Chapter X: The Lands of the Spanish Main

VENEZUELA AND GUIANA

If, as we have said, the approach to the Republic of Venezuela at La Guayra seems forbidding and inaccessible, it must not be inferred that this is an inevitable characteristic of the coast. The Caribbean Hills are splendid in their aspect from the sea. They are forbidding in their grandeur. The mighty ramparts rise almost sheer from the ocean for thousands of feet, with cloud-veils flung across them at times, and if, from the steamer's deck, we may wonder how access to the hinterland can be gained, we shall find that Nature has furnished her passes, and some of the early English adventurers of the Spanish Main scaled these, as we may read in the stirring pages of Hakluyt.[4] Personally, I retain strong impressions of these cool-appearing, towering ramparts of Nature seen whilst sweltering in the tropic heat on shipboard.

Moreover, the great spurs of the Andes die out into the sea as we go east, and so Nature has broken down the rampart, giving vent to her marvellous hydrographic forces, which here triumph over the orographic, in the Gulf of Paria and the delta of the Orinoco, clothed with the densest of tropical vegetation, the home of wild beast and wild man, as shortly we shall observe.

There are further memories of British activity in regard to Venezuelan seaports, more modern, less picturesque than those we have already remarked. For, in the year 1903, the loans and arrears upon interest, the defaulted payments and disputed interpretations of contracts, in railway construction and other matters, and alleged arbitrary behaviour on the part of Venezuelan Government officials, came to a head, with the result that Great Britain, Germany and Italy sent a combined fleet to blockade the seaports, and an enforced settlement of the creditors' claims was brought about.

However, these unfortunate incidents are of the past. Venezuela has shown a desire for more cordial relations with the outside world. Lately she sent a representative to London with the purpose of inaugurating closer commercial relations with Britain.[5]

We have now to explore the great river of Venezuela, the famous Orinoco.

The Orinoco, which pours its huge volume of water into the Atlantic on the northern shore of the continent, through a vast delta of over thirty mouths, a volume derived from over four hundred tributaries which descend from the spurs of the Andes or from the wild and mysterious forests of Guiana, flows through what might be one of the richest valleys of the earth's surface, and doubtless in the future may so become. But, like the valley of the Amazon, its resources are comparatively little utilized at present. Devastating floods, malarious forests, ferocious crocodiles are some of the elements the traveller encounters on the higher waters of this great stream, notwithstanding that Columbus wrote to his Spanish sovereign that he had "found one of the rivers flowing from the Earthly Paradise."

Unfortunately it may be said that the Spaniard and his descendants have wrought destruction rather than benefit here, and the population of the valley is less now than it was four centuries ago.

We may ascend the Orinoco, in the stern-wheel steamers which ply thereon, for about four hundred miles to Ciudad Bolivar, which town forms the chief and indeed almost the only trade centre, and in the rainy season, when the river is high, which is generally from June to November, by smaller craft up the lengthy affluents. Such are the Apure, the Meta, the Arauca and the Guaviare, many hundreds of miles in length, rising far away to the west amid the Cordillera, the cold eastern slopes of whose lofty summits condense and pour down torrents of water into an extraordinary network of rivers which flow across the plains of Colombia and Venezuela, flooding enormous areas of land in their passage to the main stream. Boats and barges may reach the Andes, whose beautiful landscape forms the water-parting of this remarkable fluvial system.

Vol. II. To face p. 34.]

In the dry season snags and sandbanks render navigation almost impossible on many of these tributaries, and in some cases in the remote districts the hordes of savages who dwell on the banks add to the dangers of the voyager. There are miles of rapids on certain of the waterways, and great cataracts, whilst the forest comes down to the water's edge, forming an impenetrable screen of tropical vegetation, in which the traveller who strays from his way is lost. This jungle is flooded in the rainy season, the waters driving back all animal life to the higher ground.

From the east comes the great Ventuari affluent, with its unexplored head-waters in Guiana.

The Orinoco River is of much interest, whether to the traveller or the hydrographer, and doubtless some day its potentialities will be more greatly utilized. In some respects this fluvial system would lend itself to the improvements of the engineer, and might perform for the region which it waters services such as the Nile renders for Egypt, instead of being, as it is, largely a destructive agent. The general slope of the river is comparatively slight, and thus canalization and consequent improvement in navigation might be carried out. Nearly a thousand miles from the mouth the waters of one of the principal affluents are little above sea-level, but the rise and fall of the flood is sometimes as much as fifty feet, and confluences two miles wide in the dry season are increased three or four times during the rains.

One of the most interesting features of these rivers, as already remarked, is found in the singular natural canal connecting the Orinoco with the Amazon--the waterway of the Casiquiare Canal,[6] which cuts across the water-parting of the two hydrographic systems. Here the adventurous canoe voyager may descend from the Orinoco and reach the Rio Negro, falling into the Amazon near Manaos.

