MARACAIBO BAY.
SAN TIMOTEO: LAKE OF MARACAIBO.
CHAPTER IX
ZULIA
The Lake of Coquibacoa in the sixteenth century and now—Wealth and importance of the State—Area and population—Waterways—Forests—Mineral wealth—Savannahs—Maracaibo—Harbour and dredging schemes—Cojoro—Wharves and warehouses of Maracaibo—Exports—Population—German colony—Buildings—Industries—Tramways—Coches—Lake steamers—Ancient craft—The comedy of the bar—Railways—Communication with Colombia—Altagracia—Santa Rita—A western Gibraltar—An eventful history—San Carlos de Zulia—Sinamaica—Vegetable milk—Timber—Copaiba—Fisheries—The “Maracaibo lights.”
When Alonso de Ojeda, first of all Europeans, entered what was then the Lake of Coquibacoa, he was chiefly struck by the unusual appearance of the Indian huts, built on platforms over the shallow waters, and were it possible for any one to-day to cruise round the “lake” without observing the port of Maracaibo, he might come away with the impression that the greater part of the State of Zulia has not changed since the sixteenth century. Strangely enough, this impression would not be far from the truth as regards the extent of cultivation and settlement, and yet, thanks to the great fertility of the soil in these steaming lowlands, and to the commercial importance of the capital, the State of Zulia is already one of the most important and wealthy in the Union of Venezuela.
The area within its boundaries amounts to some 23,000 square miles, the greater part of which is inhabited (if we except the concentrated populations of Maracaibo and the Goajira territory) by about 56,000 souls. Even if we take the total population the density is but 6·4 to the square mile, in a State whose resources might support with ease ten times that number, while its death-rate is one of the lowest in the republic.
Among the most valuable assets of the State are its abundant waterways. Not only is the central part occupied by a brackish-water lake on which small goletas or schooners and steamers can ply, but through the level plains around flow innumerable rivers, most of which are navigable for the greater part of their length. The forests which cover much of the area are at once a benefit and a hindrance to progress, the valuable timber and natural products to be found there being only in part a compensation for the obstacle they present to the increase of the much more valuable cultivated fruits. It would be a matter for regret were the forests to be indiscriminately cut down, but the absence of clearings is not due to any prudential reasons of this sort.
While the other resources of Zulia have received more or less attention, its mines, for one reason or another, have never been developed. Yet indications of petroleum or asphalt and outcrops of coal are to be met with all round the lake. The salinas near Maracaibo are not mines in the normal sense of the word, but in so far as their product is a mineral, it may be said that this is an exception to the rule, the salt of Zulia being well known in the Andes and Colombia.