to jump
over; in doing which they fell in the canoes by hundreds. The
contrivance succeeded so well, that every morning I could depend on a
plentiful supply, both for my sketch-book and the frying-pan. My
attention was particularly attracted this time by a large fish called
the _valenton_, from its great strength which, as I was informed,
enables him to drag a canoe after him when caught with the hook and
line. A distressing occurrence took place there which nearly cost the
life of a young man while engaged in fishing for the _valenton_. The
angler and a friend were engaged in conversation, with their lines
thrown carelessly over the sides of the canoe, when the fish seized the
bait and ran off, as he is in the habit of doing. The jerk was so
violent, that the young man was unable to hold the line, and allowed it
to slip through his hands; he was not aware that at the end of the line
there was another hook, which buried itself in the thumb of his right
hand; the next moment he was violently pitched in the water and dragged
for some distance, when fortunately the line broke, and he was picked up
almost insensible by his companion. During its gambols in the river, the
_valenton_ jumps sometimes three feet clear out of the water, raising a
large volume of spray and striking the surface with its powerful tail in
its fall; so great is the splash, that the noise can be heard a great
distance off, especially in the stillness of the night, when the fish
seems to be more busily engaged in hunting.
The _payara_ also delights at this time in those jumps so much dreaded
by fishermen,[46] and even by people wearing any red garment about their
persons; for this fish, like the caribe, is said to be attracted by that
color, just as wild bulls are; so much so that it often happens that one
of them springs on people thus attired in the canoes, though it always
pays dearly for its temerity, as, in consequence of the peculiar
structure of its jaws, the fish cannot disentangle itself from the
garment, to which it remains attached until released by the hand of its
intended victim, who is very glad of the chance thus unexpectedly thrown
in his way, for the payara is a most delicious fish, often weighing
twenty and thirty pounds, and withal very beautiful. Of this savage
propensity people avail themselves to capture this fish without hook or
line, on the large rivers, such as the Apure and Orinoco, where they
seem to be most daring; a piece of red flannel, or some other strong
material, tied to the end of a long rod, being sufficient for the sport:
the tempting bait is held over the side of the canoe a few inches above
the surface of the water, and no sooner does the fish perceive the
alluring decoy, than with one spring it seizes it and remains as firmly
attached to it, as if held by an iron bolt; for in addition to its
formidable row of teeth, which are long and sharp as needles, the payara
has on the lower jaw two very much elongated fangs that penetrate the
head through corresponding passages in it which allow the points to
protrude close to the eyes of the fish, and unless it tears off the
piece, as it often does to the naked and arnatto-stained Indian while
paddling his canoe, the payara perishes by its own arms.
Among the many eventful incidents of _la Independencia_ still fresh in
the memory of our Leader, he relates an anecdote in connection with the
_Libertador_, Simon Bolívar, in which both these champions of freedom
participated while engaged on an important reconnoissance during the
rainy season. The savannas being, as usual, overflowed for the most
part, and there being no other means of transportation than the frail
canoes of the country, the two chieftains were compelled to travel in
one of these over their inundated domain, with the assistance of two
Indian paddlers. Fish were so numerous, that numbers of them, disturbed
by the strokes of the paddles against the sides of the canoe, jumped in
all directions, while not a few fell amidst the distinguished
passengers. The Libertador who, like almost all great men, had also his
weak points, possessed a very nervous temperament, especially about
little things; therefore he felt quite uneasy at the unceremonious
intrusion from the finny inhabitants of his swampy realms, whose
movements he mistook for a mischievous propensity on their part to
attack the wayfarer. On the other hand, our Leader, who was always ready
to practise a good joke, seized the opportunity to occasionally tip the
canoe so as to make it ship water, and more fish along with it.
Whereupon his companion, who was not aware of the trick practised upon
him, imagining that the fish were becoming bolder as they advanced,
exclaimed in utter despair, “D----n it! _Compañero_, let us pull back,
for even the fish are savage in this country.”
When the waters subside, thousands, nay, millions remain struggling in
the ponds and little pools, left on the savannas, where they soon perish
and rot away, tainting the air with their effluvium. Some of them, like
the _curito_, a species of Silurus, covered with transverse plates
surrounding the body, have the power of living buried in the indurated
mud, from whence they are called to life again by the returning showers.
As they form a most delicious mess, they are eagerly sought by men and
women, who resort to these places armed with wicker baskets, and collect
great numbers of the fish before they are carried away by the increasing
inundation of the savannas.
A very singular belief, shared likewise, according to Sir Emerson
Tennent, by the people of Ceylon, exists in the Apure respecting fish
falling from the clouds. Alluding to this phenomenon, that ingenious
writer observes: “Both at Galle and Colombo in the southwest monsoon,
fish are popularly believed to have fallen from the clouds during
violent showers; but those found on the occasions that give rise to this
belief, consist of smallest fry, such as could be caught up by
water-spouts and vortices analogous to them, or otherwise blown on shore
from the surf; whereas those which suddenly appear in the replenished
tanks and in the hollows which they overflow, are mature and well-grown
fish. Besides, the latter are found under the circumstances I have
described, in all parts of the interior, whilst the prodigy of a
supposed fall of fish from the sky has been noticed, I apprehend, only
in the vicinity of the sea or of some inland water.”
Although the author further explains the phenomenon on the supposition
that some fish are endowed with the power of locomotion over land, while
others in a torpid state remain buried in the mud until the return of
the rainy season; yet, I have been assured by reliable persons that live
fish have been picked up in places where no such possible contingencies
could occur; for instance, upon the roofs of houses or amidst wide
plains far from running water. Most of those thus found are small, from
three to seven inches long; but none of them capable of living more than
twenty minutes out of water; and the father of the writer once even
witnessed a fall of _bocachicos_, a fish which seldom lives over five
minutes out of its own element.
In support of these views, which were embodied in my _Wild Scenes in
South America_, I now have the pleasure of adding the testimony of no
less an authority than Gosse, who has collected a number of authentic
examples of this phenomenon in his _Romance of Natural History_.
According to his statements, fish-showers have occurred in all parts of
the world, not even excepting his own country--England,--where, early in
1859, the newspapers of South Wales recorded a shower of fish in the
Valley of Aberdare. The repeated statements attracted more notice than
usual, and the Rev. John Griffith, the vicar of the parish, communicated
the results of his inquiries to the _Evening Mail_.
“If now we look to other lands,” continues the author, “we shall find
that the descent of fishes from the atmosphere, under conditions little
understood, is a phenomenon which rests on indubitable evidence.
Humboldt has published interesting details of the ejection of fish in
large quantities from volcanoes in South America. On the night between
the 19th and 20th of June, 1698, the summit of Carguairazo, a volcano
more than 19,000 feet in height, fell in, and the surrounding country
for nearly thirty-two square miles was covered with mud and fishes. A
similar eruption of fish from the volcano of Imbabura was supposed to
have been the cause of a putrid fever which raged in the town of Ibarra
seven years before that period.”
This is accounted for on the supposition that subterraneous lakes,
communicating with surface-waters, form in cavities in the declivities,
or at the base of a volcano. In the course of time these internal
cavities are burst open by the force of the volcanic explosions, and
their contents discharged through the water.
But the most extraordinary account recorded by Gosse is that of Dr.
Buist, of Bombay, who, after enumerating the cases above cited, and
others of similar character, goes on to say:--“In 1824 fishes fell at
Meerut on the men of her Majesty’s 14th Regiment, then out at drill, and
were caught in numbers. In July, 1826, live fish were seen to fall on
the grass at Moradabad during a storm. They were the common _Cyprinus_,
so prevalent in our Indian waters. On the 19th of February, 1830, at
noon, a heavy fall of fish occurred at the Nokulhatty factory, in the
Daccah Zillah; depositions on the subject were obtained from nine
different parties. The fish were all dead; most of them were large; some
were fresh; others were rotten and mutilated. They were seen at first in
the sky, like a flock of birds, descending rapidly to the ground; there
was rain drizzling, but no storm. On the 16th and 17th of May, 1833, a
fall of fish occurred in the Zillah of Foottehpoor, about three miles
north of Jumna, after a violent storm of wind and rain. The fish were
from a pound and a half to three pounds in weight, and the same species
as those found in the tanks in the neighborhood. They were all dead and
dry. A fall of fish occurred at Allahabad during a storm in May, 1835;
they were of the chowla species, and were found dead and dry after the
storm had passed over the district. On the 20th of September, 1839,
after a smart shower of rain, a quantity of fish, about three inches in
length, and all of the same kind, fell at the Sunderbunds, about twenty
miles south of Calcutta. On this occasion it was remarked that the fish
did not fall here and there irregularly over the ground, but in a
continuous straight line, not more than a span in breadth. The vast
multitudes of fish with which the low grounds around Bombay are covered,
about a week or ten days after the first burst of the monsoon, appear to
be derived from the adjoining pools or rivulets, and not to descend from
the sky. They are not, as far as I know, found in the higher parts of
the island. I have never seen them, though I have watched carefully, in
casks collecting water from the roofs of buildings, or heard of them on
the decks or awnings of vessels in the harbor, where they must have
appeared had they descended from the sky. One of the most remarkable
phenomena of this kind occurred during a tremendous deluge of rain at
Kattywar, on the 25th of July, 1850, where the ground around Rajkote was
found literally covered with fish; some of them were found on the top of
haystacks, where probably they had been drifted by the storm. In the
course of twenty-four successive hours twenty-seven inches of rain fell;
thirty-five fell in twenty-six hours, seven inches in one hour and a
half, being the heaviest fall on record. At Poonah, on the 3d of August,
1852, after a very heavy fall of rain, multitudes of fish were caught on
the ground in the cantonments, full half a mile from the nearest stream.
If showers of fish are to be explained on the assumption that they are
carried up by squalls or violent winds from rivers or spaces of water
not far away from where they fall, it would be nothing wonderful were
they seen to descend from the air during the furious squalls which
occasionally occur in July.”
Sir E. Tennent, before cited, also witnessed in Ceylon another of those
fish-showers:--“I had an opportunity, on one occasion only, of
witnessing the phenomenon which gives rise to this popular belief. I was
driving in the cinnamon gardens near the fort of Colombo, and saw a
violent but partial shower descend at no great distance before me. On
coming to the spot, I found a multitude of small silvery fish, from one
and a half to two inches in length, leaping on the gravel of the high
road, numbers of which I collected and brought away in my palanquin. The
spot was about half a mile from the sea, and entirely unconnected with
any water-course or pool.”[47]
The same curious fact respecting the habits of certain kinds of fish in
the _Llanos_, which bury themselves in the mud at the close of the rainy
season, also appears to take place in India and Ceylon; for, according
to Gosse, “the pools, reservoirs, and tanks are well provided with fish
of various species, though the water twice every year becomes perfectly
evaporated, and the mud of the bottom is entirely converted into dust,
or takes the condition of baked clay, gaping with wide and deep clefts,
in which not the slightest sign of moisture can be detected. This is the
case with temporary hollows in the soil, which have no connection with
running streams or permanent waters, from which they might be supposed
to receive a fresh stock of fish.”
After proving conclusively that these fishes could not proceed from
either the clouds, as the generality of people believe, nor from
impregnated ova, as Mr. Farrell suggests, the author observes:--“Neither
of these hypotheses, then, will account for the fact; and we must admit
that the fishes of these regions, have the instinct to burrow down in
the solid mud of the bottom, at the approach of the dry season, and the
power of retaining life, doubtless in a torpid condition, until the
return of the periodic rains, as Theophrastus long ago observed.”
But, who ever heard of showers of toads and frogs? Yet, such is the
fact, astonished reader; and were you to visit with me some of the
lagoons and ponds of South America at night, you would not fail to
notice that the air, as well as the earth and waters, seems filled with
the piercing, deafening noise proceeding from them. “According to
travellers in tropical America, the inhabitants of Porto Bello assert
that every drop of rain is changed into a toad; the most instructed,
however, believe that the spawn of these animals is raised with the
vapor from the adjoining swamps, and, being driven in the clouds over
the city, the ova are hatched as they descend in rain. ’Tis certain that
the streets after a night of heavy rain are almost covered with the
ill-favored reptiles; and it is impossible to walk without crushing
them. But heretic philosophers point to the mature growth of the vermin,
many of them being six inches in length, and maintain that the
hypothesis just mentioned will scarcely account for the appearance of
these.”[48]
But it is not South America alone that can boast of such an
extraordinary phenomenon; for the same accomplished author records
similar showers as occurring in England and various parts of the
Continent: “In two or three of these cases, the toads were not only
observed in countless numbers on the ground during and after heavy
storms of rain, but were seen to strike upon the roofs of houses,
bounding thence into the streets; they even fell upon the hats, and, in
one instance, were actually received into the outstretched hand.”
It would seem that not even quadrupeds are exempt there, from the same
rule, for we often hear the phrase in English, “If it should rain cats
and dogs,” which I, for want of a better acquaintance with English
phraseology, am at a loss how to interpret. We all know that
stone-showers are not uncommon, especially ever since “the thunderer,”
Jupiter, _alias_ Jove, lost his power among us through the advancing
strides of civilization. Previous to this, we are told of his paying
occasional visits to his lady-loves on earth in the shape of golden
showers, which have been exchanged subsequently for a less costly
material; but showers of “cats and dogs” I do not believe ever occurred,
even to an old sinner like him.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE WONDERS OF THE RIVER.
Marvellous as the Apure river is in point of living creatures, it is
nothing in comparison with the Orinoco, into which it flows, and the
Amazon river, that connects with the Orinoco through the Casiquiare and
Rio Negro. The recent explorations of Professor Agassiz in the Amazon,
and the former researches of Wallace on the latter river, prove, I hope
conclusively, that my statements concerning the fishes of these regions
are far below the mark in point of numbers, and that there is _no end_
to the varieties. Wallace, who spent nearly four years on the Rio Negro
collecting objects of natural history for the British Museum, and whose
principal fare consisted of the fish caught by his men, tells us, “I
began now to take a great interest in the beauty and variety of the
species, and, whenever I could, I made accurate drawings and
descriptions of them. Many are of a most excellent flavor, surpassing
anything I have tasted in England, either from the fresh or the salt
waters; and many species have real fat, which renders the water they are
boiled in a rich and agreeable broth. Not a drop of this is wasted, but,
with a little pepper and _farinha_, is all consumed, with as much relish
as if it were the most delicate soup.”[49]
And Agassiz, in his interesting lectures on the same subject, says:
“Now, what are the fishes which inhabit the Amazon? for I wanted to say
all this simply as a preparation to give you some definite idea of the
various types of fish which we find in that mighty basin. Not one of
those fishes with which we are familiar in our rivers is to be found
there; not one of those which are known in the rivers of Europe is to be
found there; not one from any other fresh water basin is to be found
there. The Amazon has fishes of its own, utterly different from those of
any other basin, and these fishes are different from those in all other
fresh water rivers of Brazil, and in each part of the Amazon there are
fish of a peculiar character, so that those which inhabit the lower
course of the Amazon differ from those found in the upper. So great is
the variety, that in small lakes of water, at parts of the Amazon, we
find an endless variety. I examined a little lake, just at the junction
of the Rio Negro with the Amazon. The lake was only a few hundred yards
in extent, and in that pool, for it was hardly anything more, I found in
the course of two months over two hundred different kinds of fish, and
three times larger than can be found in the Mississippi or in the
Senegal or Ganges or Nile. The number of fish found in the whole basin
of the Amazon is not less than two thousand different kinds, that is,
ten times as many as were known about a century ago to exist in the
whole world. And strange to say, it would seem that, in proportion as we
become acquainted with a larger number of these animals they should be
found to resemble one another more and more. On the contrary, however,
such are the peculiarities of their features, such is the infinite
number of circumstances which brings about differences among them, that
in proportion as I find a larger and larger number, I find the
difference between them seems to grow, and though it appears
paradoxical, it is strictly true.”
And returning now to the Orinoco, the good missionary and
historiographer of that noble river, Father Gumilla, tells us that “So
great is the multitude of fishes and turtles, that the slime, excrements
and continual blood shed by those which devour or wound each other, is
the principal cause of the heaviness and bad taste of the water of the
Orinoco, which is also the case in some of the rivers of Hungary, and
can be more readily perceived in basins or reservoirs devoted to the
preservation of live fish, where the water soon becomes tainted and
unpalatable, although it may go in and out freely.
“What astonishes still more is the novelty of the species and curious
shapes of these fishes, so different from those of our Europe, for not
even the sardinas have the flavor nor the shape of these. All that we
can say, after a careful examination of these fishes, is, this one
resembles somewhat the trout, that one the sole, etc.; but no one can
say with certainty this is like any in Europe. But what of it, when it
is a fact that the fish found in the waters of the _tierra caliente_ are
totally different from those of the _tierra fria_?”
