The lower part of the city should not be ignored, for here are the commercial houses, the markets, Custom House, arsenals, Post Office, factories, and many of the stores. There is one pretty plaza, but the streets are very narrow, and at night it is wholly deserted for the residential section above, save for a few of the poorer classes who live on the steep hillside.
On the boundary of this state are the Paulo Affonso Falls of the San Francisco River, worth visiting if time permits; the valley is one of the most fertile regions of the globe. A line of comfortable steamers subsidized by the State, running to Pernambuco, gives opportunity to change at Peneda, about 30 miles up the river, to a smaller boat, which ascends to Piranhas, near the foot of the cataract, 150 miles farther, a two days’ journey. A railway runs from Piranhas to Jatoba, 71 miles, to navigation above the Falls. Pedras, the Falls station, is about half way. Then a ride of two hours or so brings one to the great cañon. Men living near, for a small fee, will act as guides. There are various rapids and one high fall; the river first compressed by rock banks is divided into five narrow branches through rock clefts, four of which tumbling down 15 or 20 feet become a mass of foam and rush down a steep incline, with a roar audible for miles, in splendid rapids. The four branches soon unite, rushing on to the great Fall, the Mai da Cachoeira, where all five take a grand leap of 190 feet, which may best be surveyed lying prone on a flat rock 72 feet above the Fall, too awe-inspiring a sight to be enjoyed by every one, but to those of steady nerve a magnificent spectacle. A visit to the Bat’s Cave may as well be omitted.
Unless one stays over a steamer in Bahia, one may have but a glimpse of the city’s many attractions and of course none of the unique, solitary, yet some day to be famous, waterfalls. Five or six hours only on shore are generally permitted to the tourist, though the steamer is likely to delay several more after the return on board. But it does not do to take chances on so important a matter.
From Bahia the sail is generally to Port au Spain, Trinidad, where the hours will be a pleasure after ten days on the broad ocean. Once more you are in a land where you will hear English “as she is spoke” in various ways by persons of various complexions. A drive past the Victoria Institute, the Government House, and the market place to the reservoir, the Botanical Garden, and to the beautiful Queen’s Park Hotel will be greatly enjoyed; and the opportunity for shopping in the excellent stores or from the natives who bring wares to the boat will be improved by some whose purses are not yet empty. On the regular steamers, there is no opportunity to visit the celebrated Pitch Lake some miles away, a lake with an area of 114 acres, on the surface of which one may walk if he moves along promptly. This is the main source of the supply of asphalt used in the United States.
The next morning the steamer is at Bridgetown in Barbados, a pleasant old town where some hours may be spent in a drive, a stroll, or in shopping to buy a few curios or embroideries. This is surely British soil, though 90 per cent of the inhabitants are negroes. Near the landing is Trafalgar Square, with a bronze statue of Nelson in the center, justly his due as it was he who preserved Great Britain’s West Indian possessions in 1805. Here are the government buildings and St. Michael’s, the Anglican church. A Carnegie Library and a Salvation Army Building not far away may be reminders that we are approaching home. The Woman’s Self-Help Association, also on the Square, invites and deserves patronage; for Indian pottery and other curios, lace, embroidery, and various edibles may here be procured at modest prices. A house called Wilton at the corner of Bay street and Chelsea road is of interest as being in 1751 the temporary residence of George Washington, the companion of his elder brother Lawrence, who having contracted consumption had come here in the hope of recovering his health. Dying a year afterward, Lawrence bequeathed his estate of Mount Vernon to his brother George.
Seven days later Sandy Hook is passed; the Statue of Liberty, the old and new skyscrapers draw near. Every one is glad to return, however delightful the journey. Some, if not all, of the passengers will in future have a little broader outlook; regarding the Other Americans with somewhat more of respect; well knowing now that there are agreeable scenes to be revisited, remote regions to be explored, and for those who have the judgment, tact, and energy, wonderful opportunities for enterprise.
CHAPTER XXXIII
SOUTH AMERICAN TRADE
Although information and advice in regard to South American trade have been liberally proffered in many books and magazines, and in various addresses to commercial bodies, a few additional remarks may be of service; as from current report, cogent need still exists to reiterate with emphasis many suggestions previously urged, some of these in a magazine article of my own as long ago as July, 1907, but equally important today.
Except for certain facts of common knowledge, it would go without saying that the first and most important point for a manufacturer to consider is whether or not he really cares to cultivate South American trade, and will make a determined and persistent effort to secure and preserve it; a few occasional sales certainly not being worth while. To form an intelligent opinion on this question conditions must be thoroughly understood.