The endless waterways of the upper reaches of the Orinoco share often that silent, deserted character which we shall remark upon the Amazon tributaries, and which indeed, is common to tropical streams often. Bird and animal life seems all to have concealed itself. Even the loathly alligator is not to be seen, nor the turtle, nor other creature of the waters. Occasionally, however, a scarlet ibis appears to break the monotony, or an eagle or heron. For mile upon mile, league upon league, there may be no opening in the green wall of the dismal forest, until, suddenly, as we pass, the wall gives way, a small clearing is seen, with perhaps a Carib Indian hut, dilapidated and solitary, whose miserable occupant, hastily entering his canoe, shoots out from the bank with some meagre objects of sale or barter in the form of provisions or other.

Such, however, is not always the nature of these rivers. The scene changes: there are sandy shores and bayous, beautiful forest flowers and gorgeous insect life, the chatter of the monkeys and the forms of the characteristic tropical fauna. Rippling streams flow from inviting woodland glades untrodden by man, and high cascades send their showers of sparkling drops amid the foliage and over the fortress-like rocks around. Wafted along by sail or paddle, guided by the expert Indian boatmen, the craft weathers all dangers, and the passenger sees pass before him a panorama of the wilds whose impression will always remain upon his mind. Thus the charm of exploration never fails, and, borne upon the bosom of some half-unknown stream, the traveller's cup of adventure may on the Orinoco be filled to the brim.

For many hundreds of miles these western tributaries of the Orinoco flow through the _llanos_, as the plains of this part of South America--in Colombia and Venezuela--are termed, whose characteristic flatness we shall remark from the deck of the vessel. A sea of grass stretches away to the horizon on every side, giving place in some districts to forest.

The level plains, lying generally about four hundred feet above the sea, were once the home of enormous herds of cattle and horses and of a hardy, intrepid race of folk known as the _llaneros_, men who kept and tended the cattle and were expert in horsemanship and woodcraft. These folk flourished best in the Colonial period. They formed some of the best fighting material in South America, and made their mark in the War of Independence, when, under Bolivar, the Spanish yoke was thrown off. Again, civil war, revolution and hardships and losses consequent thereon seriously reduced their numbers, and to-day both they and their herds have almost disappeared.

The great plains which were the scene of these former activities might, under better auspices, become an important source of food supply, both for home and foreign needs. They could again support vast herds of cattle on their grassy _campos_, irrigated by the overflow of the Orinoco. This overflow, it is true, causes extensive lagoons to form, known locally as _esteros_ or _cienagas_, but these dry up in great part after the floods, which have meantime refreshed the soil and herbage.

"The great green or brown plain of the Llanos is often beautified by
small golden, white and pink flowers, and sedges and irises make up
much of the small vegetation. Here and there the beautiful 'royal'
palm, with its banded stem and graceful crown, the _moriche_, or one
of the other kinds, forms clumps to break the monotony, and along the
small streams are patches of _chaparro_ bushes, cashew-nuts, locusts
and so forth. The banks of the rivers often support denser groves of
ceibas, crotons, guamos, etc.; the last-named bears a pod covered
with short, velvety hair, within which, around the beans (about the
size of our broad beans), is a cool, juicy, very refreshing pulp, not
unlike that of the young cocoa-pod. Along the banks of the streams
in front of the trees are masses of reeds and semi-aquatic grasses,
which effectually conceal the higher vegetation from a traveller in a
canoe at water-level."[7]

Much stress has been laid upon the possible economic value of the _llanos_ by some writers, whilst others regard these possibilities as exaggerated.[8] Their area is calculated at 100,000 square miles. They are neither prairies nor desert. During a large part of the year they are subject to heavy rainfall and become swamped, followed by a drought so intense that the streams dry up and the parched grass affords no pasture for stock. There is a total lack of roads, and the rivers are unbridged, and the region is far from the ocean. The trade wind blows fiercely across them.

The view over these vast plains as the traveller's eyes suddenly rest upon them as he descends the Andes is very striking, and has been described by various observers, among them Humboldt.

In the wet season, when the river overflows, the cattle are driven back to higher ground. When the waters retire alligators and water snakes bury themselves in the mud to pass the dry season.

In this connexion stories are told of travellers and others who, having camped for the night in some hut or chosen spot, are suddenly awakened by the upheaval of the ground beneath them and the emergence of some dreadful monster therefrom. A certain traveller's experience in the night was that of being awakened by the barking of his dogs, the noise of which had roused a huge alligator, which heaved up the floor of the hut, attacked the dogs and then made off.[9]

As for the old type _llanero_, half Spanish, half Indian, the wild, brave, restless, devil-may-care cowboy, a Cossack of the Colombian Steppes and a boastful Tartarin full of poetic fire rolled into one, is rapidly disappearing. Vanished is the poetry and romance of his life, if it ever really existed outside of his remarkable _cantos_, wherein heroic exploits as soldier, as hunter and as gallant lover are recounted with a superb hyperbole. He seems to have tamed down completely, in spite of the solitary, open-air life, and in spite of the continuance of a certain element of danger, battling with the elements. Encounters with jaguars, reptiles, savage Indians are, however, the rarest of episodes in the life of even the most daring and exposed _llanero_.[10]

A "picturesque" character of original _llanero_ stamp was the notorious President Castro of Venezuela, who defied the whole world at one time, and almost succeeded in bringing about a conflict between England and the United States over the Guiana-Venezuela boundary.