Of the modes of fishing practised by the Indians of his Mission, he also
tells us many curious devices. “Observe,” he says, “those four canoes,
manned by the boys of the Doctrina, and darting side by side along the
river; well, this is the most novel and the most curious mode of fishing
ever devised, as the fishes here called Bocachicos, Palometas, Lizas,
Sardinas, and many other kinds of smaller fry, jump of their own accord
into the canoes in such quantities that, were not the paddlers expert
enough and their craft propelled with such rapidity, these would soon
fill up and sink with the weight of the fish that fall in them; for each
kind has its proper season for spawning, and with the object of saving
some of their ova to multiply their species, they have been taught by
the Supreme Author of Nature to quit their haunts and seek some
convenient eddy, where, placing their tails against the current, they
receive in their gills the little eggs which may chance to fall in them;
and these are the only ones saved, the rest being devoured by other
fishes, whose numbers at and near these currents is immense, one shoal
crowding on the top of another.”
In the rivers and streams of minor importance, where fish are not so
abundant, the natives, by way of pastime, and also to vary their fare,
avail themselves of the roots of two plants--the _cuna_ and the
_barbasco_,[50] both of which possess the singular peculiarity of
intoxicating fish, even when the smallest quantity of the juice of the
roots is thrown in the stream, producing such commotion among the finny
inhabitants, that they fall an easy prey to the Indians, who take a
special delight in this wholesale slaughter. The _cuna_ is a small
plant, somewhat like clover, producing a bulbous root like a small
turnip, but with very different smell and taste, and the _barbasco_, a
vine, very common in all parts of the country, and although both are
exceedingly deleterious to fish, they are not so to other creatures. The
process is very simple: A quantity of the roots or vines is slightly
pounded with a wooden mallet and thrown in the water, and no sooner do
the fish perceive the smell of it, than they rush frantically up and
down the stream to avoid its contact; those which take the former course
find their progress arrested by a file of Indians, who, armed with
poles, beat about the water to turn them back, which they quickly do,
but only to find their retreat cut off in that direction too, for their
cunning assailants have already taken the precaution to bar the stream
with a double row of stakes, the lower one higher than the upper. Not
discouraged in the least, the larger and stronger fish make another rush
up the stream; but no sooner do they come in contact with the noxious
herb than they retreat again towards the barricade, and here,
redoubling their energies, leap over the first row of stakes, and thus
find themselves entrapped within the narrow limits of the stockade. In
the meantime the smaller fish, having neither the strength nor the
courage to save themselves, become thoroughly intoxicated with the
juices already disseminated in the water, and fall an easy prey to the
joyous urchins, who pounce upon them, and transfer them to the baskets
they carry for the purpose. This is a very amusing mode of fishing, and
during the excitement produces much merriment among the Indians; now a
fish slaps a redskin on the face with its tail; another one strikes
against the bare ribs of some one else, which never fails to draw peals
of laughter from their companions, who, in turn, become themselves the
laughing-stock of the others from similar mishaps.
But the most amusing contrivance practised by these people with the
_cuna_ is the following: An Indian takes a quantity of boiled maize and
grinds it to paste; one half of it is thoroughly incorporated with the
_cuna_, while the other half he reserves as a decoy to attract the fish
to a particular spot: he then calls his children, who, armed with
baskets, follow their father to the stream; here the fisherman commences
to throw small pellets of the unprepared paste in the water, which never
fails to attract great numbers of sardines, palometas, and other
delicacies, and changing suddenly his tactics, he exchanges the harmless
bait for the other, which no sooner is swallowed by the fish, than they
commence to turn somersaults in the air, with other antics no less
amusing to the boys, who as quickly transfer them to their baskets. It
is almost incredible the amount of fish that is thus procured in a short
time, enabling a poor Indian not only to supply the wants of his family,
but to afford his children a lively recreation.
Still another mode of fishing, equally ingenious, is practised by the
Indians when the waters commence to ebb towards the Orinoco at the end
of the great floods, by means of strong stockades thrown across the
outlet of the great lagunas, which are the receptacle of immense
quantity of larger game, such as turtles and vagres (species of catfish)
weighing from fifty to seventy-five pounds; laulaus or valentones, from
two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds; and above all,
innumerable manatís, from five hundred to one thousand pounds. European
Spaniards call this animal _Vaca Marina_, or sea cow, and the Brazilians
_Peixe Boi_, ox-fish, from its feeding on grass, and other peculiarities
which assimilate it to the bovine species. The manatí abounds in the
Apure, the Meta, and most of the large tributaries of the Orinoco below
the cataracts, and more especially in the lagoons formed by these rivers
during the season of great floods, which he prefers on account of the
abundant and tender food they offer them. Of this the astute Indians
avail themselves to entrap them, as no sooner do the waters commence to
fall than they watch attentively the channel through which the lake they
have chosen as a fish-magazine--for no better name can be applied, from
the finny multitude they secure there for months--is likely to drain
off. To this spot resort the entire population of the village or tribe,
who immediately commence to cut stakes of the requisite length and of
great thickness, to resist the onset of the formidable phalanxes of
monster fishes seeking a passage to the river. The stakes are then
driven in the bed of the channel close enough to permit only the exit of
the water and of the smaller fish, excluding the turtles and the fish of
greater magnitude. The stockade is further reinforced by cross-beams of
great strength thrown across the channel, firmly secured at both ends,
and resting against the stakes; and for greater security they further
strengthen them by an outer row of trunks of trees driven in the ground
close to the stockade. It may appear superfluous to take such
precautions against the apparently defenceless hosts imprisoned within
the boundaries of the lagoon; but so great and powerful are in fact the
avalanches of manatís struggling against this formidable barrier, that
it is often found necessary to reinforce it twice, and even three times
in the course of the season.
Indeed it is scarcely credible, the number and size of the creatures
secured in this manner, whole tribes of Indians subsisting for months
together on the supply afforded by one of these reservoirs; but as these
lagoons eventually drain off towards the close of the rainy season, and
the Indians cannot exhaust them in spite of their insatiate voracity,
they are compelled at last, though reluctantly, to remove the
obstruction in time to allow the fish to return to the bed of the
stream before they are cut off from it; and it is asserted that on one
occasion, having neglected this precaution in time, more than three
thousand manatís, and a still greater number of large fish, perished in
the shallow water of one of these lagoons, with the exception only of
the turtles, who were, of course, in their element.
The manatí is a _herbivorous_ animal of the cetaceous family, of which
the whale is the type, and attains here from twelve to fifteen feet in
length. Some are caught that weigh over a thousand pounds. In shape it
resembles a seal somewhat, though its eyes and auricular organs are
extremely small, but very acute, so much so that great care is required
on the part of the fisherman who goes in pursuit of it, not to strike
the sides of his canoe with the paddle and frighten the game off. Its
principal means of propulsion exist in its tail, which is flat and
round, from three to four feet broad, and very powerful; but it
possesses in addition two pectoral fins, or armlets, situated at a
proportionate distance from the head, and these enable the animal to
come out of the water to browse on the rich herbage by the banks of
rivers and lagoons: these armlets serve the female, in addition, to hold
its young--always two in number, male and female--close to its breasts,
until they are old enough to follow the mother and eat grass, their only
food; and it is a curious fact, that although the mother often
delights--as is the habit of these cetacea--in gambols in the water,
when they sometimes jump several feet out of their element, they never
lose hold of their twins.
The anatomy of this fresh-water whale is very curious, according to
Humboldt, who dissected one while on his way to the Orinoco. “The upper
lip was four inches longer than the lower one. It was covered with a
very fine skin, and served as a proboscis. The inside of the mouth,
which has a _sensible_ warmth in the animal newly killed, presented a
very singular conformation. The tongue was almost motionless; but in
front of the tongue there was a fleshy excrescence in each jaw, and a
cavity lined with a very hard skin, into which the excrescence fitted.
The manatí eats such quantities of grass that we have found its stomach,
which is divided into several cavities, and its intestines (one hundred
and eight feet long) filled with it. Opening the animal at the back, we
were struck with the magnitude, form, and situation of its lungs. They
have very large cells, and resemble immense swimming-bladders. They are
three feet long; filled with air, they have a bulk of more than a
thousand cubic inches. I was surprised to see that, possessing such
receptacles of air, the manatí comes so often to the surface of the
water to breathe. Its flesh is very savory, though, from what prejudice
I know not, it is considered unhealthy and apt to produce fever. It
appeared to me to resemble pork rather than beef. It is most esteemed by
the Guamos and Ottomacs; and these two nations are particularly expert
in catching the manatí. The fat of the animal, known by the name of
manatí-butter (_manteca de manatí_) is used for lamps in the churches,
and is also employed in preparing food. It has not the fetid smell of
whale oil, or that of the other cetaceous animals which spout water.
The hide of the manatí, which is more than an inch and a half in
thickness, is cut into slips, and serves, like thongs of ox-leather, to
supply the place of cordage in the Llanos. When immersed in water, it
has the defect of undergoing a slight degree of putrefaction. Whips are
made from it in the Spanish colonies. Hence the words _latigo_ and
_manatí_ are synonymous. These whips of manatí leather are a cruel
instrument of punishment for the unhappy slaves, and even for the
Indians of the Missions, though, according to the laws, the latter ought
to be treated like freemen.”
The address displayed by an Indian of the Orinoco in capturing with the
harpoon one of these monsters and bringing it into port, with only the
assistance of his wife to paddle and steer the frail canoe, is most
wonderful. While the woman propels the canoe, the man stands erect at
the bow, watching intently the moment when the manatí comes up to the
surface to breathe, which it does every few minutes. Off flies the
double-barbed harpoon from the hands of the fisherman, and implants
itself in the thick hide of the doomed monster, which no sooner feels
the piercing blow, than away it darts at a fearful rapidity, dragging
along after it the frail canoe, to the bow of which is attached one end
of the thong made from the tough hide of the manatí, while to the other
end is firmly secured the iron head of the harpoon itself. After vain
endeavors to avoid the danger that threatens it, now dashing rapidly
against the stream for an hour or so, now seeking the calm surface of a
neighboring lagoon, during which time the sporting couple manage with
difficulty to keep their seats at the bottom of the canoe, holding fast
to the sides of it with both hands, the monster, bleeding and exhausted
after its precipitate flight, begins at last to slacken its pace, and
finally stops altogether. Now the hunter commences to pull it towards
him with much caution; but no sooner does the animal perceive the
dreaded canoe with its savage occupants, than off it sets anew at the
same lightning speed, though this time of less duration; again the
hunter pulls the game towards him, and again it endeavors to fly from
him; but having lost nearly all its strength, and probably convinced of
the uselessness of further efforts to escape, it now stops, rolls on its
back, and calmly awaits its fate on the surface of the water. By this
time the canoe is alongside of the captive, and, without further
concern, the Indian cuts it open with his knife, and as soon as the
water penetrates to its entrails, the great monster dies without a
struggle. And now, “what shall we do with it,” in the midst of a river
or lagoon four or five miles in width? How is this creature--weighing
perhaps a thousand pounds, and nearly as long as the canoe--to be landed
safely on the shore? How can a single man, assisted only by a frail
woman, without firm ground to set their feet upon, manage to stow away
the cumbrous load? Nothing easier, incredulous reader; “first catch the
hare and then make the soup,” and this the Indian hunter daily practises
in his native wilds, without much culinary advice from Mrs. Glass.
Having secured their game, the hunters, or fishers, plunge in the water,
swimming all the while with their feet and one hand, while with the
other they tip over the canoe until it partly fills with water, which
brings it on a level with the carcass of the manatí; this accomplished,
the rest of the operation is easily done by sliding the canoe under the
carcass, and then baling out the water by means of calabash cups, which
cover their heads in lieu of hats. In proportion as they bale out the
water, the canoe rises above the surface, and when sufficiently high to
permit its being safely navigated through the boisterous waves of the
Orinoco, the husband leaps on the head of the animal and calmly takes
his seat, while the wife does the same on the broad tail of the monster
fish, and directing the bow of the canoe towards the shore, they paddle
themselves along with their cumbrous freight, which is soon disposed of
among the numerous relations and friends, who anxiously await their
arrival on the beach.
[Illustration: SCENES AT EL DORADO--(From a photograph.)]
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE LAND OF EL DORADO.
“And yet unspoiled
Guiana, whose great city Geryon’s sons[51]
Call El Dorado.”--_Paradise Lost_, Book xi.
Before we quit the shores of the Apure, I will invite the reader to
follow me in imagination, or, better still, in one of the many _bongos_
trading between this and the Orinoco river, on to the adjoining province
of Guayana, or _Guiana_, as it is more commonly known among English
writers and explorers. This will give us an opportunity of gliding over
one of the greatest rivers in the world, which nearly encircles a vast
territory hardly known to civilized man, that is just now attracting a
great deal of notice on account of the recent gold discoveries made
there; a country unsurpassed in natural treasures and resources; a sort
of hidden paradise which greedy gold-hunters of former times sought in
vain under the gilded name of EL DORADO, and which, strange to say, has
remained, like the wealth of California, undiscovered until recently.
What a train of awful recollections this once magic name of EL DORADO
brings to mind! What tales of woe, of daring adventure and blasted hopes
it has left behind for the entertainment and raillery of subsequent
generations! And yet, the gallant Raleigh--Sir Walter--like Galileo
before the tribunal of the Inquisition, was right in his belief that
there was gold enough in Guayana to load the entire fleet of Great
Britain in his time.
But let us not anticipate the narrative of events, which will come, each
one in its turn. Availing ourselves, therefore, of the gentle current of
the Apure, we will proceed on our journey, stopping here and there to
get a shot at the enormous crocodiles--larger than any we have yet
seen--which infest its waters near its confluence with the Orinoco; and
perhaps also at some thirsty jaguar taking its young to drink. Humboldt
has described these scenes so vividly, that I must refer the reader to
the third volume of his “Travels,” Bohn’s edition, for further
information on the subject.
Proceeding down the river, which here presents the singularity of
becoming narrower, on account of infiltrations through a spongy and
sandy soil, as well as other causes, we come suddenly upon a vast
expanse of waters, presenting all the appearance of an agitated sea,
from the conflict between breeze and current. This is the grand old
river we are in quest of, the Orinoco. “The air resounded no longer
with the piercing cries of herons, flamingos, and spoonbills, crossing
in long files from one shore to the other. Our eyes sought in vain those
water-fowls, the habits of which vary in each climate. Scarcely could we
discover in the hollows of the waves a few large crocodiles, cutting
obliquely, by the help of their long tails, the surface of the agitated
waters. The horizon was bounded by a zone of forests, which nowhere
reached so far as the bed of the river. A vast beach, constantly parched
by the heat of the sun, desert and bare as the shores of the sea,
resembles at a distance, from the effects of the mirage, pools of
stagnant water. In these scattered features, we recognize the course of
the Orinoco, one of the most majestic rivers of the New World.”[52]
At this point the Orinoco, already enriched with the tribute of the
Guaviare, the Inirida, the Meta, and the Arauca, which, like the Apure,
have their sources amidst the snowy mountains of New Granada, suddenly
changes its course, and, in conjunction with the latter, flows nearly in
a straight line towards the Atlantic, after describing an arc of a
circle around the western portion of Guayana. The vast territory thus
encompassed within its mighty embrace gives rise also to numerous other
rivers hardly inferior in magnitude to the above-named, such as the
Ventuari, the Cuchivero, the Paragua, the Caura, the Caroni, etc., all
of which flow into the Orinoco from the south, thus contributing to
swell the volume of its waters to the extent that it presents by the
time it reaches the ocean on the fifteenth meridian of longitude east of
Washington. Our route being in this direction also, we will not follow
the illustrious traveller in his laborious exploration of the Upper
Orinoco, the Casiquiare and the Rio Negro. I would, however, advise
those who are not conversant with his works to read his description of
the _Raudales_, or Great Rapids of Atures and Maipures, which he has
sketched with a masterly hand in his _Tableaux de la Nature_. The
following passage, quoted from said work, will convey to the reader some
idea of the magnificence of the river at that point:--
“A foaming surface of four miles in length presents itself at once
to the eye: iron black masses of rock, resembling ruins and
battlemented towers, rise frowning from the waters. Rocks and
islands are adorned with the luxuriant vegetation of the tropical
forest; a perpetual mist hovers over the waters, and the summits of
the lofty palms pierce through the clouds of spray and vapor. When
the rays of the glowing evening sun are refracted in their humid
exhalations, a magic optical effect begins. Colored bows shine,
vanish, and reappear; and the ethereal image is swayed to and fro
by the breath of the sportive breeze. During the long rainy season,
the streaming waters bring down islands of vegetable mould, and
thus the naked rocks are studded with bright flower-beds adorned
with melastomas and droseras, and with silver-leaved mimosas and
ferns. These spots recall to the recollection of the European those
blocks of granite decked with flowers which rise solitary amidst
the glaciers of Savoy, and are called by the dwellers in the Alps
‘Jardins,’ or ‘Courtils.’”
This is the country of the India-rubber and the Brazil-nut trees, two of
the most stupendous denizens of the tropical forest; of the wild cacao,
the fragrant sarapia, or tonka-bean, the sassafras-laurel, the ananas or
wild pine-apple, and of numberless other useful products, as well as
baneful drugs; for here is gathered the mavacure-vine, from the juice of
which the Indians of this region compound the most virulent poison known
in nature, the _curare_, which the natives employ most effectively in
procuring game by the aid of their blow-pipes. So quick and certain are
its effects, that an animal wounded by one of the small arrows used for
the purpose drops dead before the creature is hardly conscious of its
danger; and singular enough, no evil effects whatever arise from
partaking of the game thus killed; for the _curare_ is perfectly
harmless when taken internally.
