Numbers of these flying machines, which are called tarabitas, are established on all the rivers connected with the Magdalena; and for the convenience of travellers, going and coming, they are placed alternately, as close to each other as the higher and lower shores of the streams afford proper opportunities.
The river Magdalena is infested with alligators, from eighteen to twenty feet in length, but they are said generally to fly from man, and only to attack him if they have by accident fed on human flesh.
In Santa Marta, and Carthagena, the banks of this river, which has been styled the Danube of New Granada, are famed for the excellent cacao they produce. The cacao, or chocolate-tree, is a native of Spanish America, about the size of a middling apple-tree, seldom exceeding the diameter of seven inches, and is extremely beautiful, when laden with its fruit, which are dispersed on short stalks over the stem and round the great branches, resembling citrons, from their yellow colour, and warty appearance. The leaves are alternate, stalked, drooping, about a foot long, and three inches broad, elliptic-oblong, pointed, slightly wavy, entire, and very smooth on both sides; with one mid-rib, and many transverse ones, connected by innumerable veins. The petals of the flower are yellow, the calyx of a light rose-colour, and the flowers themselves are small and placed on tufts on the sides of the branches, with single foot-stalks about an inch long.
Its fruit is red, or a mixture of red and yellow, and about three inches in diameter, with a fleshy rind half an inch thick; the pulp is whitish, and of the consistence of butter, containing the seed of which chocolate is made; these seeds are generally twenty-five in number in each fruit, and when fresh gathered, are of a flesh-colour, and form a nice preserve, if taken just before they ripen. Each tree yields about two or three pounds of fruit annually, and comes to maturity the third year after planting from the seed; it also bears leaves, flowers, or fruit, all the year round, the usual seasons for gathering being June and December.
In making chocolate, the seeds or kernels are first roasted, and then pulverised by mills or pounders; after which the fine powder is wrought into a paste with milk, orange-water, vanilla, spices, sugar, &c., and formed into cakes for sale.
So great is the demand for the chocolate of the Magdalena, that enough cannot be raised in the provinces above-mentioned, to supply the market, and they are obliged to import the cacao of the Caraccas and Guiana, in order to mix them with it. The excellence of the Magdalena chocolate, may be attributed to the marshy nature of the soil, as the plant never thrives where the ground is hard and dry, and they require to be shaded by other trees from the sun; and their branches, which commence from the ground, must never be allowed to exceed four or five, otherwise the fruit would not have sufficient nourishment. Weeds and shrubs must also be cleared away carefully from its roots, in order that it may derive as much humidity from the soil as possible. The other productions of this province are similar to those of Carthagena.
The government of Santa Marta contains from 250 to 300,000 souls.
Capital.—The chief city of this province is Santa Marta, 100 miles north-east of Carthagena, in 11° 19ʹ 2ʺ north latitude, 74° 4ʹ 30ʺ west longitude, with a very large and convenient harbour, which is protected by lofty ridges, and has in front a round hill defending it on the side of the snowy mountains. This city, founded in 1554, was made the magazine of Ximenes de Quesada, from whence he explored and conquered New Granada. Sir Francis Drake reduced the place to ashes in 1596. The harbour has two forts for its defence, but the town has considerably declined of late years, having only a trifling trade with Carthagena, and the other Spanish ports. The climate, though exceedingly hot, is not so unhealthy as that of Carthagena; and the town is supplied with excellent water by the river Guayra, which passes close to it; the banks of this stream are adorned with beautiful trees, and are very fertile. Santa Marta is a bishopʼs see. The other towns of most note are—
Puebla Cordova, a small town on the coast, 20 miles south of Santa Marta.
Puebla Nueva, also a small town, 62 miles south of the capital.