Access—Roads versus railways—Mineral wealth—Maracaibo coffee—Forests—San Cristobal—Water supply—Industries—Roads—Rubio—Táchira Petroleum Company—San Antonio—Lobatera—Colón—Interrupted communications—Pregonero—El Cobre—Old mines—La Grita—Seboruco copper—Mérida—The Bishop and the Bible—Eternal snows—Earthquakes—Electric light—Road schemes—Gold and silver—Lagunillas—Urao—Wayside hospitality—Puente Real—Primitive modes of transport—Las Laderas—The Mucuties Valley—Tovar—Mucuchíes—The highest town in Venezuela—The páramos—Timotes—Trujillo—Valera—Water supply—La Ceiba Railway—Betijoque and Escuque—Boconó—Santa Ana—Carache—Unknown regions—Possibilities of the Andes.
Were I asked which of all the regions of Venezuela I thought the most attractive and interesting to the general traveller, I should have little hesitation in replying, “The Andes.” The three mountain States constitute a territory where, along with an appreciable extent of development, there is a complete absence of the commonplace both in the country and its people. The deep valleys and gorges and snow-clad peaks, with towns and cities perched on mountain-sides and gravel plateaux, might be paralleled elsewhere in South America but not in this republic, and though the inhabitants of the towns have often travelled in America and Europe on modern steamers and trains, to reach their homes they have, like their less aspiring countrymen, to jog on mule-back for many leagues over rough mountain paths which lead them frequently along precipices and through all but unfordable rivers, and are marked by crosses commemorating the violent deaths of previous travellers. It is a region where, a few miles from the towns, are great stretches of unknown uplands and forest-clad slopes, unexplored territory side by side with the habitation of some of the most industrious communities of the republic.
The Andes may be reached from the north via the Bolivar Railway and from Maracaibo either by way of La Ceiba, whence the railway brings the traveller into the foothills of Trujillo at the north end, or by Encontrados, when he enters Táchira, the most southerly of the trio of States. There is a fourth route along the disused railway from Santa Barbara, on the Escalante, up the valley of the Chama and so into Mérida, but this is best avoided by those who do not hanker after unnecessary discomforts and the less pleasant type of adventure. Within the Andes proper everything is carried on mules, and on the narrow paths one has continually to pass or be passed by trains of laden beasts, bearing the produce of the hills and valleys or the imported wares of Europe and America.
Over the swiftest and deepest rivers there are generally bridges, but a stream flooded by heavy rain may hold one up for a week or more, and where the track is along the sides of precipitous ravines wash-outs and landslides are often serious obstacles. Despite the industry of the inhabitants, the primitive character of the roads in the Andes is a great hindrance to adequate development of the country, and when one hears of machinery for use in Mérida taking a year to get there from the terminus of the La Ceiba Railway one wonders that the prominence of the Andinos in politics has not secured for their States some beginning of a system of adequate roads suitable for wheel traffic. Railways have been projected, but the cost of building these in virgin country generally renders the freights so high that they do little or nothing for development. Roads may appeal less to the imagination than the more modern means of communication, but there can be little doubt that the often despised road in a country like Venezuela would for a time be a better investment for public, if not for private, capital.
A STREET IN LA GRITA.
PUENTE REAL: GORGE OF THE CHAMA.
The mineral wealth of the Andes is as yet practically untouched, yet copper and silver are known to occur in Táchira and Mérida; gold is said to have been found in the latter, and coal and petroleum occur in all three States.
The Andine States include some of the best coffee-lands in the republic, and Maracaibo coffee, as it is called, enjoys great favour in the United States. In the warmer regions good cocoa can be grown, while wheat is common in the upper temperate zones. Tobacco also flourishes in Mérida and Trujillo.