The Raudales are at present a serious impediment to the free navigation
of the river up to the frontiers of Brazil; although, as Humboldt justly
remarks, this obstruction could be avoided by cutting a canal around
them, the nature of the ground offering ample facilities for this
purpose; but this cannot be done advantageously until the country shall
be better stocked with population than at present.
Proceeding down the stream, the only town of any importance we encounter
on the route is Ciudad Bolívar, formerly Angostura, which is the capital
of the State of Guayana and a mart of considerable trade with the llanos
of Apure, Calabozo, and Barinas. The old name of the city was changed in
honor of the Liberator, Simon Bolívar, who, after expelling the
Spaniards from New Granada, assembled here the first Congress which
proclaimed the union of the republic of Colombia in 1819. Pleasantly
situated on a bluff several feet above the high-water level of the
river, about three hundred miles from the sea, and connected by its
numerous tributaries with a country nearly as large as continental
Europe, Ciudad Bolívar is destined to become the seat of a vast
commerce, when the now almost desert region of Guayana shall have opened
its golden treasures to an enterprising generation. At present it
contains about ten thousand inhabitants; has a fine cathedral,
government house, and very handsome private residences and warehouses.
The business, according to all accounts, has fallen off greatly since
the war of seven years which, under the alleged name of _Federacion_,
devastated the rest of the republic. Happily for the State of Guayana,
it has always been kept free from these periodical turmoils by the
efforts of some truly patriotic men--among others, John B. Dalla-Costa,
Jr., the present President of the State, under whose enlightened
administration public improvements, roads, hospitals, schools, etc., are
being established, and the nucleus of a foreign immigration started on
the way to the gold fields. The commercial houses are principally
German, French, and Italian; but of late many Southern refugees from the
United States have been induced to try their fortunes on the banks of
the Orinoco; and, judging from past experience in the rapid development
of California and Australia, through the energies of the Anglo-Saxon
race, the _placers_ of that golden paradise bid fair to become another
centre of commercial intercourse with foreign nations.
It was from this place that the first expedition in search of El Dorado,
on this side of the continent, set out in 1595. None of those composing
it ever came back, however, to tell the sad tale of their discomfiture
by the fierce tribes of Indians which dwelt on the fine savannas lying
between the Caroni and Paragua rivers, beyond which popular belief,
assisted by the traditions of the aborigines themselves, had settled
definitely the existence of a region abounding in gold. Previous to
this, however, the fame of El Dorado had spread over the western part of
South America, and several expeditions had been fitted out in Venezuela,
New Granada, Quito, and Peru, with the avowed object of conquering the
wealthy empire of the Omeguas, whose sovereign, El Dorado, or the
“gilded king,” was represented as dwelling in palaces with columns of
massive gold. The climate of that region being warm throughout the year,
and the morals of the inhabitants not yet perverted by contact with
their would-be civilizers, his majesty’s attire, it was asserted, was in
keeping with the glitter of his dominions; a simple coating of
balsamiferous resins, in which the country abounds, followed by a
sprinkling of gold-dust through the hollow tube of a bamboo, twice a
day, being sufficient to distinguish him from the rest of his naked
subjects: hence the name. But this sort of drapery being rather
uncomfortable at bed-time, it was removed every night by simply washing
with water--a most delightful luxury in warm countries--and as easily
replaced on the following day. Where such _embarras de richesse_ could
be indulged in by a demi-savage monarch, gold mines must exist in
abundance; the sands of the rivers and lakes must consist of fine gold,
and the pebbles and rocks of the same precious metal. People were not,
however, in perfect accord respecting the precise locality of said
auriferous kingdom; some placing it on the eastern side of Guayana, as
already stated, under the name of _El Dorado de la Parime_; others, two
hundred and fifty leagues to the westward of this, near the eastern
slope of the Andes of New Granada; while not a few contended that it was
situated in the country of the Omeguas, somewhere near the waters of the
Upper Amazon.
Such were the vague notions concerning the country of El Dorado, which
the people of former times sought in vain at the cost of many lives and
vast amounts of treasure. Strange blindness! when they had it right
before their eyes! for, as the noble missionary writer often quoted,
Father Gumilla, tells us respecting the wealth of South America: “Let us
ask the Englishman, Keymisco,[53] and other captains, countrymen of
his: Friends, what journeys are these? for what purpose so many
dangerous voyages, so many losses of treasure, ships, and sailors?[54]
Let us ask both Pizarros in Peru and Quito; both Quesadas in Santa Fé de
Bogotá; Orellana, on the Marañon, and Berrio on the Meta, as well as
many other famous chieftains: Gentlemen, what’s your hurry? what the
object of so many armaments, marches, and arduous explorations,
dangerous and painful?--‘We seek,’ they answer ‘the famous and opulent
El Dorado: let no one, therefore, be astonished at our determination and
earnest purpose; for what is worth much, must entail great sacrifices.’”
“The Athenians burst into laughter when they met and heard Diogenes
seeking for a man; but they laughed most foolishly, inasmuch as the
philosopher sought a man of truth only! one who should profess it
in earnest; and it should have been a matter of shame, rather than
raillery, with the men of Athens, to learn that so great a
philosopher could not find one among them. But we shall not err if
we laugh at the simplicity of those noble conquerors. Most singular
spectacle! To see so many Spanish chieftains stumbling at each step
over an El Dorado of inexhaustible richness, as is in reality the
entire new kingdom of Granada, and Tierra Firme, so abundant in
gold, silver, and emerald mines, such as those already found within
the jurisdictions of Pamplona, Mariquita, Muso, Neiva, Los
Remedios, Antioquia, Anserma, Choco, Barvacoas, and a great many
more which are waiting to be brought to light, as is indicated by
the golden sands carried down by rivers and torrents from the
mountains; thus showing their willingness to be disentombed.
Therefore, if there are so many scores of Dorados, immensely rich
and superabundant, only waiting to be worked; why so much
restlessness, so much expenditure and wandering after a Dorado?
What need had Peru to risk her militia in unknown regions to suffer
and perish in pursuit of a Dorado, while she possesses the
unrivalled golden fields of Caravalla, with many others? And the
inexhaustible silver mountain of Potosi, to say nothing of other
veins of the same metal, almost innumerable, though less prolific?
It was indeed a singular idea to seek abroad, at great cost of life
and treasure, the very thing they possessed at home.”[55]
Nothing in the history of modern adventure can compare in hardihood,
determination, and reckless disregard of life, with those haphazard
undertakings in the heart of South America which, although proving
invariably most disastrous to their promoters, resulted ultimately in a
real benefit to the colonial possessions of Spain in the New World, by
extending the geographical knowledge of those regions. To fully
comprehend the nature of the task which these adventurers imposed upon
themselves, it will suffice to say, with regard to Venezuela, that few
spots only, and these far apart, were then occupied by Europeans along
its extensive sea-coast. The thirst for gold, which characterized the
spirit of the time, and the reputation the country enjoyed for the
precious metal, as well as for the fine pearls obtained at Margarita and
other places, had attracted thither a crowd of lawless adventurers from
all parts of Europe, but more especially from Germany--the Emperor
Charles the Fifth having, in an evil hour, granted to a company of
Teutonic speculators all the territory comprised between Cabo de la Vela
and Maracapana, with privilege to capture and use as slaves all those of
the native inhabitants who should resist their exactions. The power thus
conferred on those merciless adventurers was freely used by them to
enslave the doomed lords of the land, who were hunted like wild beasts
in all directions, and quickly transported to the mines of Hispaniola,
or Saint Domingo, where they perished by thousands, the native
population of that island having already been exterminated in this
manner. To accomplish their work more effectually, expeditions were
organized and despatched to all parts of the country, some of which
penetrated beyond the llanos of Apure, Casanare, and Meta, as far as
the Caqueta and Putumayo, tributary rivers of the Upper Amazon. Others,
still more bold, disregarding the frigid blasts of the Sierra Nevada,
with its dizzy precipices and yawning chasms, sought the “Land of gold”
in a westerly direction, fighting their way not only against a frowning
nature, but also against the hardy mountain tribes, who disputed every
inch of ground to the bearded invaders. It was in this manner that the
rich domain of Cundinamarca, in New Granada, was made known to the
colonists of Venezuela, by Nicholas Federmann, in 1539, although Jimenez
de Quesada had preceded him, and Sebastian de Benalcazar, by the way of
the river Magdalena from the coast of Cartagena.
“The junction of three bodies of troops on the table-land of New
Granada,” says Humboldt, “spread through all that part of America
occupied by the Spaniards the news of an immensely rich and populous
country, which remained to be conquered. Sebastian de Benalcazar marched
from Quito by way of Popayan (1536) to Bogotá; Nicolas Federmann, coming
from Venezuela, arrived from the east by the plains of Casanare and
Meta. These two captains found, already settled on the table-land of
Cundinamarca, the famous Adelantado Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada, one of
whose descendants I saw near Zipaquirá, with bare feet, attending
cattle. The fortuitous meeting of the three conquistadores, one of the
most extraordinary and dramatic events of the history of the conquest,
took place in 1536.”
No better avenger of the wrongs perpetrated on the unfortunate
aborigines could have been provided against their merciless persecutors,
than this phantom of untold wealth, which, like the fugitive fountain
before Tantalus, haunted them day and night, in the camp of the wearied
soldier, in the alcove of the proud Hidalgo, and even in the quiet
seclusion of the cloister. And yet one cannot but admire the pluck of
those hardy cavaliers of old who, regardless of the almost insuperable
difficulties presented by an unknown and savage country, went boldly in
search of this new Ophir over lofty mountain ranges and desert plains,
which, even at this day, are the terror of the wayfarer. Three centuries
later, when Bolívar, with a well-appointed army and better roads than
Federmann met in his famous expedition, crossed the Cordilleras from the
plains of Venezuela, and undertook the recovery of New Granada from the
Spaniards in 1819, he lost nearly all his baggage-mules, and many
valuable lives besides, amidst the wintry _páramos_ of that tempestuous
ridge.
Of the earliest expeditions in search of El Dorado, those undertaken by
Jorge de Spira in 1534, and by Felipe de Urre or Utre,[56] in 1541, from
the coast of Coro, Venezuela, rank among the most extraordinary on
record. The former of these worthies had received the title of
_adelantado_, or governor, to the German colony in Tierra Firme, a
dignity which was associated in those days with the more vainglorious
aspirations of the conqueror, or _conquistador_, and to this end were
directed, more or less, all the efforts of the men appointed to places
of distinction in the New World, without neglecting to provide
themselves with the more substantial perquisites of the fraternity in
the shape of Indian captives, pearls, and gold. Accordingly, the
Adelantado took especial care to bring with him from Spain a force of
about four hundred men, many of whom were persons of distinction, and
landed in Coro in the early part of February of that year.
Without troubling himself much about the affairs of the colony, the new
Adelantado proceeded immediately to scour the country in search of gold;
but finding none amongst the savage tribes he encountered beyond the
mountains of the coast, boldly plunged into the _mare magnum_ of the
llanos, in spite of the opposition of the natives and the asperity of
the route. The vernal deluge of the low lands, however, put a stop in
due time to further progress, compelling him to seek the protection of
the hilly country to the westward, where years after was founded the
city of Barinas. Here he spent several months waiting for the return of
the dry season, and in vain endeavors to obtain provisions in a country
solely inhabited by savage tribes, that did not disdain to confront the
superior mettle of his men whenever they had a chance. Reduced at last
to the greatest extremity by famine and sickness, the Governor
despatched a portion of his force under one of his most tried captains,
with orders to penetrate into the valleys formed by the lofty range of
mountains further west.
Goaded by hunger, and with the hope of finding more promising realms
than those they had encountered on the route from Coro, the soldiers of
Spira did not stop until they discovered on a high mountain what seemed
to be the granary of the tribes appertaining to that district, which
they were not slow in transporting to headquarters. Somewhat restored
with this opportune supply of food, and not in the least daunted by the
dangers that threatened him, Spira resolved to proceed on his forlorn
journey, sending back to Coro the sick and wounded under a competent
escort, which was to rejoin him in his camp. This accomplished, the
Adelantado resumed his march across the plains in a southward direction.
Keeping in sight of the western cordillera, and guided by the celestial
constellations at night, Spira and his brave companions presented the
spectacle so well described by Goldsmith in the following lines:--
“To distant climes, a dreary scene,
Where half the convex world intrudes between,
Through torrid tracks with fainting step they go.”
_The Deserted Village._
After several months of arduous vicissitudes, when they nearly all
perished for want of provisions, subsisting in the mean time on the
tender shoots of heliconias and the most loathsome reptiles, they
stopped at last on the banks of the river Upia, having crossed many
others of no less consequence, such as the Apure, the Sarare, and the
Casanare, by what means the chronicles of the time do not tell us.
Completely exhausted now, and again threatened by the approaching rainy
season, the weary caravan prepared to winter there, selecting for the
purpose some high ground near a forest, upon which they built huts and
considered themselves secure against the vernal flood. Vain precautions!
The thundering voice of the tropical tempest made itself heard at
length, and neither human ingenuity, nor high bank, nor tangled forest,
could turn aside the mighty swell which, like a partial deluge, sweeps
over the boundless plain at the vernal equinox. Thus the bold
Castilians, after courageously braving the terrors of a savage country
for nearly two years, found themselves reduced to a small space of dry
land, and in danger of being washed away at any moment. Ignorant of the
ways, and badly provided with the necessary appliances for procuring
game in a country so profusely endowed with this commodity, they were
still compelled to subsist on wild fruits and roots; even these could
not be procured but at the peril of ravenous jaguars, which, like
themselves, had been driven thither by the engulfing inundation. More
skilled in the art of swimming and navigating those waters, the vengeful
Indians watched stealthily every opportunity to pick off stragglers from
the camp; and thus many of those poor wretches were spared the horrors
of a lingering death by starvation, sickness, and despair. Yet, the
unconquerable spirit of their leader, far from yielding to the force of
circumstances, and wholly impressed with visions of a golden paradise,
only seemed to urge him on still farther in the unknown interior; for no
sooner was he released from his long confinement by the subsidence of
the waters, than Spira crossed over to the south side of the river, and
proceeded on his journey, through innumerable hostile tribes of Indians,
who annoyed him considerably on his march. During his wanderings over
those immeasurable wilds, Spira obtained from an Indian captive some
information respecting more prosperous and populated lands to the
westward, the inhabitants of which were clad in fine cotton fabrics, and
wore ornaments of gold, showing a higher grade of civilization than that
of the savages he had encountered. Although at first he lent a willing
ear to the story, and even sent a strong body of men to reconnoitre the
lofty mountain range beyond, the Adelantado desisted from his projected
conquest in that direction, owing to the rugged nature of the route, as
reported by his men, and the little faith he placed on such statements
from Indian informers. The fact is, the Spaniards had proved such
troublesome guests, that the aborigines, to get rid of them, and
perceiving their eagerness for gold, constantly allured them towards the
wealth of other countries, situated farther off. Had Spira, on this
occasion, followed the advice of his informant, instead of persisting,
as he did, in his southern exploration, he would, in a short time, have
found the promised land of his expectations--the rich and fertile
country of the Muiscas, in one word, for he was then only a few days’
march from their own capital on the high table-land of Bogotá. His bad
luck led him instead to a region so exactly the reverse of this, that
his companions gave it the name of _Mal Pais_ (bad country), not only
on account of the roughness of the land, but also of its inhabitants,
with whom they had several desperate engagements, before they were
enabled to proceed.
Without losing sight of the friendly cordillera which had guided their
steps thus far, the Spaniards arrived at the village of a less
pugnacious tribe of Indians, which they christened with the name of
_Nuestra Señora_, or Our Lady, in commemoration of the Feast of the
Assumption, which they, in spite of their wretched condition, celebrated
with great pomp and rejoicings, in 1537. It is the same where they
afterwards founded the city of San Juan de los Llanos.[57] Here the
Spaniards heard again of regions abounding in gold and silver, situated
farther on; and although they had become rather incredulous respecting
such reports, they believed, on this occasion, what the Indians told
them, in consequence of finding there some signs of a more advanced
state of civilization, such as a temple, consecrated to the sun, and a
convent of virgins similar to those which were afterwards found among
the Muiscas and Peruvians. Without stopping even to rest his troop,
Spira crossed the Ariari, perhaps higher up than Macatoa, and before its
junction with the Guaviare. He then penetrated, by force of arms, into
the country of the Guayupes and Canicamares, two powerful tribes, and
shortly afterwards he discovered the head waters of the Papamene, where
he stopped some days to rest his men, and to obtain guides among the
Indians to conduct him to the country of riches. The dwellers of
Papamene received Spira in a friendly manner, and established with his
soldiers a system of exchanges and communication most acceptable on both
sides; the strangers obtaining by these means the provisions they were
in need of, and the Indians those trinkets of foreign manufacture so
highly prized by them. But, tired at last of their troublesome guests,
the aborigines persuaded them that a little further on they would find
the country they were in quest of. To encourage them still more, five of
the natives volunteered to act as guides, pledging themselves to lead
them shortly to the heart of that happy country, from whence they would
return loaded with riches. Instead of this, the wily Indians conducted
them to a dismal labyrinth of swamps and quicksands, the abode of a
ferocious and warlike nation, dexterous in battle and in the management
of formidable lances of palm-wood, tipped with blades of human bone,
very sharp and pointed. When once in the heart of this horrid
wilderness, the guides disappeared one night, and left their friends to
shift for themselves.