The wild tribes of Venezuela, and part of British Guiana, are typified in those inhabiting the delta of the Orinoco. They have preserved their racial character in marked degree here, and have been regarded as an offshoot of the Caribs.

"They are dark copper in colour, well set up, and strong, though not
as a rule tall, and with low foreheads, long and fine black hair, and
the usual high cheek-bones and wide nostrils of the South American
'Indians.' Where they have not come into contact with civilization
they are particularly shy and reticent, but they soon lose this
character, and some are said to show considerable aptitude as workmen.

"Living as they do mainly in the delta, their houses are of necessity
near water, and are raised from the ground as a protection against
floods, being sometimes, it is said, even placed on platforms in
trees. The roof is supported in the middle by two vertical posts
and a ridge pole, and is composed of palm-leaves, supported at the
corners by stakes. The sides of this simple hut consist of light
palm-leaf curtains, and the floor is of palm-planks. The hammocks are
slung on the ridge pole, and the bows and arrows of the occupants
fixed in the roof, while their household furniture, consisting of
home-made earthenware pots, calabashes of various sizes, etc., lie
promiscuously about the floor. Some of the Warraus are nomadic, and
live in canoes, but the majority are grouped in villages of these
huts, with captains responsible to the Venezuelan local government
authorities.

"The staple diet of these people is manioc and sago, with _chicha_
(a mixture of manioc meal and water). For clothing they dispense
with everything in their homes, except the _buja_ or _guayuco_, a
tiny apron of palm-fibre or ordinary cloth, held in position by a
belt of palm-fibre or hair. That worn by women is triangular, and
often ornamented with feathers or pearls. Among the whites the men
always wear a long strip of blue cloth, one end of which passes round
the waist, the other over the shoulder, hanging down in front; the
women have a kind of long sleeveless gown. For ornament they wear
necklaces of pearls, or more frequently of red, blue and white beads,
and tight bracelets and bangles of hair or _curagua_ (palm-fibre);
some pierce ears, nose and lower lips for the insertion of pieces
of reed, feathers or berries on fête days. The characteristic dull
red paint on their bodies is intended to act as a preventive against
mosquitoes, and it is made by boiling the powdered bark and wood of
a creeper in turtle or alligator fat. All hair is removed from the
body by the simple but painful process of pulling each one out with a
split reed.

"Marriage, as is usual among savage races, takes place at a very
early age, the husband being often only fourteen, the wife ten or
twelve years of age. Polygamy is common, but not universal; where a
chief or rich man has several wives, the first, or the earliest to
become a mother, takes charge of the establishment during the absence
of the owner on his hunting or fishing expeditions. The girls are
sometimes betrothed at the age of five or six years, living in the
house of the future husband from that time on.

"At birth the mother is left in a separate house alone, where
all food that she may need is placed for her, though she remains
unvisited by any of her companions throughout the day; meanwhile the
father remains in his hammock for several days, apparently owing to
a belief that some evil may befall the child; there he receives the
congratulations of the villagers, who bring him presents of the best
game caught on their expeditions. This male child-bed, or _couvade_,
is common to many of the Indian tribes.

"The dead are mourned with elaborate ceremony--shouting, weeping and
slow, monotonous music; the nearest relatives of the defunct cut
their hair. The body is placed in leaves and tied up in the hammock
used by the owner during life, and then placed in a hollow tree-trunk
or in his canoe. This rude coffin is then generally placed on a small
support, consisting of bamboo trestles, and so left in the deserted
house of the dead man."[11]

The wild animal life of this part of South America has always been of interest, whether to the scientist or the general reader. It is varied, as it is in Mexico and elsewhere in Spanish America, by the natural topographical and climatic divisions of _tierra caliente_, _tierra templada_ and _tierra fria_, or hot, temperate and cold lands respectively.

The various kinds of monkeys include the spider-monkeys, the squirrel-monkeys, the marmosets, the vampires, the jaguar and puma--the former of which has been credited with living in the high branches of the trees in flood-times, to the perturbation of the monkeys, upon whose home it intrudes, chasing them to the tree-tops. In the Andes the peculiar "Speckled bear" has its abode. The manati is a native of the Orinoco, and the sloth of its forests, as also the "Ant-bear" and armadillo.

These creatures may not always be readily seen by the passing traveller, but the birds are more present, although, as elsewhere in the Tropics, their plumage is more noteworthy than their song.

