Up the Orinoco and down the Magdalena

by J. A. Zahm

But ’gainst broad ocean urges far

A rival sea of roaring war;

While in ten thousand eddies driven,

The billows fling their foam to heaven,

And the pilot seeks in vain,

Where rolls the river, where the main.”[1]

—Scott.

THE ISLAND OF THE BLESSED TRINITY

The morning following our departure from the Pearl Islands we were delighted to find our good ship anchored in the beautiful Gulf of Paria. Thus, almost before we were aware of it, we found ourselves reposing on the waters of the famed Orinoco which we had made such futile efforts to reach from Caracas and Victoria. The Gulf of Paria, as is known, is just north of several of the largest estuaries of the Orinoco and the line of demarcation between the salt water of the Atlantic and the fresh water of Venezuela’s great river is usually quite marked. As we entered the gulf, through the Dragon’s Mouth, we had the mainland on our starboard and the island of Trinidad on our port quarter. Although the waters of the Orinoco now enter the Atlantic through two channels—the Boca del Draco and the Boca de la Sierpe—there is no doubt that Trinidad was in recent geological times a part of the mainland of South America and that the Orinoco, instead of reaching the ocean, as it now does, flowed almost directly across the island through a depression which is still quite conspicuous. It will thus be seen that during long geologic ages there has been an intimate physical connection between Trinidad and the Orinoco as there has been a close commercial connection between the two ever since the Spanish conquest.