Not in the least disconcerted by the untoward contretemps, the stubborn
leader of the band, instead of retracing his steps, prepared at once to
make a thorough exploration of that region. To this end he detailed his
lieutenant, Esteban Martin--a well tried and competent individual--with
fifty infantry and twenty horsemen, to reconnoitre the position. Martin
soon discovered the difficulties of the undertaking, and the dangers to
which they all would be exposed if the Governor persisted in his
project. After an ineffectual reconnoisance of five days’ duration, when
men and horses were constantly in danger of being swallowed up by the
treacherous ground, he returned to the camp, and again endeavored to
dissuade the Governor from his foolhardy scheme; but Spira was deaf to
the timely advice of his lieutenant. Ordering him to leave behind the
horses, and to take the fifty men already allotted to the service, he
enjoined Martin to resume the reconnoisance forthwith, by a different
route.
The result of the foray was just as the lieutenant had foreseen. The
Indians allowed them to penetrate unmolested into the interior of their
stronghold, and then cut them up in detail. Although the Spaniards
fought like lions on this occasion, very few of them were fortunate
enough to reach headquarters, to apprise the stubborn Governor of his
danger. It became now necessary to effect a retreat from that den of
horrors which the Spaniards stigmatized with the appropriate name of
_Los Choques_--the Onslaughts--in allusion to the repeated attacks which
the enemy made upon them while endeavoring to accomplish their escape.
Unfortunately for the invaders, as they were then very near the line of
the equator, where it rains almost incessantly, they had to contend also
against the inclemency of the weather, which brought on a multitude of
diseases very fatal to men and horses; for they had neither the means
nor the physical strength to counteract them. Thus many of these brave
fellows became a prey to the distemper, among them several
distinguished individuals, whose names are given by Oviedo in his
“Historia de la Conquista,” such as Francisco Murcia de Rondon, who had
acted as secretary to King Francis the First of France during his
captivity in Spain.
The most difficult part of the undertaking remained yet to be
accomplished, namely, that of retracing their steps to the sea-coast
through a flooded and deserted country; for, with the previous
experience of the natives, the villages were abandoned at the approach
of the dreaded foreigners, and stripped of their provisions. So great
was the destitution among the followers of Spira, that, on one occasion,
a party of his men fell in with an infant, left forsaken by its mother
in the hurry of the moment after a surprise; and, without the least
compunction, they devoured it along with some edible roots found in the
hut. When Spira heard of it he would have made an example of the
cannibals on the spot; but considering that he was still in an enemy’s
country, and that he could not very well spare the men--four in
number--he commuted the sentence of death passed upon them to some
other, though quite severe punishment. They all, however, got their
deserts after a while; for, as the historiographer Oviedo tells us,
every one of them died in the most distressing agony--although of
various diseases--at the thought of the horrid crime they had committed.
A whole year was spent in this disastrous retreat, which, more than any
other feat of arms, proved the mettle of the bold conquerors. The
remnants of what was a dashing phalanx--ninety men out of the four
hundred that five years before had started in search of wealth and
fame--reached Coro in February of 1539; and these, far from being
discouraged by past misfortunes, only inflamed the ardor of other
incautious adventurers to join them in a renewed search for El Dorado;
for we find Felipe de Urre and Pedro de Limpias, two of Spirals
followers, engaging in a similar expedition soon after the return of
this ill-fated conquistador, who did not long survive the hardships of
that fearful journey, for he died in Coro on the 12th of June, 1540. His
successor, as Governor of the colony, Bishop de las Bastidas, whose
mission as a prelate of the church should have been one of “peace on
earth, and good-will to men,” far from discountenancing these reckless
enterprises, became himself a most ardent votary of the “gilded king,”
to whom he prepared to pay his respects through his lieutenant, the
famous conquistador, Felipe de Urre, like Spira and Federmann, of German
nationality. The exchequer of the colony being rather short of funds at
the time, the Right Reverend sent an expedition under Pedro de Limpias,
to the lake of Maracaibo, for the purpose of obtaining its equivalent in
the shape of Indian captives, a species of merchandise which commanded a
ready sale among the traders on the coast of Tierra Firme. The
speculation succeeded so well that, by the month of June, 1541, the
Commander-in-chief was ready to start at the head of one hundred and
fifty men, well armed and equipped for a protracted campaign. Urre
appointed as his chief of staff the ubiquitous Pedro de Limpias, a brave
and crafty adventurer, long experienced in Indian forays, especially
that of the unfortunate Jorge de Spira, and afterwards under Federmann,
during his perilous journey over the icy Sierras of Cundinamarca.
The only pass through the northern cordillera then known to the
colonists was that of Agua-Caliente, a little to the south of the
present site of Puerto Cabello, and the same that Spira and Federmann
sought some years before in their march through to the Llanos. This pass
being situated some fifty leagues east of Coro, and no roads existing at
that time, the little band of Felipe de Urre had to follow the
coast-line intervening between both places, with no small inconvenience
to men and beasts, from the burning sands and the quagmires they must
have encountered.
The route being pretty well known already, Urre had no difficulty in
finding the pass; and then following the line of march of his
predecessors in their famous perambulations through the Llanos, he
reached La Fragua, or Nuestra Señora, in safety, stopping there for a
while until the return of the dry season, and to obtain further
information respecting the mysterious land he was in quest of. His
astonishment was great, however, when he heard that, a few days before,
Hernan Perez de Quesada, with a large force from Cundinamarca, had
passed through that place in quest of El Dorado. Fearing that the
Spaniard might get ahead of him in this coveted conquest, Urre left his
winter quarters sooner than he had calculated, and reached the country
of Papamene. From thence he might have gained easy access to the
populous and well-stocked country of the Guayupes, but for his obstinacy
in keeping the track of Quesada in his march southward. Although warned
in time of the dangers of this route by a friendly Indian, who offered
to conduct him instead to the rich domain of Macatoa in a south-easterly
direction, the stubborn German still persisted in his purpose, with no
better luck than his rival; who barely escaped with his life, and the
loss of the greater portion of his followers, to the high table-land of
Papayan, after two years of wanderings and vicissitudes through the most
dismal solitudes and tangled forests.
Compelled by the approaching rainy season to seek also the proximity of
the mountains, and with most of his force in a deplorable condition,
Urre hastened to establish his winter quarters on a spur of the Andes,
which stretches far into the low lands, and was named by them the Punta,
or Cape of Los Pardaos. But here an unexpected misfortune awaited them;
for the district being scarcely inhabited, they could find no provisions
during their long wintry captivity; subsisting, like Spira and his men,
on reptiles and the like. The greatest luxury they enjoyed at times was
a ball of corn-meal, well seasoned with a species of red-ants, and
roasted on the embers. The game was easily secured by placing the moist
paste near the mouth of the ant-nest, which soon attracted the insects,
and when well covered with them, they were kneaded together, the same
operation being repeated several times, until the roll contained more
insects than paste. Reduced, in consequence, to the condition of walking
skeletons, and most of them covered with the most loathsome tumors and
ulcers, the forlorn wanderers could hardly extricate themselves from
that theatre of their misfortunes, when the subsidence of the waters
allowed them to seek their old quarters at La Fragua, to recruit before
engaging in new adventures.
Although the force had dwindled down to less than half the number of
those originally brought from Coro, Felipe de Urre determined to resume
his explorations with only forty men, which was all that could be got
together, after leaving a sufficient number at La Fragua for the
protection of the sick. Remembering the advice given him by the Indian
guide of Papamene to look for the country of the Omeguas in a different
direction from that taken by Quesada in his perilous pilgrimage, Urre
set out in quest of Macatoa--situated on the right bank of the great
river Guaviare--as the most convenient centre for future operations
against the warlike Omeguas.
Whether it was indifference on the part of the Indians, or a
preconcerted plan to bring their common enemy to speedy destruction at
the hands of the Omeguas, the most powerful nation among them, the fact
is, that the invaders found no difficulty in penetrating as far as
Macatoa by the help of Indian guides and assistance. In like manner the
lord of Macatoa, on being informed of the purpose which had brought the
strangers thus far, received them with every demonstration of
friendship, giving up to them the most commodious residences in the
town, and assisting them with provisions and attendants in abundance.
The same courtesies were extended to them at their departure, although
the Cacique warned his guests of the perils they would encounter if they
persisted in attacking the Omeguas with so small a force. In order to
expedite their march, the Cacique sent messengers ahead to apprise the
lord of the next tribe, his ally--situated some nine days’ journey from
Macatoa--of their coming, and recommending them strongly to his care and
attention. On arriving there, so captivated were the inhabitants with
the novelty of the strangers and their attire, especially with the
horses, that they became even more obsequious than the people of
Macatoa, and, like these, warned the leader of that squad of adventurers
not to engage in so desperate a combat with the Omeguas, representing
likewise to Felipe de Urre that these people possessed also domestic
quadrupeds of large size--probably llamas--which they could use like
horses if they chose. In addition to these facts the Spaniards were
reassured of the immense wealth in gold and silver everywhere to be
found among that populous nation, which news so excited their avarice
that, disregarding all the chances against the success of their
enterprise, they hastened towards the goal of their expectations.
Perceiving that his arguments were of no avail with the Castilians, to
deter them from their rash undertaking, the friendly Cacique offered to
escort them with a few of his subjects, on the road to the nation of
the Omeguas, reaching the first of their outposts in five days. It is
related by the chronicles that, having ascended some high ground near
by, the Spaniards descried a city of such extraordinary extent and
magnificence, that, although not very far off, they could not see the
end of it. The streets were straight, and the buildings quite near each
other; among the latter was to be seen a superb edifice of vast
proportions, which the friendly Cacique told them was the palace of the
lord of that city, whose name was Cuarica; and that it served the double
function of habitation to his lordship, and temple to many gods, or
idols, of solid gold.
Here the Cacique, having accomplished his errand, proposed to return to
his own dominions; but before taking leave of his _protegés_, he advised
Urre, as a last token of his regard, to capture, at all hazards, the men
stationed at the post, before they should carry the alarm into the city.
The suggestion was fully appreciated by the Commander and some officers
near him, all of whom being on horseback at that moment, immediately
gave chase to the fugitive Omeguas. One of these, finding himself hard
pressed by Urre, who rode ahead of his companions, turned round
suddenly, and struck the Commander so powerful a blow with his lance,
that it pierced right through his cuirass, penetrating deeply into the
ribs of the right side. Disconcerted with the blow, and the pain
inflicted by the wound, Urre abandoned the pursuit, and turned back to
rejoin his companions, while the fugitives made their escape into the
city.
Greatly perplexed with this unexpected mishap to their Commander, and
fearing that, alarmed with the report carried by the advanced guard into
the city, the Omeguas would immediately sally forth to encounter them in
great numbers, the Spaniards, by the advice of their friendly Indian
guide, who still remained by them, placing their wounded leader in a
hammock, resolved to retire at once from the neighborhood. Their
apprehensions were soon realized; for, in a little while, they heard the
confused yells of the multitude, amidst the ominous booming of big drums
and other war instruments, preparing for the attack. Happily for the
retreating Spaniards, night came on soon after, which enabled them to
place a good distance between themselves and the advancing columns of
the enemy.
On arriving at the village of their good friend the Cacique, the first
care was to attend to the chieftain’s wound, as well as circumstances
would permit; but hardly were they established here, when the Cacique,
apprised by some of his people who were working on their fields,
informed Urre of the approach of the Omeguas. Unable to place himself at
the head of his soldiers, the Commander ordered his lieutenant, Pedro de
Limpias, to give them battle at once, regardless of their numbers,
which, according to Oviedo, amounted to not less than fifteen thousand.
The ground being favorable for the use of cavalry, Limpias headed the
charge with the few horses he had at his command; and although the
Omeguas resisted for some time the onset of those animals,--seen by them
for the first time,--they at last commenced to give way; and the
infantry soldiers coming up at this moment under the orders of another
brave captain, one Bartolomé Belzar, completed the rout of the clamorous
hosts of Omeguas, who have never since, to this day, been heard of; for
Urre lost his life afterwards at the hands of a tyrant who ruled the
colony in his absence, as we shall see presently; and the country
remains still a perfect _terra incognita_, although several attempts
were made subsequently from Perú and Quito to find that mysterious land.
Convinced that, with the small force at his disposal, it would have been
more than rashness to undertake the conquest of a city which, on so
short a notice, could raise fifteen thousand warriors, Urre
determined--so soon as his wound permitted him to mount his horse--to
return to Macatoa, and hence to La Fragua, which he reached after an
absence of three months. Great was the joy in the invalid camp of the
Spaniards, on the return of their friends; but greater still, at the
good tidings they brought of having found the long-sought-for realms of
El Dorado; for they had not the least doubt in their minds that such was
the country of the powerful nation whose great city they had looked on
with anxious eyes, but dared not enter.
It is a singular coincidence that, while Gonzalo Pizarro was engaged
about this time in his ill-fated exploration of the country of Canelos,
the land of cinnamon-trees, he heard from the Indians of Muchifaro, that
not far from there--somewhat in the direction of Félipe de Urre’s
discoveries--a great Sire, most opulent in subjects and riches, and
whose name was Omeguas, or Omaguas, had his realms; Pizarro sent in
consequence his kinsman and confidential friend, Francisco Orellana, to
explore that region, with fifty men, who were launched upon the swift
current of the river Napo in a frail barge, constructed in the
wilderness, of very rude materials. But Orellana, probably disgusted by
this time with the sufferings already endured, instead of searching for
the “rich and fruitful land abounding with gold,” abandoned himself and
his companions to the current of the stream--one of the greatest
tributaries of the mighty Amazon--and once on the bosom of the Father of
Waters, sought the broad Atlantic, which he reached in safety after a
run of two thousand miles. “But it is marvellous,” Prescott says, “that
he should escape shipwreck in the perilous and unknown navigation of
that river. Many times his vessel was nearly dashed to pieces, on its
rocks and in its furious rapids; and he was in still greater peril from
the warlike tribes on its borders, who fell on his little troop whenever
he attempted to land, and followed in his wake for miles in their
canoes.”[58]
The sufferings endured by Pizarro and his men on this occasion, remind
us of the miserable condition of Jorge de Spira and Felipe de Urre on
their retrograde march to Coro. “Every scrap of provisions had been long
since consumed. The last of their horses had been devoured. To appease
the gnawings of hunger, they were fain to eat the leather of their
saddles and belts. The woods supplied them with scanty sustenance, and
they greedily fed upon toads, serpents, and such other reptiles as they
occasionally found.”
But to return to the way-worn company under the German leader, Urre,
whom we left in rather a bad plight at their haven of La Fragua. After a
deliberate consultation among the principal captains of the band, it was
unanimously resolved to send to Coro for reinforcements, and Pedro de
Limpias having offered his services to that effect, he was despatched
forthwith by Felipe de Urre with a good portion of his force as an
escort; but suspecting, soon after, some evil intentions on the part of
his lieutenant, who was always at loggerheads with the German element of
the troop, the Commander followed him soon after, with the rest of the
men.
Subsequent events proved that the apprehensions of the gallant German
were not unfounded; for on his approach to the settlements of the
colony, he learned that the government thereof had passed into the hands
of an usurper, a crafty lawyer, named Carvajal, Relator or Recorder of
the Audiencia of San Domingo, who, by forgery of despatches from that
body, had managed to appoint himself Governor, in the absence of the
lawful incumbent of the post. Felipe de Urre was, moreover, warned by
his friends of the machinations of his lieutenant, who, instead of
demanding the requisite contingent of men and horses to prosecute his
conquests, was plotting his destruction, and that of his countrymen,
with the wily Carvajal. This individual, whom all accounts represent as
an unscrupulous tyrant and most accomplished hypocrite, succeeded,
nevertheless, in disarming Urre and his adherents, all of whom he had
the effrontery to put to death, on some specious pretext concocted
between himself and the spiteful Pedro de Limpias.
Thus fell one of the bravest pioneers of South America, and a most
disinterested champion of its early colonization. “None of the
chieftains,” says Oviedo, “of the many that warred in the Indies,
stained his sword with blood less than he; for, having overrun more
provinces than any one else in his protracted journey of four years’
duration, his moderation was impelled to war only when he found no other
means to obtain peace.”
But the tyrannical rule of his murderer, Carvajal, was only of short
duration; for about this time the Emperor Charles the Fifth, cognizant
of the excesses practised against the unhappy aborigines--through the
representations of their zealous defender, the celebrated Father Las
Casas--and the deplorable state into which the country had fallen under
the bad management of the German company, annulled the charter granted
to the latter, and sent an eminent jurist, the Licentiate de Tolosa,
with full powers to regulate the affairs of the colony as Governor and
Captain-General thereof. On his arrival at Coro, Tolosa was soon posted
in regard to the conduct of the usurper Carvajal, who, for greater
security, kept himself at a distance from the sea-coast, in the new
settlement of Tocuyo, far away in the interior. The Captain-General
managed things so well, however, that he contrived to pounce upon the
wretch, one night, when least expected; and having tried, and found him
guilty of the crimes imputed to him, he sentenced him to be
hanged--after being dragged on a hide through the streets of the
town--from the same tree, a splendid Ceiba, or silk-cotton tree, in the
centre of the plaza, which the tyrant had polluted with his numberless
atrocities, making use of it as a gibbet during his executions.
