Area—General character—San Fernando de Atabapo—The upper Orinoco—Communication with outside world—Atures and Maipures rapids—Humboldt’s description—The Compañía Anónima de Navegacion Fluvial y Costanera—General Chalbaud—Railway projects—The Piaroas—Curare—Savannahs—Rubber—Brazil-nuts—Wild cocoa—Mineral wealth—Water-power—Rubber prospectors—Method of working—Esmeralda—The place of flies—Mt. Duida—Gold possibilities—The Raudal de los Guaharibos—The limit of exploration—The Ventuari—An old Spanish road—A midnight massacre—Stock-raising lands—The Maquiritare—Trading with gold-dust—The Casiquiare bifurcation—Life of the natives—Eau de Cologne in the wilds—The Guainia and Rio Negro—Maroa—Cucuhy—The Atabapo—Lack of population—Education—Colonisation—General prospects.
On the right bank of the Orinoco above the confluence of the Meta and below that of the Atabapo, and south-eastward of this on both banks of the main river, lies the great but little known Territorio Amazonas, extending over the ill-defined watershed into the Rio Negro, and, therefore, the Amazon, basin. The area included in the territory amounts to some 281,700 square kilometres or 101,400 square miles, and of this vast region practically nothing is known, save the character of the banks of the larger rivers and of such parts of the hills and forests as may have been traversed by the few explorers who have entered the hinterland of the Guayanas.
On the northern and eastern borders the general character of the region is like that of the greater part of the State of Bolivar, the boundary to the north being more or less arbitrary, in part at least. The Brazilian frontier follows the watershed of the Sierra Parima in its northern part, but near the Rio Negro this line also ceases to be determined by any clearly marked natural features.
The capital of this huge and almost unknown area is San Fernando de Atabapo, little more than a village from the point of view of population, which amounted to only 388 in 1891, but still the largest centre in the region. It is situated at the junction of the Atabapo and Orinoco, the land on which it stands being practically an island on account of the channel connecting the two rivers behind the settlement; the Inirida and Guaviare enter the Atabapo opposite the town, the contrast between the white waters of the Guaviare, the black, clear stream of the Atabapo, and the muddy Orinoco being very noticeable. The capital is the seat of the Governor and a Judge of First Instance and minor officials, who constitute an appreciable fraction of the population.
The upper Orinoco basin includes some of the best known, as well as some of the least explored districts in the whole territory. The old mission station of Esmeralda (longitude 65° 40´ W., latitude 3° 11´ N.) marks the limit of any attempt at civilisation on the upper Orinoco, and beyond this point our knowledge of the country is very scant indeed. Below this point the river and forests and savannahs near its bank are comparatively well known, from the number of travellers and small rubber prospectors, as far as San Fernando, and below this again little exploration has been carried out away from the river, which, nevertheless, is the main line of communication with Pericos, below the Atures Rapids, whence steamers run down the lower Orinoco to Ciudad Bolivar, and so afford communication with the outside world.
The Atures Rapids, the biggest on the Orinoco, form at present an effectual barrier to through communication by steamer, between the upper and lower river, a difficulty formerly obviated by the construction of a now disused cart-road from Pericos to Salvajitos, above the rapids, a distance of 14 kilometres. But though the rapids have thus barred the advance of civilisation, their great beauty and the possibility that one day they may afford the power for an electric railway along the line of the old cart-road beyond compensate for any such disadvantage.
Humboldt thus describes the Maipures and Atures Rapids in his “Ansichten der Natur.” They are, he says, “to be regarded as a countless number of small cascades succeeding each other like steps. The Raudal (as the Spanish term this kind of cataract) is formed by an archipelago of islands and rocks, which so contract the bed of the river that its natural width of more than 8,500 feet is often reduced to a channel scarcely navigable to the extent of 20 feet. At the present day the eastern side is far less accessible and far more dangerous than the western.
“... It was with surprise I found, by barometrical measurements, that the entire fall of the Raudal (of Maipures) scarcely amounted to more than 30 or 32 feet.... I say with surprise, for I hence discovered that the tremendous roar and wild dashing of the stream arose from the contraction of its bed by numerous rocks and islands, and the counter-currents produced by the form and position of the masses of rock.
“... The beholder enjoys a most striking and wonderful prospect. A foaming surface, several miles in length, intersected with iron-black masses of rock projecting like battlemented ruins from the waters, is seen at one view. Every islet and every rock is adorned with luxuriant forest trees. A perpetual mist hovers over the watery mirror, and the summits of the lofty palms pierce through the crowd of vapoury spray. When the rays of the glowing evening sun are refracted in the humid atmosphere, an exquisite optical illusion is produced. Coloured bows appear, vanish, and reappear, while the ethereal picture dances, like an ignis fatuus, with every motion of the sportive breeze.