There must be great possibilities for such a region as that of the Andes, where much territory remains unexplored, while it includes, as it were, all the climates of the globe. Many plants have already been acclimatised, and of those whose cultivation is already carried on on a larger scale much more might be made; the coffee and cocoa of the moister tropical valleys, the wheat of the open higher zones, the possible cotton of the Chama, Carache, and other valleys are among their number. The possible culture of fruits of all kinds for which a demand might be expected in Venezuela generally as the country develops, and the less permanent resources of mines and forests, make an increasing prosperity for the Andine States almost assured, but adequate and permanent means of transport are required before they can be developed to their full extent. The long mule-trains on the mountain roads are picturesque, but roads fit for wheel traffic would leave these where desirable and yet provide the means of quicker and cheaper transit for the produce of the fertile valleys of the Cordillera.
CHAPTER XI
LARA, YARACUY, AND FALCÓN
The original Venezuela—Ancient cities—Communications—Barquisimeto—Fortified stores—Productions—The Bolivar Railway—Duaca—Aroa copper-mines—A precarious house-site—In the mine—Bats and cockroaches—“El Purgatorio”—Blue and green stalactites—San Felipe—The Yaracuy Valley—Nirgua—Yaritagua—Tocuyo—The “coach” to Barquisimeto—Quíbor—Minas—Carora—An ill-advised scheme—Siquisique—Steamboats on the Tocuyo—San Luis—Coro—The first cathedral of South America—Goat-farms—Fibre—La Vela—Capatárida tobacco—Curaçao—A fragment of Holland—A mixed language—Trade—Sanitation—The islands.
The three States whose boundaries include to-day the Segovia Highlands and the Coro Lowlands represent the greater part of the original province of Venezuela, as known to the Welser Governors. The region is for the most part high, with no exceptional peaks, and therefore may be considered as an elevated plateau, separated from the sea by a belt of plains. In Yaracuy there are fertile valleys, as well as in the northern part of Lara and the south of Falcón; in Lara, too, round Carora, we have llanos for cattle-grazing, and Barquisimeto receives much wheat from the surrounding country. The Coro plains are mostly dry and barren, covered with cactus, which nourishes thousands of goats.
The towns and cities of this region are, almost without exception, of sixteenth-century foundation, and include, therefore, the majority of the earliest settlements in Venezuela. Despite the fact that a railway connects Barquisimeto with the coast, communication with much of Lara is only carried out by primitive means. A projected branch line to San Felipe, capital of Yaracuy, will further open up that fertile valley, and the products of northern Falcón are mainly shipped through La Vela and Curaçao. Both upland and lowland plains are very suitable for wheel traffic, and natural carreteras there contrast favourably with the bridle paths of the hills, though little labour has been expended upon them.
Barquisimeto was founded in 1552, at the northern edge of the plain, which extends thence to Tocuyo, in appearance like the dry bed of an ancient lake. As the centre for the produce of the northern Andes, as well as Lara, the town has a busy aspect, busier even than Maracaibo. In the recent troublous years the conflicting parties seem to have met in and around Barquisimeto, and as a result one is struck by the heavy iron doors, often pitted with bullet marks, of the big commercial houses, which were thus at times turned into fortresses. The plains and valleys of Lara sent to the markets of Barquisimeto their wheat, coffee, cocoa, beans, sugar, and sugar-spirit, while the aloes of this region furnish not only cocui (a spirit distilled from cocuiza) but also fibre for the manufacture of sacks, bridles, and hammocks, for which the town is celebrated.
The British built and owned Bolivar Railway connects Barquisimeto with its port of Tucacas, and a steamer of the Company carries goods and passengers thence to Puerto Cabello, Tucacas being only an internal port without a custom-house. The gauge of the line is only two feet, but a considerable amount of traffic is carried. Leaving the open and dry plains of Barquisimeto, it climbs through scrub (probably excellent cotton land) to Duaca, and then begins the ascent of the humid coastal slope, along a valley full of coffee, sugar, and cacao plantations, but little cultivation has been carried on away from the line, the country on either side being as wild and as unknown as any in Venezuela. Near Tucacas the swampy forest gives place to open sandy plains, as on much of the northern coast of Venezuela.
Below Duaca, a well-built and picturesque but apparently sleepy little town, the railway enters the State of Yaracuy, and so continues to beyond the important junction of El Hacha, where the Barquisimeto line joins that from the copper-mines of Aroa. Originally the line was built from Tucacas to Aroa, the El Hacha-Barquisimeto extension being known as the South-Western of Venezuela; now both are united, and El Hacha to Aroa is regarded as a branch line.
The copper-mines of Aroa have been known from early colonial days, and even in 1800 some ore was exported. The greatest output was recorded after the concern was conceded to an English Company in 1880, and in 1891 (the maximum year) 38,341 tons of ore, with a smaller quantity of 25 per cent. regulus, was shipped from Tucacas. Three years later the production began to decrease greatly, and smelting-works and mines alike fall into disuse. They have now been reopened by an English syndicate, and, under Mr. Scrutton’s energetic management, have already commenced to pay well. In the eighties the mines of Aroa sent to Swansea so much ore and regulus that in the statistics they ranged next to Chile.