* * * * *
We shall not follow the other conquerors in their restless search for El
Dorado, now in one direction, now in an opposite quarter, until it was
brought within the embrace of the mighty Orinoco, where Raleigh’s last
adventure was terminated by his unsuccessful attack upon Santo Tomé de
la Angostura, the present Ciudad Bolívar, where we must resume our
journey.
Although the river has been well known for the last three hundred years,
the country within its boundaries, properly called Guayana, has remained
comparatively ignored by the outside world until these latter years. A
few settlements along its southern shore, and these principally
controlled by priestly exclusiveness, was all the advancement that had
been made there up to the destruction of the missions by the war of
independence. Since then the country had nearly returned to its primeval
state of savageness, when the “gold fever,” that most potent excitant
of all distempers, aroused the lethargic apathy of the inhabitants, and
now bids fair to communicate itself to people of keener sensibilities.
It is possible that the missionary fathers, who had for a long time
entire control of the scattered villages south of the Orinoco, were well
informed respecting the existence of the gold fields which are being
brought to light just now; but the _frailes_--all of them European
Spaniards, and consequently strong supporters of their cause--were
wantonly massacred by some staff officers of General Bolívar, and not
one of them left to reveal the source of their reputed wealth. And, what
is most singular, the learned Humboldt, who explored the Orinoco in
nearly its whole course, devotes an entire chapter to prove the
non-existence of gold in Guayana, especially on the spot where it has
been found in the greatest abundance; although, with his characteristic
reserve and far-seeing perspicuity, he concludes with these words:
* * * * *
“Though the celebrity of the riches of Spanish Guiana is chiefly
assignable to the geographical situation of the country and the errors
of the old maps, we are not justified in denying the existence of any
auriferous land in the tract of country of 82,000 square leagues
(250,000 square miles), which stretches between the Orinoco and the
Amazon, on the east of the Andes of Quito and New Granada. What I saw of
this country between the second and eighth degrees of longitude, is
entirely composed of granite, and of a gneiss passing into micaceous and
talcous slate. These rocks appear naked in the lofty mountains of
Parima, as well as in the plains of the Atabapo and the Casiquiare.
Granite predominates there over the other rocks: and though in both
continents, the _granite of ancient formation_ is pretty generally
destitute of gold ore, we cannot hence conclude that the granite of
Parima contains no vein, no stratum of auriferous quartz.”
* * * * *
The error of the great traveller in this respect is assignable to the
fact that he never left the bed of the Orinoco, which is bordered, as he
states, by ledges of primitive formation. The auriferous deposits of the
State of Guayana are found in a range of mountains, having a general
course north-east and south-west, about a hundred miles south of the
Orinoco river, precisely where Sir Walter Raleigh placed his _El Dorado
de la Parime_.[59]
Through the courtesy of J. B. Austin, Esq., of Philadelphia--a gentleman
of refined cultivation and thorough American energy, who has lately
returned from that region--I am enabled to place before my readers the
subjoined letter, containing an accurate statement concerning the
so-called “fabulous” realms of El Dorado,[A] as they now are:
“The streams having their sources in these mountains, generally flow
into the Cuyuni and Masaruny rivers, tributaries of the Esequibo, though
some run into the Caroni, one of the great tributaries of the Orinoco.
As these gold deposits are approached, the geological features of the
country undergo an important change. Quartz appears in immense
quantities, running in broad veins through the savannas, or thickly
distributed over great extents. This is often auriferous to a slight
degree. South of the Yuruary river the system of plains is left behind,
and here are ranges of hills and mountains covered with dense, gloomy,
tropical forests, and intersected with numerous streams and rivers. The
principal formation, or ‘country rock,’ is highly metamorphosed talcose
and chloritic slates, broken often by upheavals of granite, and
traversed by veins and ledges of quartz, from thirty inches to ninety
feet wide. All this is auriferous, free gold in quartz, and of a
richness incredible, until seen and explored. The earth, rocks, and beds
of streams all yield gold in the greatest profusion, and over ten
thousand men are now at work there without any scientific direction, and
with the poorest appliances for labor, but all doing well, many
accumulating large sums of money. Every part of their labor is by hand,
and their tools and implements of the most ordinary character.
“Here is timber sufficient for ages of consumption; abundant supplies of
water; a quiet, orderly people; good government, and deposits of gold
apparently inexhaustible. It seems strange that such a country has
remained so far hidden for such a length of time. It was known to the
aborigines, for we find their old pits, implements and pottery. Even as
late as the time of Sir Walter Raleigh it was known to the Indians, and
that gallant leader made four attempts to penetrate its fastnesses, but
each time was driven back by the Spaniards. Evidently it was known to
the Capuchin fathers, who colonized and christianized that section of
South America; but by them it was held as a great secret, and upon their
overthrow and massacre, in 1815, the trace was lost, until accidentally
discovered again a few years since.
“It is a remarkable fact also, that the State of Guayana, since the date
of its independence from Spain in 1812, has remained free from those
internal dissensions and strifes so common in South American states. Its
inhabitants are orderly, honest, and industrious; their pursuits
pastoral and agricultural, and its rulers men of great political ability
and enlarged liberal views.
“The climate of the State is salubrious, and the communications with the
mines good; wagons can pass from the river to them in five days, and
steamers run every fortnight from the river to England and France in
eighteen days, and monthly to New York in twelve days.
“In a scientific point of view the country is most interesting. It is
emphatically an unexplored field; its geology, natural history, and
botany, almost unknown; pictorially it is very beautiful; protection to
life and property absolutely safe; and though somewhat rough in its
accommodations, still most interesting to the traveller.
“With such unbounded sources of wealth within its borders, so accessible
to the great centres of commerce, and under such an enlightened
administration of public affairs, it requires no gift of prophecy to
foresee the rapidity of development now opening for the great and
prosperous State of Guayana.
“The scenery throughout the canton of Upata partakes more of the
pastoral character, its most marked feature being quiet beauty. There
are places, such as the site of the mission of Santa Maria, the approach
to the Yuruary from Guacipati, the great palm forests near Palmar, and
the mountain range of Nuri, which are grand, even sublime; but generally
the scene is more park-like, the mountain forms quiet, the savannas
sweeping off in long swells, with trees scattered over them singly, in
groups, or groves, seemingly as if planted by man for pictorial effect.
The valleys are fertile and luxuriant--all the productions of the
tropical zone maturing almost without labor; the savannas furnish rich
pasturage for tens of thousands of cattle--the forests are prolific in
woods of the greatest value--the streams rapid, and their water good.
“The auriferous deposits beyond the Yuruary have been traced from that
river through to the Ventuari, about four hundred miles; not, for all
this distance, by continuous exploration, but in detached efforts,
penetrating from the Orinoco at various points, and always striking the
same general system of veins.”
As I understand that Mr. Austin is engaged in writing a book on this
important subject, I abstain from further comments in the matter,
convinced as I am, that no one is better calculated than himself to
enlighten his countrymen respecting a region eminently adapted to the
enterprising energy of the Anglo-Saxon race.
“Son árboles y piedras un tesoro,
Los montes plata y las arenas oro.”
BARALT, _Oda á Colon_.
In its trees and its stones are treasures untold,
Its mountains are silver, its sands are of gold.
NOTE.--According to the official returns of the State of Guayana
which I have before me, the exports of gold through the
Custom-house of Ciudad Bolívar for the months of April and May,
1867, amounted to $158,815.00.
By Steamer Pioneer, 1194 ounces, or $28.568.00
“ “ “ 1800 “ “ 43.200.00
“ Bark Rosedale 3627 “ “ 87.032.00
____ ___________
6620 $158.800.00
This much without taking into consideration the vast amounts which
are carried away by private individuals, without passing through
the Custom-house to avoid the export duty levied on gold by the
Venezuelian government.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE OIL-WELLS OF THE ORINOCO.
I fear that the description of the land of El Dorado has already been
extended beyond the limits assigned to that chapter; otherwise we might
continue our voyage down the noble river, and visit other points of
attraction along its course; such as the falls of the Caroni, three
miles above its confluence with the Orinoco. On its margins grows the
beautiful _Bomplandia trifoliata_, which yields the Angostura-bark of
the pharmacopœa--next to quinine, the most efficacious antidote
against the miasmas of these regions. It also furnishes the principal
ingredient in the composition of the fine bitters manufactured there
under that name. By descending the river still farther, we might enter
any of the thousand channels into which the Orinoco divides itself
before it empties into the Atlantic Ocean, and there take a look at the
curious race of men--the Waraun Indians--living on trees like apes, for
want of dry land upon which to stretch their limbs; or in rude huts
built on piles driven in the soft mud of the Great Delta. But as the
time draws near for our departure from the Llanos, and the rivers
commence to overflow the plains, we will reascend the Orinoco and rejoin
our friends, who await us impatiently on the banks of the Apure; or else
we might find ourselves, like Spira and his companions, cut off
from the rest of civilization. We shall also miss the curious
harvest--_cosecha_--of turtles’ eggs, which is gathered about this time
upon the sand-islands of the Orinoco, just above the mouth of the Apure.
Here the great turtles called _arraus_ by the Indians, and _tortugas_ by
the whites, assemble in vast multitudes during the dry season to perfect
the incubation of their eggs. This they accomplish by digging pits in
the sand with their hind feet, in which they deposit the eggs, covering
them afterwards very carefully, and entrusting the rest of the operation
to the heat of the sun. The people from far and near this _el dorado_ of
eggs and turtles, then hasten to these sand-banks, and provision
themselves for “a rainy day” at the expense of the lawful tenants of
those islands.
Other travellers having already studied the habits of these amphibia in
their native habitat, we may avail ourselves of their experience in
forming some idea of their prodigious increase, in spite of their
sluggish habits. I may mention, among others, Humboldt and Bates, who
have given to the world very graphic accounts of this singular
“harvest,” the former on the Orinoco,[60] and the latter on the Amazon
river.[61] But the most interesting account within my knowledge is that
of Father Gumilla, who, having spent many years among these wilds, is
entitled to special attention on the part of the lovers of nature. As
his book is very rare and curious nowadays, I will, for the benefit of
my readers, give here a translation of the chapter devoted to the
subject:
“OF THE EXTRAORDINARY HARVEST (_Cosecha_) OF TURTLES GATHERED BY
THE INDIANS OF THE ORINOCO; THEIR EGGS, AND OF THE PECULIAR OIL
OBTAINED FROM THEM.”
“So great is the number of turtles in the Orinoco river, that whatever I
may say on this subject will fall far short of the actual truth; and I
even fear that many, in reading my authentic account of what I myself
have repeatedly seen, experienced, and touched with my own hands, will
accuse me of exaggeration; but it is a fact that it would be as
difficult to count the sands of the extensive banks of the Orinoco, as
to compute the immense number of turtles which it harbors on its borders
and in the depths of its currents.
“Some idea may be formed of the enormous consumption of these creatures,
when we say that all the tribes and people of adjacent countries, and
even from those farther off, frequent the Orinoco with their families to
secure what I termed the harvest of turtles; for they not only maintain
themselves therewith during the months that it lasts, but also carry
away a large supply of turtle-meat, dried by fire, and a still greater
number of baskets of eggs, dried also by the same means. But what
principally attracts the people of these tribes is the oil which they
gather from the eggs of said turtles, in large quantities, to anoint
themselves throughout the year twice every day, and to sell to the more
remote tribes who cannot, or through fear dare not, go down the river
Orinoco.
“As soon as the river begins to fall and to display its first sandbanks
in the month of February, the turtles commence to show themselves, in
order to deposit their eggs in the sand; those which appear first are
the small turtles called _terecayas_, weighing scarce an _arroba_ of
twenty-five pounds; these lay twenty-two and sometimes twenty-four eggs,
like hen’s eggs, but without the shell, instead of which they are
covered by two membranes, one soft and the other thicker. With these
_terecayas_ other turtle also appear, who, in the previous year, found
no sand in which to deposit their eggs, or were prevented from so doing
by the great number assembled there. These large turtles, which, when
three years old, weigh two _arrobas_--as I have proved by the
scales--deposit sixty-two, and ordinarily, sixty-four round eggs each,
larger than those of the _terecayas_, with stronger membrane, and with
which the Indians play ball on shore, or egg each other in sport. In
each nest of eggs there is one larger than the rest, from which the male
is hatched; all the others are females. About this time the Indians, of
various tribes, commence to arrive from all points of the adjacent
countries: some of them build their straw huts; others content
themselves by driving poles in the sand, from which to swing their
hammocks. A multitude of tigers also appear to turn up the turtles,
which they devour in spite of their strong cuirass; a circumstance which
by no means adds to the pleasure and satisfaction that the Indians
derive from their excursion to the Orinoco, since, in spite of all their
care, scarcely a year passes in which the tigers do not devour some of
the poor Indians, who have no other mode of keeping them off at night
than by fires, which, so long as they burn, keep the beasts at a
distance.
“Fearing the heat of the sun--which often kills them on the
sand-banks--the turtles at first come out only at nightfall to lay their
eggs; but, as the season advances, the gathering is so great, that the
multitudes already out prevent the passage of still greater numbers,
which, with heads above water, are waiting a chance to pass on; and so
soon as an opportunity presents itself, they hasten to lay all their
eggs at once--the burthen of which they cannot support without great
inconvenience,--regardless of the sun and heat, which often costs many
of them their lives.
“I have noticed three curious facts with reference to these
turtle-nests: the first is, that after opening with the utmost care the
holes in which these animals deposit their eggs, they take particular
pains to close them again, so as not to leave a trace by which the nest
may be found. For this purpose they leave the ground perfectly even with
the rest of the sand-bank; and in order that the marks of their feet may
not lead to their discovery, they pass over and around the nest several
times in succession before they quit the ground. All their precautions
are in vain, however, for wherever there are eggs, the sand remains
quite loose, and gives way under foot; and by these means the eggs are
found in the early part of the season; but later, in the height of the
harvest, there is no need of looking for these signs; for, in the same
sands in which the first turtles laid, the second, third, and scores of
others also lay their eggs in such prodigious quantities, that wherever
the Indians may dig, they find them in heaps, the animals themselves
scattering them all over the ground while excavating their own nests.
“The second curious fact that I have observed, by driving a pole near to
a newly-laid nest, is, that in three days’ time, the incubation of the
eggs is not only perfected, but the young turtles have broken through
the shell; so great is the power of the sun and the intensity of the
heat absorbed by the sand.
“The third point noted by me is, that the young turtles, on coming out
of the shell--at which time they are about the size of a half
dollar,--do not leave the nest by daylight, nature having taught them
that the heat of the sun will kill them, and the birds of prey will
devour them. They come forth, therefore, in the silence and cool of the
night; and what has most excited my admiration is, that although the
hole from which they emerge may be half a mile or more from the river,
they never mistake the road, but go in a direct line to the water. This
pleased me so much, that I have repeatedly taken the turtles a great
distance from the river, carrying them covered, and turning them around
over and over again on the ground, in order to make them lose their
course; but whenever they found themselves free, they made straight for
the water, and I following them, admiring the wonderful goodness of the
Creator, who thus endows each of his creatures with powers to find its
natural element. What a lesson to us, who, in spite of the hope of
eternal reward and the danger of everlasting punishment, scarce succeed
in taking the right path for that ultimate goal for which the goodness
and mercy of God created us!
“About this time the Indians, both men and women, rise very early, and
the former turn over as many turtles as they please, leaving them on
their backs in such a way as to render them incapable of resuming their
natural position; for although they strive with their paddles to right
themselves, their back is so high that they cannot touch the ground in
order to obtain a foothold. They are then carried by their captors to
the ranches, where they are made fast by leaving them on their backs, as
aforesaid. Meanwhile the women and children occupy themselves in filling
and carrying baskets of eggs and little turtles to the ranches, making
large heaps of the former, and keeping the latter in the baskets to
prevent their escape into the river, which they always do whenever they
can. The men also dig holes in the sand down to the level of the river,
which are quickly filled by the infiltration of the water, and place
therein large numbers of baby-turtles, to be eaten as wanted; each of
which makes a delicious mouthful, free from bones, the very shells being
soft and tasty. The number of delicate young turtles eaten daily by the
innumerable families congregated there is incalculable. But the quantity
of eggs consumed is even greater, both as food and for the extraction of
oil; so great, indeed, that notwithstanding the size of the Orinoco
river, it is the opinion of the experts of that country that, were it
not for this extraordinary consumption of turtles and their eggs, the
increase of these animals in the river would be such as to render it
unnavigable; for boats would find it impossible to make way through the
immense number of turtles which would appear were all these eggs to be
hatched; in which opinion I participate also. In the same way, it is
said that on the fishing-banks of Newfoundland, frequented by so many
vessels, the shoals of codfish are so immense that the passage of
vessels is seriously embarrassed and delayed. It is also asserted that
each fisherman can catch as many as four hundred codfish per day.
