There are reported minas of metal and coal round about Tocuyo, and the latter certainly exists, though, like the less authentic minerals, it has never been worked.
If, in place of travelling to the capital of the State, we followed down the river from which Tocuyo takes its name, we should shortly find the cactus-covered hills replaced on the left bank by grass plains, the llanos of Carora, in the middle of which the town of the same name was founded in 1572. Like most of these more ancient towns of Venezuela, it contains many substantial buildings, and it is the market centre for the grazing lands surrounding it, where sheep as well as cattle are raised. From more remote districts come goats on the one hand, coffee and cane on the other, these last from the fertile valleys to the west. There are said to be outcrops of coal near by, a by no means improbable occurrence.
A whim of ex-President Castro’s led to the expenditure of a considerable sum on the surveying and construction of a cart-road over the Sierra Empalada to San Timoteo, on the Lake of Maracaibo. It was manifestly impossible that such a scheme could succeed, involving, as it did, the use of a hundred miles of road over a range of hills instead of some sixty miles across the level to the Bolivar Railway terminus at Barquisimeto; at the present time much of the road has fallen into disuse, the remainder forming a standing monument to misplaced energy.
In addition to the level road to Barquisimeto there is another which in some fifty miles brings us to Siquisique, the head of possible steam navigation on the Tocuyo River. Up to this point steamers were run for a short time, but the undeveloped country on either bank was not brought under cultivation as a result, and the produce of the rest failed to make the venture pay. Once again, want of population and of incentives to labour have proved the main drawbacks in a feasible project. The hills both north and south of the lower river produce, and are capable of producing more, wheat, coffee, and cocoa; downstream there are virgin forests of valuable timber, and on the north bank indications of petroleum over a wide area almost uninhabited and unexplored.
From Siquisique several roads cross the hills on the borders of Lara and Falcón to the towns of the latter. Only one town of any importance (San Luis) is situated in the hills, but about half the area of the State is accounted for by grass-clad hills and fertile valleys, the remainder being the better known coastal plain, with its dry climate and cactus vegetation, a repetition of the Barquisimeto plateau.
Coro, now only the capital of a State, but once the capital of the whole province, is situated on the plains at the base of the peculiarly shaped peninsula of Paraguana. Next to Cumaná it is the oldest town in South America, and has frequently been the landing-place for troops both in the revolution against Spain and in the course of domestic quarrels. The old church, known as the Iglesia Matriz, is interesting as the first cathedral of the New World, but, like the rest of the town, it has fallen upon evil days.
The flesh and hides of goats are the chief articles of commerce in Coro. Bred at little cost on the cactus plains, they give returns said to be enormous. I heard of one owner of a ranch along the coast who, in the course of two or three years’ breeding of and trading in goats, accumulates sufficient wealth to travel extensively in Europe, returning when his money is gone to repeat the process. The coalmines and salinas of the region count for little in comparison with this simple form of stock-farming, but there are extensive coal deposits in the foothills of the Cordillera de San Luis, whose valleys produce maize, coffee, cocoa, and arrowroot, chiefly for local consumption. The greater part of the foothills is forest-covered, and the timber and vegetable products of these will continually add to the revenues of the State in the future. Last, but not least, the coastal plain near Coro is admirably situated for the cultivation of cocuiza and other aloes, and attempts are now being made to manufacture fibre equal in quality to that of Mexico. Already Coro makes sacks and hammocks from cocuiza, in addition to soap and cigarettes, the only other industries of the place. All the produce exported passes along the seven-mile railway to the harbour of La Vela, not to be confused with the cape of the same name far to the west in Colombia.
Capatárida, a small town on the coast some thirty miles west of Coro, is chiefly famed for the excellent quality of the tobacco grown in the valley south of the town. The plains of Falcón and the peninsula of Paraguana are, however, chiefly devoted to goat-farming, the character of the country being almost identical with that of Curaçao, and most of the other coastal islands.
WILLEMSTAD: CURAÇAO.