Venezuela

by Leonard V. Dalton

In Carabobo we begin to leave the more densely populated region of the Centro, and find something of the wildness of virgin territory away from the towns. Thus we have timber and dye-woods and uncultivated rubber exported as well as the products of the pastoral and agricultural industries.

The capital of the State is Valencia, once greater and more important than it is now, much of the produce of Aragua which formerly passed through the city being carried eastward by the Great Venezuelan Railway, while the Bolivar Railway now carries direct to and from Barquisimeto goods which in earlier days came in and passed out through Valencia. The industry of the inhabitants has saved the place from absolute decay, and the population at the last census was over 54,000.

As we have already seen, Valencia is connected with the capital by rail, and there is a cart-road for slow traffic, while the Telephone Company has a line as far as Puerto Cabello, passing through Valencia. For its internal comfort, the city has a good supply of water brought by aqueduct from the hills, tramways, electric light, hotels, and plazas. The public buildings include the State Capitol and Municipal Theatre, and there is a column in the Plaza Bolivar commemorating the battle on the campo from which the State takes its name. The large cotton-mills testify to an attempt to develop the resources of the neighbourhood; flour-mills and cigarette-factories deal with some of the produce of the fertile valleys to the west. Coffee, sugar, alcohol, live beasts and hides, with other agricultural products, all find their way to the markets of Valencia; nor should the marble quarries of the hills be forgotten, since the country may one day use more of its own ornamental stones in place of importing them over the high tariff wall.

Twenty-three miles westward from Valencia (which by the way, is unusually hot for its elevation) is the town of Montalbán, higher up in the hills, with a population of nearly 9,000. It was named after Montalbán in Aragon, and rejoices in a mean annual temperature of 73°F. On the fertile river banks the Montalbanians used once to grow excellent grapes, as well as wheat and indigo of fine quality. With the introduction of coffee in 1813, it was found more profitable to devote the land to that, and the cultivation of the fruit, for which it was formerly famous, has died out.

The river-valleys and mountain-slopes of Carabobo are often forest-covered, and wild rubber is sufficiently common to be collected. From all the western region of the State the produce of field and farm is brought by road to Valencia, and thence, if intended for export, sent down the English railway to Puerto Cabello.

This line was begun during the construction of that from La Guaira to Carácas, but presented in some respects a less difficult task, since the highest point to which it must rise to cross the watershed of the coastal cordillera is only 1,950 feet above the sea. The original scheme of ordinary traction was changed to include a short piece of 8 per cent. grade with a rack engine, working on a cogged centre rail, the rest of the descent is then easily accomplished.

Puerto Cabello has one of the best harbours in Venezuela, which possesses the additional merit of being entirely natural. The name is a witness to the excellence of the shelter, since the Spaniards changed Borburata to Cabello in token of the fact that in calm waters of the harbour a ship would be held with a hair (Sp. Cabello). On the outer side are the red iron-roofed buildings of the Venezuela Naval Dockyard, next door to the fortress, the submarine dungeons of which have too often been occupied by innocent men, both in colonial and republican times. Through Puerto Cabello is exported most of the produce of Carabobo, Yaracuy, and the Llano States of Cojedes and Portuguesa, with some from Lara, Trujillo, and Mérida. The new buildings of the Venezuela Meat Syndicate are near the station, an enterprise which seems likely, when once fairly started, to give Puerto Cabello an increasing importance, in addition to encouraging improvement in stock-farming. The various members of the staff make up a small English colony, who are largely responsible for the presence of English papers in the waterside club, a pleasant place to spend the sultry evenings.

Round about the port there are numbers of attractive villas and plantations, but the most fruitful land is in the neighbourhood of Ocumare, some twenty miles eastward along the coast. The town is situated near the mouth of a deep valley, and, but for the sea breezes, would be unbearably hot. As it is, the climate which would, untempered, be so unpleasant for men, is excellent for cocoa, and that of Ocumare has a deserved fame. From the higher lands behind come cattle and cereals to swell the trade of the town, whose population has increased greatly since the last census.

The agricultural resources of the “Centro” have received, as we have seen, a moderate share of attention, and if they are not developed to anything approaching a full extent, the region is nevertheless one in which less remains to be done than elsewhere in the republic. There are said to be “mines” of all manner of metals unworked as yet, particularly in the west, but without months of work by a mining engineer it would be impossible to verify such a statement. At present all that can be said is that it may be true, and perhaps some day the copper, silver, iron, and gold of the Centro will be established realities, and not mere words in “accusations” of territory for mining purposes.