“Let us now see how the oil is extracted, which, as I have already said,
is the chief attraction which brings so many people to the Orinoco.
After washing the canoes which have brought them there, they draw them
on the beach, and pour several pailsfull of water into them: they then
wash the eggs in baskets, until not a grain of sand remains adhering to
them, and when perfectly clean, they are emptied into the canoes and
trod upon by children in the same way as grapes are mashed in
wine-making. Once full, the canoes are left exposed to the sun’s rays,
and in due time a fine and limpid liquid rises to the surface, which is
the oleaginous portion of the eggs; so abundant is this, that I have
been surprised to see a frying-pan placed dry on the fire, and after
being heated, well beaten eggs poured therein, which, on touching the
hot pan, gave forth sufficient oil to fry the omelet, with a certainty
that it never sticks to the pan.
“Whilst the heat of the sun is extracting this fine oil, the Indian
women place large pots over the fire, and the men with fine shells, very
suitable for the purpose, remove the oil from the surface of the mixture
in the canoes, and carry it to the pots, where the heat of the fire
boils and purifies it. If, during the operation of transferring the oil
any of the beaten eggs are taken along, they remain fixed in the bottom
of the pots. The oil, when purified, is put in suitable jars, and is
much finer and clearer than that of olives, as I have proven to many
Europeans, who could hardly believe it, in the following manner. I
filled half a glass with olive-oil; I then poured in a like quantity of
oil from the eggs of turtles; when, lo! they commenced to change
positions from top to bottom, first one and then the other, gradually
mixing together in the middle until they finally commingled, losing
their natural color and assuming an albuginous appearance like watered
milk; the mixture being left quiet for half an hour or more, the egg-oil
commenced to rise to the surface, and in a short time remained on top of
the olive-oil, just as the latter floats on the surface of water, both
resuming their natural color. But to return to our narrative.
“At the dinner hour--although they are all the while eating eggs and
young turtles, just for the fun of it--a single animal will provide
three large and distinct dishes, ample for the largest family; a turtle,
split on both sides, furnishing the following portions, viz.: head and
neck, the two hind legs, and the pectoral paddles, which require a
good-sized pot to hold them. Before placing them in it, some large lumps
of fat are removed, yellow as the yolk of an egg; and this is another
source of gain, which the Indians take home; and as the turtle which
gives the least, yields two pounds of this fat, the profit is
considerable. The pot being placed on the fire, the husband takes the
shell which forms the turtle’s back, and the wife the breast-plate; and
after carefully chopping together the meat, fat, and great quantity of
eggs which still adhere to the shell, the latter serve them as pots
also, without the slightest danger of burning. Before the mess is quite
cooked, they put the shells on the fireplaces, and make their first
dish, the _gigote_, on the breast-plate, which is very delicious and
tender; and even the breast-plate itself is sometimes eaten, as it
becomes impregnated with the fat, and is quite palatable. The second
dish is made from the hash prepared on the shell taken from the turtle’s
back. This is quite a treat, and is called _garapacho_, I do not know
why. Finally, the third dish is the _olla_, or bouilli, which ends the
meal, and is washed down with plenty of _chicha_,[62] which they take
good care to provide themselves with in sufficient quantity for the
whole season.
“One would scarcely believe how fat the children, and in fact the whole
pack of them, grow during the season; but no wonder, for as the good
Father Manuel Roman, the Superior of our Orinoco missions, has often
assured me, although born in Olmedo, and grown in Valladolid and
Salamanca, he did not miss the fine mutton of those places so long as he
could depend upon the turtles of the Orinoco. Other Spanish priests of
the same missions expressed themselves in like terms.
“The gain and benefit derived from these turtles by the Indians does not
stop here; for, besides the immense number of eggs which they consume,
both as food and in the preparation of the oil, they also carry away
great quantities of them, dried like figs in the sun; or by the heat of
slumbering fires made underneath horizontal trellises raised for the
purpose. The amount of eggs thus purloined can easily be imagined from
the fact, that these people will readily give in exchange for a knife
four basketfuls of them, each of which contains at least one thousand
eggs. They also carry away as many turtles as they can conveniently stow
in the canoes, without danger of sinking, tying them securely therein to
prevent their escape.
“Of this species of turtle, what most excited my surprise was the
immense number of eggs which each of them has within itself; for,
besides the roe ready to be laid this year, farther in they have the one
for the next season, of nearly the same size as the former, but
destitute of that covering or white membrane which envelops the eggs;
then follow those for the third year, about the size of musket-balls;
for the fourth year, of the calibre for a fowling-piece; for the fifth
year, they are no bigger than buckshot; and at this rate they decrease
until they present a confused mass resembling turnip and mustard-seed;
and God only knows for how many years those creatures are endowed with
similar receptacles of life in embryo.”
* * * * *
This much was observed and related concerning the turtles of Orinoco by
the reverend missionary father in the early part of the seventeenth
century: let us now hear what the great philosopher of modern times says
in regard to these humble creatures; for he, too, spent several days
among the children of nature during the “harvest” of eggs and turtles
provided for them by their beneficent mother.
* * * * *
“I acquired some general statistical notions on the spot, by consulting
the missionary of Urvana, his lieutenant, and the traders of Angostura.
The shore of Urvana furnishes one thousand botijas, or jars of oil
annually. The price of each jar at Angostura varies from two piastres to
two and a half. We may admit that the total produce of the three shores,
where the _cosecha_, or gathering of eggs, is annually made, is five
thousand botijas. Now, as two hundred eggs yield oil enough to fill a
bottle (limeta), it requires five thousand eggs for a jar or botija of
oil. Estimating at one hundred, or one hundred and sixteen, the number
of eggs that one tortoise produces, and reckoning that one-third of
these is broken at the time of laying, particularly by the ‘mad
tortoises,’ we may presume that, to obtain annually five thousand jars
of oil, three hundred and thirty thousand _arrau_ tortoises, the weight
of which amounts to one hundred and sixty-five thousand quintals, must
lay thirty-three millions of eggs on the three shores where this harvest
is gathered. The results of these calculations are much below the truth.
Many tortoises lay only sixty or seventy eggs; and a great number of
these animals are devoured by jaguars at the moment they emerge from the
water. The Indians bring away a great number of eggs, to eat them dried
in the sun; and they break a considerable number through carelessness
during the gathering. The number of eggs that are hatched before the
people can dig them up is so prodigious, that near the encampment of
Urvana I saw the whole shore of the Orinoco swarming with little
tortoises an inch in diameter, escaping with difficulty from the pursuit
of the Indian children. If to these considerations be added, that all
the _arraus_ do not assemble on the three shores of the encampment; and
that there are many which lay their eggs in solitude, and some weeks
later, between the mouth of the Orinoco and the confluence of the Apure;
we must admit that the number of turtles which annually deposit their
eggs on the banks of the Lower Orinoco, is near a million. This number
is very great for so large an animal. In general large animals multiply
less considerably than the smaller ones.”[63]
[Illustration: Arrow used in Turtle Shooting.]
So extraordinary do these things appear to those not conversant with the
wonders of South America, that, to strengthen my statements, I am often
compelled to quote from more familiar writers on this subject, for fear
of being accused of exaggeration, as has already happened with reference
to one simple fact of every-day occurrence among Indian hunters. I
allude to the mode of shooting turtles and crocodiles with arrows of a
peculiar construction, referred to at page 109, and which appeared for
the first time in previous editions of my _Wild Scenes in South
America_. The _London Saturday Review_ of July 11th, 1863, commenting
upon this--to others than the practised eye of an Indian--most
extraordinary feat of skill, appeals to one of the best mathematicians
in the kingdom to learn if such a thing can be done at all; although in
other respects the remarks of the reviewer are highly flattering to the
book. I will endeavor to show, on this occasion, that nothing is easier
when you know how to do it, in support of which I could do no better
than appeal also to the testimony of English authorities. Both Wallace
and Bates mention the fact in their respective books of travel on the
Amazon and Rio Negro; and the latter accompanies his remarks with an
accurate representation of the arrow used for that purpose, which I
reproduce on the previous page, with the following paragraph alluding to
the mode of using it:
* * * * *
“Cardozo and I spent an hour paddling about. I was astonished at the
skill which the Indians display in shooting turtles. They did not wait
for their coming to the surface to breathe, but watched for the slight
movements in the water, which revealed their presence underneath. These
little tracks on the water are called the Siriri; the instant one was
perceived, an arrow flew from the bow of the nearest man, and never
failed to pierce the shell of the submerged animal. When the turtle was
very distant, of course the aim had to be taken at a considerable
elevation, but the marksmen preferred a longish range, because the arrow
then fell _perpendicularly_ on the shell, and entered it more
deeply.”[64]
* * * * *
The writer goes on then to describe the arrow, which corresponds in
every particular with my own description of it at page 109. _En
passant_, I will remark here that both books containing it came out in
London about the same time; and I would recommend to lovers of travel
and adventure the perusal of Mr. Bates’ interesting chapter on the
harvest of turtles’ eggs among the sand-islands of the mighty Amazon, as
well as Humboldt’s narrative on the same subject among those of its
brother river, the Orinoco; both are exceedingly entertaining.
But what will the mathematicians and military men of Great Britain, or
any other country, say, when I tell them of an Indian who, for a small
consideration, would strike a _medio-real_--half a dime--with an arrow
at an angle of 85°? This was done by placing the money on the top of a
lime or lemon close to the big toe of the archer’s left foot; he then
would bend backwards, assisted by the right one, allowing a sufficient
space between the bow and the lime for the arrow to turn down after
being shot up in the air; and so certain was the aim that the savage
made quite a little fortune about the streets of Caracas, where he
exhibited his skill during the short visit which his Cacique paid
President Paez at the Capital.
It is also related of another Indian that he could shoot a buzzard
soaring above his head without looking at the bird, guided only by the
shadow cast upon the ground about midday. In connection with this the
reader will find in the work of the Rev. J. C. Fletcher, _Brazil and the
Brazilians_, a wood-cut representing an Indian archer shooting on his
back at a flock of ducks passing over him. A large and strong bow is
bent by his legs while he holds the butt-end of the arrow in his
hands--“In this way they are able to shoot game at a great distance.”
Although these things appear very wonderful to us, who cannot even
“draw a bow at a venture,” we should recollect that the very existence
of the savage depends upon the accuracy of his aim as, with lightning
speed, he flings the unerring arrow at his prey. No one thinks of
doubting the historical story about the Parthian children who were
obliged to bring down their morning’s meal from the top of a post with a
much more clumsy instrument--the _sling_, thereby acquiring the
wonderful dexterity for which their warriors were famed.
Some may be inclined to doubt the truth of the stories found in profane
history, but will not dispute the testimony of Scripture, wherein we are
told that the giant-warrior Goliah was slain by the youth David, with
only the help of a sling and a “ pebble from the brook.” It may be said
that it was by Divine aid that David hit the mark so skillfully; but who
shall presume to say that such aid is withheld, because the being
requiring it is a savage and not one of the chosen race?
* * * * *
And now, my dear reader, though such wonderful exhibitions of skill as
are related above, may appear to your mind as savoring strongly of the
proverbial exaggeration which is supposed to accompany the relation of
all extraordinary feats of the chase, yet, if we reflect on the thousand
examples which come under our daily observation, illustrating the
marvelous inventive powers of man, and the manual skill required to
produce and apply many of his inventions, you cannot but conclude with
me that there are latent powers given to us by the great Master, which,
when awakened by necessity, can surmount obstacles and attain ends
involving a degree of physical as well as mental perfection almost
superhuman. A constant supply of food is the first and greatest demand
of nature. To attain this, the inhabitants of the vast wilds of South
America have no other resource than the game which their streams and
forests afford; the acmé of their savage education is to excel in the
skill and cunning of the chase; their hunting implements are necessarily
rude and imperfect; consequently, great accuracy of aim, and steadiness
of nerve are required in their successful application.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
HOMEWARD BOUND.
Having now accomplished the most difficult part of our labors, namely,
that of transporting three thousand wild animals across a rising stream
by such primitive means, we took advantage of the few canoes at our
disposal to transfer ourselves and chattels to the other side of the
river. This was not so easily done, as the _creciente_ was rapidly
gaining upon us, with no small risk to our ponderous equipment, which
had to be landed on the sandy beach; and unless quickly removed, while
waiting for another canoe-load, our traps were in constant danger of
being carried off by the boisterous waves of the river. I had thus the
misfortune of being deprived of my hammock, which circumstance compelled
me to seek repose at night on the stiff hide covers of the baggage--not
a very comfortable couch after a hard ride in the hot sun.
Our long train of baggage-mules and wild beasts necessitated many
stoppages by the way in order to incorporate stragglers, but more
frequently to hunt anew the runaways among the latter--not an easy
task.
[Illustration: HOMEWARD BOUND.]
The bulls especially showed a marked reluctance to leave behind their
bellowing harems in the everglades across the river. Such was their love
of home in this respect, that we were assured that most of those which
succeeded in evading our pursuit, made their way back to their savannas
in spite of the broad expanse of water which separated them. Much
valuable time and patience were lost in this way, while the increasing
inundation was following fast on our steps, so much so, that long after
we had left the banks of the river on our rear, we had to wade through a
continuous sheet of water, which was every moment rising above the
fetlocks of our beasts. We also had to ford several smaller streams,
already swollen by the rapid rise of the Apure; but, as no canoes could
be had amidst those wilds, for love or money, we availed ourselves of
the primitive contrivance devised on such occasions by means of a raw
hide fashioned into a lighter. The trunks and boxes were carefully piled
inside the skin, and if a person chose to avail himself of this frail
barge, he had only to sit steadily on the top of the baggage; the load
was then carefully launched on the water, the other end of the rope
intrusted to the swimmer and towed in safety to the other side. In this
manner our ponderous Doctor and a few others who were unwilling to
expose their own skin to the tender mercies of the caribes, were
successfully ferried across, although it required a steady nerve not to
stir an inch and thus upset the whole concern.
Our march across the prairies presented a splendid sight and was
suggestive of a long file of prisoners after a well-contested field of
battle. At the head of the column, which extended for upward of a mile,
marched a strong picket of horsemen, the _Punteros_, guiding the
caravan; and on the sides and rear was another file of men with lazos
ready to unfold after deserters. Lively tunes and whistling were kept up
by the men for the diversion of the cattle, which appeared quite
delighted with the music and in consequence became less restive on the
march.
When near San Jaime, I, together with a party of young companions,
having separated ourselves from the rest and taken another route, lost
ourselves in the intricate passes leading to the village. This
circumstance, although it delayed us for some time from reaching the
camp, led us to an abundant field of rich honey, the production of a
small wasp called _matajey_, which builds its nest on the branches of
the trees, in the shape of a large ball. The sting of this insect is so
distressing, that persons affected by it become feverish and benumbed;
therefore, in order to possess ourselves of its delicious honey-combs,
we took the precaution to smoke out the wasps by means of a burning rag
at the end of a long pole applied to the mouth of the nest, when the
whole swarm abandoned it to the hunters without molestation.
It was almost dark when we arrived at San Jaime, having hit accidentally
upon the right path, after wandering the whole day through the woods;
but, being well supplied with honey and water, we did not regret as much
the loss of our dinner, as the fact of its having been prepared by
another kind of swarm, but this time of pretty girls, who had assembled
for the purpose at the cottage of our hospitable host. We enjoyed,
however, the pleasure of their unsophisticated society for some time
before retiring to our hammocks where, fatigued by the toils of our
previous adventure, we speedily lost ourselves again in “sweet, balmy
sleep.”
Being rather in a hurry to reach the pass before a sudden rise of the
creeks connected with the river Portuguesa, we were up long before
sunrise, and had barely time to partake of a substantial breakfast,
prepared by our charming entertainers.
Immediately upon our arrival at the pass, we proceeded to force our
cattle across the river, which being less wide than the Apure, and our
herds having become more manageable after the long march, we were
enabled to execute it in better order and less time than at the former
river. Still we contrived somehow or other to tarry here longer than was
necessary, having wasted three days in accomplishing what might have
been the work of one. The fact is, that we were rather taken up with our
former feminine acquaintances, especially at the close of day, when the
party assembled in the barracoon, destined for the _fandango_, which was
usually kept up the whole night.
Fitful accompaniment to these nocturnal revelries was the deafening
croaking of the toads and frogs, now abounding by myriads in the marshes
and quagmires of the vicinity. The shrill, metallic notes of the frogs,
and the hoarse croaking of their milky brethren, are a feature which
never fails to excite the astonishment of strangers in those regions.
The former especially are so striking, that were an Englishman or
American suddenly transported there, without knowledge of these sounds,
he would imagine himself at home, in the neighborhood of ten thousand
steam whistles. I was assured by our friend B., with reference to the
toads of Guadarrama, a village on the banks of the Portuguese, that one
night he was thrown down in the street by coming in contact with one of
these creatures, which he mistook for a boy in a stooping posture.
Indignant at, what he supposed, the indiscretion of the fellow, B. was
in the act of kicking him away when, to his surprise, he perceived the
seeming boy slowly moving off in the shape of a big toad!