"Beautifully coloured jays, the peculiar cassiques, with their
hanging nests, starlings, and the many violet, scarlet and other
tanagers, with some very pretty members of the finch tribe, are
all fairly abundant in Venezuela. Greenlets, some of the allied
waxwings, and thrushes of various kinds, with the equally familiar
wrens, are particularly abundant, nor does the cosmopolitan swallow
absent himself from this part of the world. The numerous family of
the American flycatchers has fifty representatives in Venezuela,
and the allied ant-birds constitute one of the exceptions to the
rule, in possessing a pleasant warbling note. The chatterers
include some of the most notable birds of Venezuela, and we may
specially notice the strange-looking umbrella-bird which extends
into the Amazon territory, known from its note as the fife-bird;
the variegated bell-bird, which makes a noise like the ringing of
a bell; the gay manikins, whose colours include blue, crimson,
orange and yellow, mingled with sober blacks, browns and greens; the
nearly allied cock-of-the-rock is one of the most beautiful birds of
Guayana, orange-red being the principal colour in its plumage, while
its helmet-like crest adds to its grandeur; the hen is a uniform
reddish-brown. The wood-hewers are more of interest from their habits
than the beauty of their plumage.

"The beautiful green jacamars, the puff-birds, and the
bright-coloured woodpeckers are found all over Venezuela in the
forests, but their relatives the toucans are among the most peculiar
of the feathered tribe. With their enormous beaks and gaudy plumage
they are easily recognized when seen, and can make a terrible din if
a number of them collected together are disturbed, the individual
cry being short and unmelodious. Several cuckoos are found in
Venezuela, some having more or less dull plumage and being rare,
while others with brighter feathers are gregarious. With the trogons,
however, we come to the near relatives of the beautiful quezal,
all medium-sized birds, with the characteristic metallic blue or
green back and yellow or red breasts. The tiny, though equally
beautiful, humming-birds are common sights in the forest, but a
sharp eye is needed to detect them in their rapid flight through
the dim light; some of the Venezuelan forms are large, however,
notably the king humming-bird of Guayana; and the crested coquettes,
though smaller, are still large enough to make their golden-green
plumage conspicuous. The birds which perhaps most force themselves,
not by sight but by sound, upon the notice of travellers are the
night-jars; the 'who are you?' is as well known in Trinidad as in
Venezuela. The great wood night-jar of Guayana has a very peculiar
mournful cry, particularly uncanny when heard in the moonlight. The
king-fisher-like motmots have one representative in Venezuela, but
the other member of the group, which includes all the preceding
birds, constitute a family by itself. This is the oil-bird, or
_guacharo_, famous from Humboldt's description of the cave of Caripe
in which they were first found. The young birds are covered with
thick masses of yellow fat, for which they are killed in large
numbers by the local peasantry. They live in caves wherever they are
found, and only come out to feed at dusk.

"Other birds which are sure to be observed even by the least
ornithological traveller are the parrots and macaws, which fly in
flocks from tree to tree of the forest, uttering their discordant
cries. The macaws have blue and red or yellow plumage, but the
parrots and parraquets are all wholly or mainly of a green hue.
The several owls are naturally seldom seen, and, in the author's
experience, rarely heard.

"There are no less than thirty-two species of falcons or eagles
known from Venezuela, and of these many are particularly handsome,
such as the swallow-tailed kite and the harpy eagle of Guayana.
Their loathsome carrion-eating cousins, the vultures, have four
representatives.

"In the rivers and caños of the lowlands there are abundant
water-birds, and the identified species include a darter, two
pelicans, several herons or _garzas_, the indiscriminate slaughter
of which in the breeding season for egret plumes has been one of the
disgraces of Venezuela, as well as storks and ibises. Among the most
beautiful birds of these districts are the rosy, white or scarlet
flamingoes, huge flocks of which are sometimes seen rising from the
water's edge at the approach of a boat or canoe. There are also seven
Venezuelan species of duck.

"The various pigeons and doves possess no very notable
characteristics, and one or two of the American quails are found in
the Andes. Other game-birds include the fine-crested curassows of
Guayana, the nearly allied guans and the pheasant-like hoatzin. There
are several rails, and the finfeet are represented. The sun bittern
is very common on the Orinoco. There are members of the following
groups: the trumpeters (tamed in Brazil to protect poultry), plovers,
terns, petrels, grebes, and, lastly, seven species of the flightless
tinamous.

"Descending lower in the scale, we come to the animals which are, or
used to be, most often associated in the mind with the forests of
South America. The snakes are very numerous, but only a minority are
poisonous. Of the latter, the beautiful but deadly coral-snake is not
very common, but a rattlesnake and the formidable 'bushmaster' are
often seen. Of the non-poisonous variety the water-loving boas and
_tigres_ or anacondas are mainly confined to the delta and the banks
of the Guayana rivers. The _cazadora_ (one of the colubers) and the
Brazilian wood-snake or _sipo_, with its beautiful coloration, are
common; the blind or velvet snake is often found in the enclosures of
dwellings.

"One of the lizards, the amphisbæna, is known in the country as the
double-headed snake, and is popularly supposed to be poisonous,
but there are many species of the pretty and more typical forms,
especially in the dry regions, while the edible iguana is common
in the forests. There are eleven species of crocodiles, of which
the _caiman_ infests all the larger rivers and caños. The Chelonidæ
include only two land tortoises, but there are several turtles in the
seas and rivers, and representatives of this family from the Gulf of
Paria often figure on the menus of City companies.

"There are some six genera of frogs and toads to represent the
Amphibians, and the evening croaking of the various species of the
former on the Llanos is very characteristic of those regions; one,
in particular, emits a sound like a human shout, and a number of them
give the impression of a crowd at a football match.

"Fish abound in rivers, lakes and seas, but, considering their
number, remarkably little is known about them. Some are regarded as
poisonous, and others are certainly dangerous, such as the small but
ferocious _caribe_ of the Llano rivers, which is particularly feared
by bathers, as an attack from a shoal results in numbers of severe,
often fatal, wounds. The _temblador_, or electric eel, is very
abundant in the western Llanos, and is as dangerous in its way as the
_caribe_.

"The insects are too numerous for more than casual reference, but it
may be noted that the _mosquito_ of the Spaniards is a small and very
annoying sandfly; the mosquito, as we know it, is, and always has
been, called _zancudo de noche_ by the Spanish-speaking inhabitants
of Venezuela. The gorgeous butterflies and the emerald lights of
the fireflies are in a measure a compensation for the discomforts
caused by their relatives, but of the less attractive forms, the
most interesting are the hunting ants, which swarm through houses at
times devouring all refuse, and the parasol ants, which make with the
leaves they carry hot-beds, as it were, for the fungus upon which
they feed.

"One of the most unpleasant of the lower forms of life in the
forests is the _araña mono_, or big spider of Guayana, which
sometimes measures more than six inches across; it is found in the
remote parts of the forest, and its bites cause severe fever. The
better-known tarantula, though less dangerous, can inflict severe
bites. The extremely poisonous scorpions, and the _garrapatas_, or
ticks, must be seen or felt to be appreciated.

"We may leave the lower forms of life to more technical works, but
the amusing 'calling-crab' deserves special mention. With his one
enormous paw of pincers the male, if disturbed, will sit upon the mud
or sand and apparently challenge all the world to 'come on' in a most
amusing fashion."[12]

The wild people and the wild life of northern South America remind us again that the first discovered part of the continent is in some respects still the least known and most backward. The "streams flowing from the Earthly Paradise" of Columbus still traverse an Elysium for the adventurous traveller.

The coast of the Spanish Main trends now eastwards to the possession of Britain, in the Guayanas, and the beautiful Island of Trinidad, which we shall now enter upon.

Columbus, on his voyage in 1496, approaching South America, beheld three peaks rising from a beautiful island clothed with verdure. Uniting the pious custom of his time with his impression of the topography of the new land, he called the island "Trinidad," or the Trinity. Spain held it. Sir Walter Raleigh burned its capital, and finally it fell to Britain at the beginning of the nineteenth century. To-day, this land off this wild coast, under the flag of Britain, is a revelation to the traveller, who--British or other--may have forgotten its existence. Its capital, Port of Spain, is one of the most pleasing towns in the West Indies, with two cathedrals, shaded streets, tramways, government institutions and public buildings, libraries, shops, a beautiful botanical garden and other evidences of a very modern civilization and activity. The soil is rich, the climate good, the hurricanes that from time to time devastate the West Indies do not visit it. It lies almost in the mouth of the river Orinoco. Venezuela claims it as hers. I well recollect the aspect of this foothold of Britain after the wilds of South America. But its modernity does not detract from the interest of the more ancient Spanish American communities.

British Guiana, whose coast we soon approach, and its neighbours, Dutch and French Guiana, are ranged in sequence along the Atlantic front for seven hundred miles, and present topographical conditions curiously alike.

Guiana, as a geographical term, is that district lying between the water-parting of the Orinoco and the Amazon and the coast; and is almost a topographical entity, embodying part of Venezuela. It is, in a sense, an island, by reason of the union of the Orinoco and Amazon fluvial systems by the Casiquiare.

Students of Anglo-American relations will recollect that the controversy over the boundary line between British and Venezuelan territory here became the subject of contention--and almost of war--between Great Britain and the United States in 1895, by reason of the work of the wild President Castro and the unwarranted behaviour of President Cleveland of the United States--behaviour which was greatly resented by English people in South America and which has not yet been forgotten. Happily arbitration was entered upon--Britain practically being awarded what she had justly claimed.

British Guiana is one of the neglected outposts of the British Empire, the only foothold of England on the mainland of South America, a place of considerable interest, beauty and utility, but about which the good folk of Great Britain know and perhaps care little.