This, of course, is another of B.’s great yarns, which he endeavored to
pass on us as veritable facts occurring to him during his wandering
peregrinations; but really, putting aside his extravagant stories, such
is the volume of voice and long-sustained sopranos, bassos, and
contraltos of the toads and frogs of South America, that one would
suppose they had lungs as big as those of a manatí. And as regards the
size that these creatures attain here, I may quote a passage from a
recent book of travels in those countries which, had it not appeared in
London simultaneously with the first edition of the _Wild Scenes in
South America_,[65] any one might be inclined to think--after reading
the preceding remarks--that they had been suggested by the perusal of
the following paragraphs:
“In soft, dripping weather, the country roads become almost impassable,
and my favorite resource was to sit still and read Tennyson or
Longfellow; but the studies of a novice in Brazil, on a wet evening, are
strangely interrupted by the extraordinary proceedings of frogs and
toads of all sorts and sizes, which testify their exuberant joy by the
most discordant noises. Croaking is no name for it. Some of the milder
and quieter kinds may perhaps be said to croak, but these are soon
silenced by another tribe, whose name is Legion, grunting, snorting, and
shrieking like a railway train at full speed; and when they stop for
want of breath, the ‘wondrous song’ is taken up by larger numbers of
other detestable batrachyans, which keep up a frantic revel of rattling
and clattering, such as I have never heard equalled, except by an
intoxicated chorus of May sweeps.
“Some of the toads are enormous. In one of my mountain rambles I
suddenly spied a very beautiful lycopodium growing in large quantities
on a moist bank, and, without looking at my feet, sprang across the path
to gather a specimen. I stumbled over something very hard and immovable,
and nearly measured my length in the mud; but I seized the lycopodium,
and then turned round to look at the obstacle. It was a monstrous toad,
nearly a foot long, with great yellow pits around its spiteful eyes, and
as ugly a brute as ever I saw. He did not make the least attempt to
move, and seemed to be chuckling over the fact of nearly upsetting a
traveller. A friend of mine, however, told me that he had been offered a
still larger specimen as a present, which he declined to accept on the
ground of ferocity. He said it was as big as a hat, it opened its mouth
like an oyster, barked like a dog, and flew at his legs! A nice pet to
keep in a strawberry-bed!”[66]
But I never was so struck with the power which frogs alone can exert “in
congress assembled,” as one night that I accompanied--soon after our
return from the Llanos--a military expedition to surprise a band of
revolutionists, who had been committing all sorts of depredations on the
plantations across the lake, and were preparing to attack the town of
Villa de Cura on the road to the plains. We started from Maracay in the
early part of a rainy night, and had to take a circuitous route--it
hardly deserved the name of road--around the eastern end of the lake to
reach the village of Magdaleno (headquarters of the marauders) before
daylight. As the expedition had to be conducted with much precaution,
neither drums nor bugles were allowed; consequently all orders had to be
given _viva-voce_. But when we reached the nearest point to the swampy
borders of the lake, I do not believe that even Stentor could have made
himself heard in the midst of that hellish uproar. To add to our
“confusion worse confounded,” the soil was so spongy and drenched with
the vernal deluge, that infantry and cavalry--we had no artillery--were
nearly swallowed up by the mud before firing a shot at the enemy;
fortunately we extricated ourselves before the latter were apprized of
our approach by a volley fired at our vanguard by one of their advanced
posts near the village, which, had they exhibited the least judgment in
military tactics, they might have stationed a little further off, where
we encountered a turbulent stream which only a portion of our force with
the utmost difficulty could cross. As it turned out, we entered the
village pell-mell with their advanced guard, and soon scattered them
over the neighboring mountains, where further pursuit was utterly
impossible.
What a glorious chance these swampy realms of Venezuela would offer some
French gourmand desirous of migrating to South America! And yet, strange
to say, our people will not touch that epicurean _bonne-bouche_, which
has conferred a name upon a whole civilized nation: _les sauvages!_
Another noisy creature that makes its appearance about this time also,
is the _chicharra_, an insect of the locust tribe, with which the woods
are literally filled, and whose sharp, shrill, and continuous chant
almost surpasses that of the frogs themselves. Fortunately, they are
only heard in the day-time; and our route being mostly over open
prairies, we were not so constantly tormented by them, except whenever
we had to pass through the woods infested by these noisy insects. It
seemed to me that for every leaf of those truly gigantic trees there
were twenty _chicharras_, all singing at the top of their voices,
without the least intermission. What they live upon--for I did not
perceive any damage to the foliage of the trees--and when do they get
their meals, my observations could not discover. Sullivan tells us of
two other insects of the tropics, which joined to the above, might rival
the nocturnal concerts of _maître crapeau_.
“During our ride, I was startled by hearing what I fully imagined was
the whistle of a steam-engine; but I was informed it was a noise caused
by a beetle that is peculiar to Tobago. It is near the size of a man’s
hand; and fixing itself against a branch commences a kind of drumming
noise, which by degrees quickens to a whistle. It was so loud that, when
standing fully twenty yards from the tree where it was in operation, the
sound was so shrill that you had to raise your voice considerably to
address your neighbor. The entomological productions of the tropics
struck me as being quite as astonishing in size and nature as the
botanical or zoological wonders. There is another beetle, called the
razor-grinder, that imitates the sound of a knife-grinding machine so
exactly, that it is impossible to divest oneself of the belief that one
is in reality listening to ‘some needy knife-grinder’ who has wandered
out to the tropical wilds on spec.”[67]
Some kinds of trees were also alive with another, though quite harmless
tenant, the _iguana_, a green lizard measuring nearly four feet in
length, and thick in proportion round the body, whose flesh is said to
surpass that of the tenderest chicken, and, I imagine--never having
tasted it--even that of the celebrated French _bonne-bouche_ referred
to above. The eggs which it lays in great profusion, I know from
personal experience, are quite sweet, and can be taken out of the
animal, without injury to the harmless creature, by cutting it open and
sewing it up again. While at San Jaime I heard a story in connection
with this reptile, which is very characteristic of the Spanish
commanders during the war of Independence, and whose memory is still
fresh throughout the country they overran with their exactions. It
appears that one of these gentlemen newly arrived from Spain, had
established his headquarters at San Jaime, which was by this time pretty
well cleaned out of everything that moved upon the earth. One day, the
_soi-disant_ commander was going his rounds about the town, when he met
an Indian boy carrying a brace of _iguanas_ suspended from a stick upon
his shoulders; these lizards, by virtue of their aerial prerogative, or
perhaps on account of their inexhaustible numbers, having escaped the
general onslaught upon other living creatures, not excepting the
inhabitants. The Spaniard, who had never seen iguanas in his country,
naturally had his curiosity aroused, and at once instituted as close an
interrogatory respecting these, as if a doomed “insurgent” had been
brought to him. “Say, boy, are they good to eat?”--“_Si, Señor_,”
replied the boy, who probably had never tasted in his life any other
kind of food.--“What will you take for them?” (quite
considerate).--“_Una peseta, Señor_” (a quarter of a dollar). A bargain
was at once made to the satisfaction of both parties, and the iguanas
were handed over to the orderly beside the commander, who gave the
proper directions to have them served for dinner; and so delighted was
His Excellency with the dish, that he published at once a _bando_
offering a reward of twenty-five cents for every brace of iguanas
brought to him. Three days afterwards he had to countermand the order
through another _bando_, threatening with capital punishment any one who
would _dare_ to bring him another brace of the horrid-looking creatures,
with which the juvenile portion of the town had by this time filled his
headquarters.
The favorite haunts of the iguana are the Ceiba, and the Sand-box
trees--_Ura crepitans_--both bristling with sharp thorns, a good
protection against the persecution of predatory boys; otherwise these
lizards fall an easy prey, when perched upon more accessible localities,
by merely “whistling for them;” for being, as it appears, very fond of
musical sounds, they are readily lulled to sleep by that means, while
the captors prepare a noose at the end of a long rod with which they
secure their victim. They do not always fare badly, however, for being
easily domesticated, they are kept as pets by the female portion of the
household, where they become very useful in ridding the cottage of
cockroaches and other vermin. Their bitterest enemies, however, are
roving, lazy Indians, who not only consider them a dainty morsel, but
take particular delight in tormenting these inoffensive creatures by
quartering them alive, and teazing them in various ways; thus, when any
person is in a bad plight his troubles are compared to those of the
iguana in that predicament, as will be seen in the following popular
ditty:
Los trabajos de la iguana
Cuando los Indios la cojen,
Le quitan los cuatro patas
Y le dicen, iguana, corre!
* *
When Indians seize the iguana
Her sorrows are begun,
They cut off her four feet,
And cry, “Iguana, run!”
How different the case would have been if, instead of the puny, harmless
creatures that iguanas are at the present day, their cruel tormentors
had lived in the times of their prototype, the _Iguanodon_, the most
colossal of the saurian reptiles, sixty feet in length, with a horn on
its snout as formidable as that of the rhinoceros, and teeth sharp
enough to munch to a jelly the most stately Ceiba or Sand-box tree. “It
is difficult to resist the feeling of astonishment, not to say
incredulity”--observes Figuier--“which creeps over one while
contemplating the disproportion so striking between this being of the
ancient world and its congener of the new.”[68] The Iguanodon was in
fact an iguana of huge dimensions, enjoying the freedom of the jungle
with the _Hylæosaurus_ and the _Megalosaurus_--two other saurian
monsters of the cretaceous period. The latter is represented as
possessing teeth in perfect accord with the destructive functions
developed in this formidable creature, for they partake at once of the
knife, the sabre, and the saw.
CHAPTER XXIX.
CALABOZO.
While quietly absorbed one day in the pleasures of the angler by the
banks of a creek not far from the camp, I was startled in my peaceful
occupation by the report of fire-arms in that direction. There were
rumors concerning the depredations of a band of robbers in that
neighborhood, and therefore I had every reason to suppose they had been
bold enough to attack our little band of resolute men with a view to
plundering the camp. To pack up lines and portfolio was the work of an
instant, and hurrying toward the camp, I arrived breathless and panting
with fatigue in time to get the last glimpses of the cause of this
uproar in the shape of a _lancha_ gliding quickly down the river. It
seems that the boatmen, delighted with the presence of the beloved
Chieftain of the Llanos, immediately recurred to the usual way of
expressing their enthusiasm, whether in peace or war, through the means
of the all-potent gunpowder. In the afternoon of the same day a
detachment of horse, composed for the most part of citizens from
Calabozo, arrived at the pass to invite the general to their city, and
to offer him protection, in case of need, from the band of desperadoes
above mentioned; these had already been bold enough to attack the prison
guard of Calabozo, with the object of carrying off one of its inmates, a
prominent citizen of the place who had been implicated in the robbery of
a large drove of mules. Although it was currently reported that his two
sons were the perpetrators of this unworthy act, yet, the fact that the
animals were found on his estate, and his stout refusal to implicate his
sons, made him responsible for the robbery; he was therefore
incarcerated and his trial had commenced when his sons, adding sedition
to theft, attacked the prison during the night with a band of peons from
their own and other cattle estates. The result was most disastrous to
the assailants; one of the sons having been badly wounded in the strife
was taken prisoner and shot in the public square; while the other
forfeited his life soon after during the vigorous persecution undertaken
by the citizens against his band. Yet, this handful of men, badly armed
and without leaders, but with a wide field of forest and savannas for
retreat, and plenty of cattle for subsistence, continued for a long time
to engage the serious attention of the government; and finally, when the
following revolution broke out, they formed the nucleus around which the
rebel party mustered very strong. In this manner many depredators not
only evade the punishment of justice for their crimes, but eventually
rise in importance, and even become leading spirits in the land where
the laws are powerless in repressing their excesses.
With this encouraging prospect before us, we bade adieu to the gay
brunettes of La Portuguesa and took the straightest route to Calabozo,
across the great _estero_ or swamp of Camaguan. An entire day was spent
in wading through this refreshing transit route, which, owing to the
increasing rise of the river, had already acquired the aspect of a broad
lake. Our horses were most of the time immersed in the water up to the
saddle girths, and few of them escaped total submersion, wherever there
were any depressions of the ground. Many of the baggage mules
especially, having no rider to guide them, lost their footing and rolled
in the water, to the great discomfort of those who had any articles of
apparel in their loads. Toward the afternoon we emerged from this dismal
swamp and made a landing at a place called Banco Largo, celebrated in
the annals of the horse epidemic as the cattle estate upon which the
wrath of Heaven fell after the blasphemous boasting of its owner.
We were beginning to appreciate the comfort of riding again upon firm
ground, when we observed a group of horsemen emerging from the palmar on
our right, galloping in the direction of our scouts, as if threatening
to cut them off. Fearing lest they might be the band of robbers whom we
had every reason to suspect of evil intentions, we put spurs to our
horses in hot chase of them. Mistaking us in turn for those gentry, the
strangers pushed on ahead of us to evade our pursuit. Our scouts
observing their retreat cut off by a larger force, were not slow in
their endeavors to reach the farm-house, where they could defend
themselves against the supposed robbers until we could come up to their
assistance. The suspected party being mounted on fresh horses, we found
it difficult, however, to overtake them. Fortunately one of their horses
stumbled accidentally in a hole, throwing down the rider, which
circumstance placed him in our hands; from him we ascertained that they
were not _salteadores_, but _vaqueros_ from a neighboring cattle farm,
whom the annoyances of the _mosquilla_ had compelled to ride through the
palmar at robber’s speed. His companions observing that we permitted him
to depart in peace, now slackened their pace, and had their fears
dispelled before they could carry the alarm to other places that the
_salteadores_ were close at hand.
At Venegas, a cattle State not far from Calabozo, we parted company with
our herds, abandoning their care and guidance to the efficient caporals,
while we proceeded direct to the Palmyra of the Llanos, always escorted
by the citizen-guard who had come so far to meet us. Another deputation
from the city, composed of the most prominent persons in the place, met
us at the pass of the Guárico, and after a few congratulatory
compliments, we rode on without stopping until we reached the village of
the Mision de Abajo. Here we remained long enough to change our wet
garments and partake of a collation prepared at the summer residence of
an old soldier of Independence. This village is famous on account of
several crystalline springs issuing from deep gullies made by the water
on a hard conglomerate composed of sand, pebbles, and nodules of
beautiful agates; the whole cemented together by a calcareous substance,
consisting probably of minute shells of infusoria.[69] Some of the
pools measure several fathoms in depth; yet the water is so transparent,
that the smallest pebble can be clearly discerned at the bottom; I also
noticed many small fish. These sparkling natural fountains were shaded
by groves of balsamiferous plants, such as copaiferas, amyris, and
carob-trees, the dark foliage of which was relieved by a carpet of green
grass extending for miles around, the whole presenting an appearance of
a well-cultivated and beautifully laid out English park. Thither resort,
during the sultry months of summer, the inhabitants of Calabozo, who now
came out in vast numbers to welcome us to their beautiful city.
The procession was formed on the extensive natural lawn, three miles in
length, between the village and the city, which rose in the distance
amidst the towering foliage of the fan-palms surrounding it in oriental
magnificence. As we entered the narrow, but cleanly streets, the firing
of muskets, pistols, and blunderbusses commenced amidst the _vivas_ of
the population, while a shower of roses fell on the favored head of the
“Lion of the Llanos,”[70] as he passed under the windows of the houses.
The city of Calabozo, capital of the province of El Guárico, is situated
upon the northern extremity of the _mesa_ or plateau of the same name,
commanding an extensive view of the picturesque country watered by the
beautiful river which gives its name to the province. Unlike all the
other towns of the Llanos, Calabozo is an extremely well-built city,
with streets running at right angles. The houses are neat and
commodious, ranking with the best in the capital of the republic. It
contains a number of fine churches, one of which was built at the
expense of a wealthy cattle proprietor of the place; it is one of the
finest temples in the country.
Words cannot do justice to the enthusiastic reception and boundless
hospitality extended to us on this occasion by the generous inhabitants.
In addition to the regular entertainments, such as breakfast and
dinner-parties, balls, and _fandangos_ provided daily in their city
residences, we were occasionally treated to a _fête champêtre, á la
llanera_, in their _quintas_ or country-houses. Most of these are
situated on the banks of the beautiful Guárico, on the slopes of the
plateau upon which the city is built; and there, amidst the most
luxuriant groves of orange, lemon, and other tropical fruits, the
abundant fare was served to us in true Llanero style. In the mean time
the _trovatori_ of the Llanos did not fail to enliven the scene with
their never-ending _trovas llaneras_, in which especial mention was made
of the most prominent persons to whom we were indebted for this
munificent hospitality; but more particularly to the past deeds of the
personage who prompted it. The broad fan-shaped leaves of the
_moriche_-palm. (Mauritia flexuosa)--the celebrated Tree of Life of the
Warraoun Indians--supplied the most appropriate table-cloths on these
occasions, spread in the vicinity of some murmuring spring, issuing in
most cases from the foot of the palm-trees. The natives believe that
this plant possesses the power of pumping water from the ground by means
of its matted roots: they evidently confound cause and effect in this,
as well as in many other cases; for this luxuriant palm will not thrive
except in moist ground. The slopes of the _mesa_ acting as a vast drain
to the plain above, offer this desideratum to the _moriche_-palm. Some
of the springs are of a thermal character, but not too warm to prevent
persons enjoying a most refreshing bath. I noticed, in one instance, two
springs running side by side, one of which was cold and the other warm.