The British public cannot be expected to be well acquainted with all the outlying parts of the immense empire which fortune or providence has delivered over to them, but, through their statesmen, they could, if they were so minded, bring about a much more constructive and energetic policy than that which the inaccessible and old-fashioned Colonial Office and Crown Colony officials consider does duty for government and development.

The population of this land is a handful of folk of about the size of a second-rate English town, notwithstanding that the extent of the country is equal to the whole of Great Britain. Its rich littoral is watered by large rivers, rising in a little-known interior. Sugar is produced, but might be produced in quantities to satisfy the British house-wife did British folk know anything about the subject. There are enormous timber resources and valuable minerals.

Vol. II. To face p. 52.]

But in such development comes the cry for "labour." It is the first cry of all tropical possessions. Where is labour to come from? The remedy generally proposed is that of bringing in coloured labour from other parts of the empire, coolies and others. This policy has some fatal defects. Among these the practice of bringing in hordes of coloured men without their women or families is one of the most unwise. It is unnatural to condemn these folk to live without their female partners, and if persisted in will, sooner or later, bring serious evils upon the community that practises it. The existing labour should be more carefully fostered, and if labour be imported it should be as far as possible in the form of permanent settlers, with their wives and families, the condition of whose life and surroundings should be intelligently mapped out beforehand.[13]

Guiana brings back sad memories of Sir Walter Raleigh, he who by reason of his antagonism to Spain was a popular hero, and around whose figure much romance has centred.

Partly with the object of recouping his fortune, Raleigh sailed, in 1595, to Guiana, a voyage of exploration and conquest, with the main object of finding that El Dorado which was so strong an obsession of Elizabethan times, imagined to be hidden somewhere amid the Cordillera or forests of Spanish America. His book, recounting the incidents of this voyage, _The Discoverie of Guiana_, which he published upon his return home, is one of the most thrilling adventurous narratives of the period, although it has been said that it contains much that was romance rather than fact: and incredulity marked its reception. On his second expedition, after Elizabeth's death--an expedition which was perhaps one of the saddest of forlorn hopes, whereby Raleigh hoped, trusting perhaps to a chapter of accidents, to escape from the dreadful position of disfavour and threatened execution into which he had fallen in the reign of James I--he reached Trinidad and sailed up the Orinoco, fell sick of a fever and suffered many disasters in the endeavour to carry out his undertaking to find a vast gold mine upon territory not belonging to Spain. Should he fail, or trespass upon Spanish territory, he was to be executed as a pirate, a fate which practically befell him, though he was executed under his old sentence of conspiracy.

The illustrious Raleigh--whose name some writers love to belittle--"took a pipe of tobacco a little before he went to the scaffold," for the habit of smoking tobacco--that beautiful gift of the Spanish American Indian to the Old World--had become rooted among the Elizabethan courtiers.

But to return to Guiana. The topography of this part of South America is full of interest and variety, as are the history and customs of its people, aboriginal and other, although much of the past is marked by dreadful happenings. Wars, the deeds of buccaneers, rebellions of negroes, massacre of the whites, deaths from fevers and so forth stand out from its pages.

It is a magnificent country, with grand rivers, cascades and the most wonderful mountains and scenery, which it is difficult to surpass in any part of South America. And here the traveller and the naturalist may revel in the works of Nature.

Guiana was the first part of the New World to be explored by adventurers other than the Spaniard and the Portuguese, and to this day it stands out as foreign to the rest of Spanish America. The English, the French, the Dutch fought between themselves for its territory and its colonizing and trading stations. The English sought an El Dorado, the Dutchman thought of its tobacco--which the Spaniards would not permit him to obtain from their colonies--the Frenchman took part possibly out of national pride, thinking he ought not to be left out in the partition, but his work seems to have been of a disastrous nature ever since he set foot there. The Pilgrim Fathers, before they "moored their bark on a wild New England coast," had dreams of settling here, where the warm climate and tropic possibilities seemed to hold out greater allurements than the cold coasts of the more northern continent. When Surinam, or Dutch Guiana, was exchanged for the New Netherlands and New Amsterdam--to-day New York--few Dutchmen dissented, and some English protested.

"Like the valley of the Amazon, to which system it may be considered
an offshoot, it is a land of forest and stream. The coast is
generally an alluvial flat, often below high-water mark, fringed
with courida (_Avicennia nitida_) on the seashore, and mangrove
(_Rhizophora manglier_) on the banks of the tidal rivers. Where it is
not empoldered it is subject to the wash of the sea in front and the
rising of the swamp water behind. In fact, it is a flooded country,
as the name, from _wina_ or _Guina_ (water) seems to imply.

"The lowest land is the delta of the Orinoco, where the rising of
the river often covers the whole. Coming to the north-west of British
Guiana, we have a number of channels (_itabos_) forming natural
waterways through swamps, navigable for canoes and small vessels. A
similar series of natural canals is found in Dutch Guiana. From the
Orinoco to Cayenne this alluvium is rarely above high-water mark,
and is subject to great changes from currents, the only protection
being the natural palisade of courida, with its fascine-like roots.
On the coast of Cayenne, however, the land rises, and there are rocky
islands; here the swamps come at some distance behind the shore, and
between ridges and banks of sand.