The tide-flooded lands on the Lower Orinoco and Amazon rivers seem to be
particularly adapted to the development of this noble[71] species of
palm. “In those places,” says Wallace,[72] “there is no underwood to
break the view among interminable ranges of huge columnar trunks, rising
unbroken by branch or leaf to the height of eighty or a hundred feet, a
vast natural temple, which does not yield in grandeur and sublimity to
those of Palmyra or Athens.”
A full-grown leaf of this tree is quite a load for one man to carry. The
petiole, or leaf-stock, is a solid beam ten or twelve feet long, while
the leaf or fan itself measures nine or ten across. The fruit, in
bunches of three hundred and upward, perfectly resembles the cones of
the white pine. When arrived at its maturity, it is yellow within and
scarlet without, covered with scales.
The benefits of this life-supporting tree may be reckoned as numerous as
the number of days in the year. From the unopened leaves the wild man of
the forest obtains a fibre remarkable for its toughness, and which he
twists into cordage for his bow-string and fishing tackle, or weaves it
into elegant hammocks and aprons for himself and family; he also plats
them neatly into mats and cloaks, and even sails for his canoe; when
fully expanded, these leaves form the best thatch for his hut. From the
terminal bud or inner layer of leaves, commonly styled the cabbage of
the palm, the Indian procures a vegetable quite analogous to, and more
tender and delicious than a similar production of the garden. The fruit
in like manner affords a variety of alimentary substances, according to
the season in which it is gathered, whether its saccharine pulp is fully
mature, or whether it is in a green state. Like the plantain and the
celebrated peach-palm of the Rio Negro, it is either eaten raw, when
fully ripe, or roasted--in the latter case tasting very much like
chestnuts. Soaked in water and allowed to ferment, it forms a pleasant
drink somewhat resembling _pulque_. The ripe fruit also yields by
boiling in water, an oil which is readily converted into soap by means
of the ashes of a Clusia, (_quiripití_.) “The spathe, too--a fibrous bag
which envelops the fruit before maturity--is much valued by the Indian,
furnishing him with an excellent and durable cloth. Taken off entire, it
forms bags in which he keeps the red paint for his toilet, or the silk
cotton for his arrows, or he even stretches out the larger ones to make
himself a cap, cunningly woven by nature without a seam or joining. When
cut open longitudinally and pressed flat, it is used to preserve his
delicate feather ornaments and gala dresses, which are kept in a chest
of plaited palm-leaves between layers of smooth _bussú_ cloth.”[73] The
trunk of the male tree contains a farinaceous meal, _yuruma_, resembling
sago, and like the fecula of the tapioca-root, it is readily converted
into bread by simply drying it on hot earthen plates. Allowed to rot in
the stem, this meal gives birth to numerous fat worms, highly esteemed
by Indian gourmands. Tapped near the base of the leaves, the trunk
yields also an abundance of a sweet liquor, which, when fermented, forms
one of the various kinds of palm-wines. Such are in substance some of
the most useful products of this veritable tree of life, with which the
existence of a rude people is as intimately connected, as that of
civilized man is with the luxuries and comforts that surround his home.
“When the Tamanacks,” says Humboldt, “are asked how the human race
survived the great deluge, the ‘age of water’ of the Mexicans, they say:
‘a man and a woman saved themselves on a high mountain, called Tamanacu,
situated on the banks of the Asiberu, and casting the fruit of the
moriche-palm, they saw the seeds contained in these fruits produce men
and women who repeopled the earth.’ Thus we find in all its simplicity,
among nations now in a savage state, a tradition which the Greeks
embellished with all the charms of imagination.”
To protect themselves from the attacks of mosquitoes and wild beasts,
the tribes roaming over the great delta of the Orinoco, are in the habit
of raising between the huge trunks of the palm-trees hanging platforms
skilfully interwoven with the foliage, which allow them to live in the
trees like monkeys. The floor of these aërial habitations is covered
with a coating of mud, on which the fires for household purposes are
made. Thus when the first explorers of the Orinoco River penetrated for
the first time into that exuberant _terra incognita_, they were
surprised to observe, among the tops of the palm-trees, flames issuing
at night as if suspended in the air. “The Guaranis still owe the
preservation of their physical, and perhaps their moral independence, to
the half-submerged, marshy soil over which they roam with a light and
rapid step, and to their elevated dwellings in the trees, a habitation
never likely to be chosen from motives of religious enthusiasm by an
American Stylites.”[74]
I also met for the first time at Calabozo with the most splendid
rose-bush, or rather tree, I had ever seen, and which appears to be
indigenous to that hot region, as I am told that the same grows in great
luxuriance at San Fernando and Ciudad Bolívar, but was unknown to the
rest of the country previous to our visit to the Llanos. Being
passionately fond of flowers myself, I did not neglect to bring along
with me this beautiful new variety to our home in the Valleys of Aragua,
where it soon displayed its countless blossoms to the admiring gaze of
the passers by. From thence it was also carried by me to Caracas, where
it soon became the general favorite of the fair dames of the Capital,
who by unanimous accord named it, not as might be supposed after the
introducer, but after his father, with which the former was equally well
satisfied; and certainly no more beautiful compliment could have been
paid their favorite champion, than by associating his name with the
acknowledged Queen of Beauty among flowers. The size attained by this
plant surpasses any thing of the kind with which I am acquainted. When
favored by a dry and hot climate like that of Calabozo, its shoots
attain a height of fifteen to twenty feet with a corresponding
thickness; so that a hammock with its usual load can be supported
between two trees; and as these put out a great number of branches, each
of them loaded with flowers or buds ready to expand, they present a
sight truly splendid. A hundred blossoms may be plucked each morning of
the year without marring its luxuriant beauty. I have myself counted
over one thousand buds on a single plant. These flowers are of a
delicate pink color, with very regular petals of a deciduous nature; so
that in detaching themselves from the calix, they cover the ground upon
which the parent grows, with a rosy carpet.
“Sin flores y sin hermosas
Qué fuera de los mortales?
Bien habeis nacido, rosas,
Sobre el lodo de los males.”
--AROLAS.
TRANSLATION.
“Without beauty, without flowers,
What would be this world of ours?
Well, that e’en in misery dire
Find we roses ’mid the mire.”
The truth of the above sentiment we soon realized; from this time a
succession of misfortunes, commencing with a violent attack of fever
which nearly carried us all to the grave, and ending with the
destruction of our property and peaceful homes, followed one another
without intermission.
The fever was doubtless induced by our previous exposure on the journey
and subsequent dissipations at Calabozo, although the city itself is one
of the healthiest spots in the republic. Unfortunately, our physician,
who was blessed with a very jealous wife, had been summoned home by his
better half on hearing of our approach to the fairy metropolis of the
Llanos. However, there were two or three medical gentlemen in the place,
and these, with the unremitting kindness and assistance of the ladies,
managed to keep us alive until a skilful physician, who had been sent
for, arrived from the Valleys of Aragua. The critical condition of our
respected Leader and sire particularly gave them serious fears, as the
fever in his case had commenced to assume a malignant character. Courier
after courier was despatched across the miry plains to hasten the
arrival of the doctor, while the generous inhabitants vied with each
other in the anxious cares with which they surrounded the sick-bed of
their beloved guest. Years have rolled on, and many changes have since
taken place, both in the affairs of the nation and in the fortunes of
the subject of these remarks; yet, their love for the “Martyr of San
Antonio,”[75] far from diminishing, seems to have increased during his
protracted exile; for, as late as 1861, after the overthrow of Monagas,
a petition addressed to Pres. Tovar asking his recall, and signed by all
the inhabitants of Calabozo, has come to hand, protesting in the
strongest terms against the impolicy and injustice of leaving him still
in exile when the nation most needs his counsel and influence. Justly
deprecating the horrors of civil war and the want of unity which have
existed in the republic since the downfall of the Monagas party, the
petitioners conclude with this feeling outburst of patriotic solicitude
for the absence of their favorite champion: “From the far-off shores of
the Arauca, to the sources of our own Guárico, our anxious horsemen
watch incessantly the far horizon, inquire from the passing breezes of
the destinies of the Hero, who has condemned himself to voluntary exile,
and then exclaim with a sigh: ‘Were he again to lead us on to battle,
Victory would be forthcoming, strengthened by Peace, and blessed by the
vanquished.’”
CONCLUSION.
Here, courteous reader, end our rough journeys across the Llanos, and
our real troubles commence; for having been involved--contrary to my own
inclination, it must be owned--in the political strifes so prevalent in
Spanish America, I have been compelled to wander ever since, from land
to land, like the mysterious Jew of the French novelist, Eugene Sue,
with neither settled home nor abiding place of rest. What I saw and
learned worth relating during my peregrinations, hither and thither,
will make the subject of the _Second Series_ of these sketches, which,
if your patience is not exhausted or my repertoire does not give out, I
trust to lay before you at no distant day. In the meantime you must
excuse any imperfections in the style and composition of this book,
considering that I write in a language which is not my own, and which
often perplexes even those who have more claims to it than myself, so
many are its grammatical irregularities.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] _Vide_ New York “Herald,” of July 17th and Aug. 5th, 1867.
[2] _Vide_ New York “World,” of Aug. 5th, 1866.
[3] Author of “Brazil and the Brazilians.”
[4] “Such is the state to which colonial politics and
mal-administration have during three centuries reduced a country
which, for natural wealth, may vie with all that is most wonderful on
earth.”
HUMBOLDT, _Travels_, vol. iii., c. 27.
[5] The late discoveries made in Venezuelian Guiana prove that the
statements of Sir Walter Raleigh and other adventurers of his time
were not without foundation, as gold of the finest quality and in
the greatest abundance, is now gathered over an extent of territory
surpassing in richness and natural resources the famous California and
Australia placers.
[6] “Rambles and Scrambles in North and South America.”, by Edward
Sullivan, Esq. London, 1852.
[7] Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.
[8] The writer is mistaken; the Saddle stands four or five miles east
of this point, which is called _La Cumbre_, or the Summit.
[9] Centigrade thermom.
[10] Humboldt--Travels.
[11] Travels in Peru and India.
[12] Gosse’s “Romance of Natural History.”
[13] Romance of Natural History.
[14] A species of Mimosa.
[15] Slavery has since been abolished in Venezuela.
[16] “Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.”
[17] Andres Bello.
[18] Sullivan.--Rambles and Scrambles in North and South America.
[19] Linnæus, in his enthusiasm for the delightful beverage
obtained from the cacao bean, named the plant that produces it
_theobroma_--food for the gods.
[20] Journeys across the Pampas.
[21] Mons. de Lavayesse, in his interesting work on Venezuela, makes
some pertinent remarks on this subject worthy of the consideration
and study of learned physiologists. “Why is it,” he says, “that
individuals proceeding from a mixture of African and indigenous
American blood, have greater strength, finer forms, more intellectual
faculties and moral energy, than the Negro or Indian? Why, although
the white be, in general, superior in strength of body, mental powers,
and in moral force, to the aboriginal American and to the negro--why,
I ask, are the individuals born of the union of a white with an Indian
woman, (the Mestizos, for instance,) inferior in mental and corporeal
qualities to the Zambos? Why are the Mestizos generally distinguished
by finer figures, agreeable countenances, and in mildness and
docility of their dispositions? Why is the mulatto, son of a white
and a negress, superior to the Zambo in intellectual faculties,
but his inferior in physical? Why is it, that when those races are
mixed, their progeny is remarkable for a more healthy and vigorous
constitution, and for more vital energy, than the individuals born
in the same climate of indigenous European or African blood, without
mixture?”
[22] See Humboldt, Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.
[23] Since the above first appeared in print, I find this fact
corroborated by Sir J. Emerson Tennent, in his interesting “Sketches
on the NAT. HIST. OF CEYLON,” as practised by the natives of that
island.
[24] _Rastrero_--a native of El Rastro--literally, a mean rogue.
[25] The eyes of crocodiles are green.
[26] Centigrade Thermom. = 97° to 126° Fah.
[27] Wanderings in South America.
[28] Dr. Lindley, speaking of the properties of Aristolochias in
general, and more especially of A. serpentaria--a North American
species--observes: “As its name implies, it is used as an antidote to
serpent bites, a quality in which several other species participate,
among which may be mentioned A. trilobata, a Jamaica plant, also
employed as a sudden and powerful sudorific; and the Cartagena
A. unguicida, concerning which Jaquin writes, that the juice of
the root, chewed and introduced into the mouth of a serpent, so
stupefies it that it may for a long time be handled with impunity;
if the reptile is compelled to swallow a few drops, it perishes in
convulsions.”--_Vegetable Kingdom._
[29] The Romance of Natural History--Second Series, chap. ix.
[30] _Tio Tigre_ and _Tio Conejo_--Uncle Tiger and Uncle Rabbit. These
are the heroes of endless adventures, the mother’s never-failing
source of amusement to her children, supposed to have taken place in
the woods of Venezuela.
[31] Waterton’s “Wanderings in South America.”
[32] Gosse: The Romance of Natural History.
[33] The pulpy covering of the seeds of Bixa orellana.
[34] Gosse: The Romance of Natural History--First Series, p. 281.
[35] Raised by a warlike tribe of Indians inhabiting the peninsula of
La Goagira, on the Gulf of Maracaibo.
[36] The pig-pen.
[37] Amateur.
[38] Sheep-skin.
[39] For explanation, see page 231.
[40] Howling monkey.
[41] Horsemen furnished with lazos.
[42] Nevertheless, Paez took particular care to preserve the breed of
cattle on the plains of Apure. Notwithstanding that he was continually
engaged in war, he issued most effective orders to prevent its
extinction. The origin of all the cattle estates which are at present
to be found in Venezuela is to be traced to the Apure plains.
[43] Uncle. A name by which the Llaneros frequently address Paez.
[44] _Recollections of a Service of Three Years during the War of
Extermination in the Republics of Venezuela and Colombia._ London,
1828. See also _Campaigns and Cruises in Venezuela_. London, 1831.
[45] Autobiografia del General José A. Paez. Nueva York, 1867.
[46] See page 62.
[47] _Natural History of Ceylon._
[48] Gosse, _Romance of Natural History_.
[49] Travels on the Rio Negro.
[50] “Piscidea erithryna and Jacquinia armillaris.”--_Humboldt._
[51] Guerior? This was the name of a town founded at the confluence
of the Paragua and Caroni rivers, long since destroyed or
abandoned.--_The Author._
[52] Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.
[53] Keymis, the lieutenant of Raleigh.
[54] The first of the voyages undertaken at Raleigh’s expense was
in 1595; the second, that of Laurence Keymis, in 1696; the third,
described by Thomas Masham, in 1597; and the fourth, in 1617. The
first and the last only were performed by Raleigh in person. This
celebrated man was beheaded October the 29th, 1618.--HUMBOLDT.
[55] The predictions of the old Missionary of the Orinoco have been
singularly verified in these latter times by the still more recent
discoveries in Peru; for, as I write this, the news comes from that
country that, in the mountains of Chanchamayo, Upper Amazon, “some
gold mines have been discovered, which, for their abundance and
richness, surpass those of California.”--_Nacional_, of Lima.
[56] Jorge de Spira (George von Speier) and Felipe de Utre (Utre, Von
Huten), as well as Federmann, were all Germans.
[57] See map, at frontispiece.
[58] Conquest of Peru, vol. ii., p. 164.
[59] “All fables have some real foundation; that of El Dorado
resembles those myths of antiquity which, travelling from
country to country, have been successively adapted to different
localities.”--_Humboldt_, vol. iii., p. 26, _Bohn’s Edition_.
[60] Travels to the Equinoctial Regions.
[61] The Naturalist on the Amazon.
[62] A kind of beer made from Indian-corn.
[63] Humboldt, Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America.
[64] The Naturalist on the Amazons, vol. ii., p. 260. London, 1863.
[65] See London Athenæum of August 3, 1863, which contains a full
review of both books.
[66] South American Sketches, by Thos. Woodbine Hinchliff, F. R. G. S.
[67] Rambles in North and South America.
[68] _La Terre avant le Déluge._
[69] See Darwin, Geology of the Pampas, pp. 129-171. Murray, 1852.
[70] Leon de los Llanos, or Leon de Payara--the appellation given
to General Pæz by the people after the action of San Juan de Payara
in 1837, when he defeated with his body-guard of sixty Llaneros the
forces of the rebel chieftain Farfan, numbering one thousand.
[71] Linneus, in his enthusiasm for the splendid family of palms,
calls them the princes of the vegetable kingdom.
[72] Palms of the Amazon and Rio Negro.
[73] Wallace, Palms of the Amazon and Rio Negro.
[74] The followers of a sect founded in Syria by the fanatical
pillar-saint, Simeon Sinanites.--HUMBOLDT.
[75] _San Antonio_, an old castle in Cumaná, where General Paez was
kept in durance for nine months by the late ruler of Venezuela,
General José T. Monagas.
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