"Behind this low land comes the old beach of some former age--reefs
of white quartz sand, the stunted vegetation of which can only exist
because the rainfall is heavy and almost continuous. This is the
fringe of the great forest region which extends over the greater part
of the country. Here the land rises and becomes hilly, and the rivers
are obstructed by a more or less continuous series of rocks, which
form rapids and prevent them running dry when the floods recede.
Behind these, to the south, the hills gradually rise to mountains
of 5,000 feet, and in the case of a peculiar group of sandstone
castellated rocks, of which Roraima is the highest, to 8,000 feet.

"The numerous rivers bring down vegetable matter in solution, clay
and fine sand suspended and great masses of floating trees and
grasses. These form islands in the larger estuaries and bars at the
mouths of most of the rivers; they also tinge the ocean for about
fifty miles beyond the coast from green to a dirty yellow. Wind and
wave break down the shore in one place and extend it in another,
giving a great deal of trouble to the plantations by tearing away
the dams which protect their cultivation. Every large river has its
islands, which begin with sand-banks, and by means of the courida
and mangrove become ultimately habitable. In the Essequebo there
are several of a large extent, on which formerly were many sugar
plantations, one of which remains in Wakenaam. The Corentyne and
Marowyne have also fair-sized islands, but none of these has ever
been settled. Off the coast of Cayenne the rocky Iles du Salut and
Connetable are quite exceptional, for the coast is elsewhere a low
mud-flat, sloping very gradually, and quite shallow.

"The longest river is the Essequebo, which rises in the extreme
south, and like most of the larger streams, flows almost due north.
It is about 600 miles in length; the Corentyne is nearly as long, and
the Marowyne and Oyapok are probably about the same length. Other
rivers that would be considered of great importance in Europe are
seen at intervals of a few miles all along the coast. The Demerara,
on which the capital of British Guiana is situated, is about the
size of the Thames, and 250 miles long, and the Surinam, on the
left bank of which is Paramaribo, 300. All are blocked by rapids at
various distances from 50 to about 100 miles inland, up to which
they are navigable for small vessels, but beyond, only for properly
constructed boats that can be drawn through the falls or over
portages.

"The smaller rivers, called creeks, whether they fall into the sea
or into the larger streams, are very numerous; over a thousand have
Indian names. Many of them are of a fair size, and the majority have
dark water of the colour of weak coffee, whence the name Rio Negro
has been given to several South American rivers. These take their
rise in the pegass swamps, so common everywhere, and are tinged by
the dead leaves of the dense growth of sedges, which prevent these
bodies of water from appearing like lakes. There are, however, a
few deeper swamps, where a lake-like expanse is seen in the centre,
but no real lakes appear to exist anywhere. The creeks are often
connected with each other by channels, called _itabos_, or, by the
Venezuelans, _canos_, through which it is possible to pass for long
distances without going out to sea. During the rainy season these
channels are easily passable, and light canoes can be pushed through
from the head of one creek to that of another, the result being that
large tracts of country are easily passed. In this way the Rio Negro
and Amazon can be reached from the Essequebo in one direction and the
Orinoco in another, the watersheds being ill-defined from there being
no long mountain ranges.

"The higher hills and mountains are not grouped in any order. The
group called the Pakaraima are the most important from their
position on the boundary between British Guiana, Venezuela and
Brazil, and also from the neighbourhood of Roraima giving rise to
streams which feed the Orinoco, Amazon and Essequebo. This peculiar
clump of red sandstone rocks forms the most interesting natural
object in Guiana. Roraima is the principal, but there are others,
named Kukenaam, Iwaikarima, Waiakapiapu, etc., almost equally curious
and striking. All have the appearance of great stone castles,
standing high above the slopes, which are covered with rare and
beautiful plants, some of which are unknown elsewhere. The main
characteristics of this group are due to weathering, the result being
grotesque forms that stand boldly forth, together with fairy dells,
waterfalls decorated with most delicate ferns and mosses and grand
clumps of orchids and other flowering plants."[14]

It is not to be supposed that British Guiana has been neglected by its modern administration. A great deal has been done in draining, in reconstructing the villages, in fostering agriculture, in organizing the natives, in providing against malaria and disease by scientific methods, such as at Panama had been found so beneficial. The treatment of immigrant labour is almost paternal in some respects. Surinam is also progressing, stimulated by the example of Demerara. Cayenne, the French possession, suffers still from being a penal settlement.

The life of the coloured folk, who so largely predominate among the population, offers many problems, whose solutions will doubtless work themselves out. The people of Guiana are possibly more varied than those of any other community in the world, with representations of every race--the European and Indo-European, the African negro, the Chinese, folk from Java and Annam, together with its own native races, and the white American, with many mixed breeds.

In the views of the writer already quoted--

"Among the other points of interest there is the impress of the
three nationalities upon the negro, which are very conspicuous in
the women. The French negress is unlike her sister in Surinam, and
she differs also from the English type in Demerara. Again, they all
stand apart from the real African and the bush negro, illustrating
the possibility of the perpetuation of acquired characters and the
manner in which tribal differences have been developed. 'The French,'
said an old writer, 'are a civil, quick and active sort of people,
given to talking, especially those of the female sex'; the Dutch have
a more heavy look and wear their clothes loose and baggy, cleanliness
being more conspicuous than a good fit; the English (including
specially the Barbardian) are decidedly careless and slovenly,
and inclined to ape the latest fashion. A Frenchman speaks of the
Demerara negress as dressing up in her mistress's old gowns and
wanting a style of her own; we have seen a cook going to market in
an old silk dress once trimmed with lace, now smudged with soot and
reeking with grease. They all have a love for finery but no taste in
colour; here and there, however, a girl with a pure white dress and
embroidered head-kerchief pleases the eye and proves that dress is of
some importance in our estimate of these people.

"The negro man has no peculiarity in his clothes; he simply follows
the European. His working dress is generally the dirty and ragged
remains of what we may call his Sunday suit. He may be clean
otherwise, but his covering gives us the contrary impression. There
is a character about the Demerara creole, but he is not so English as
the Barbadian, who is 'neither Carib nor creole, but true Barbadian
born.' Loyalty to the Mother Country as well as to his own island is
very conspicuous; he has followed the white man in this as well as in
his language, which retains some of the obsolete words and phrases of
the Stuart period, including the asseveration 'deed en fait' for 'in
deed and in faith.' These national characteristics go to prove that
the negro has been changed somewhat by environment, and this can be
easily seen when he is compared with the African, who is represented
here and there by a few of the old people who were rescued from
slavers.

"The bush negro of Surinam, who ranges also through Cayenne and into
Brazilian territory, is a distinct type. Made up of a number of
African tribes, and probably dominated by the Coromantee, the most
independent of these, he has not been much affected by his short
service under the Dutch. From a physical standpoint he is a fine
fellow, muscular and brawny; a good boatman and warrior, he has held
his own for two centuries. Having first gained his freedom by his
strong arm, he fought to retain it; the result is a man that must be
respected. Possibly he learnt something from the native Indian, but
he has never been very friendly, for the aborigines do not like the
negro. In Demerara, and to a less extent in Surinam, Indians were
formerly employed to hunt runaway slaves, and this accounts for the
ill-feeling.

"We may consider the bush negro as an African savage, very slightly
altered by the change from the forests of the Congo to the wilds of
Guiana. Like African tribes, the communities have no bond of union,
but are each under its own granman, or chief. This segregation has
been the cause of much trouble in the past, for a treaty might be
made with one chief which was by no means binding on the others.
Their huts are low and confined, lacking any conveniences and without
order. Their few arts are of African types, and their tribal marks
coarse scars. Small clearings are made near their dwellings in which
ground provisions enough to support their families are raised, and
sometimes a little rice to sell. They also cut timber and bring it
to Paramaribo for sale, with the proceeds of which they buy finery.
Latterly they have been found useful to carry gold-diggers and
balata-bleeders into the interior, for they are well accustomed to
navigate the rapids. In Surinam the latest estimate of their number
is 8,000; a few years ago they were put down as about 25,000 in
all Guiana. They do not appear to increase to any extent; in fact,
judging by the number of runaways who have taken to the bush in two
centuries, the decrease from war and other causes must have been
enormous. Their sexual relations, which are very loose, as among
negroes generally, do not consist with an increase, but at the same
time there is no doubt that we have here a survival of the strongest.
Whether these people will ever mingle with other negroes is doubtful;
at present the bush negro despises the fellow with a master or
employer, and the black man of the settled portion of the colony
treats him as a savage.

"In British Guiana the runaways were hunted by Indians; it followed,
therefore, that no such communities of wild men were possible. The
river people are largely of mixed African and Indian blood, more
often perhaps with more or less of the European. They carry on the
timber trade and are prominent as boat hands. Formerly, every family
had its bateau or corial, but since steamers have been plying up the
rivers a craft is less needed.

Vol. II. To face p. 64.]

"The coloured people are of all shades. The offspring of black and
white is the mulatto, who generally partakes equally of the character
of both races, but with variations. The man is coarser-looking
than the woman, but as a rule he is strong and healthy; if, however,
he marries a woman of his own colour the offspring are in many cases
weaker than the parents. A cob is a reversion towards the negro, the
child of one black parent with a mulatto, three-quarters black and
hardly distinguishable. The mustee or quadroon, who is three-fourths
white, and the costee or octoroon may be considered as practically
white and in many cases can only be distinguished as coloured by
those who know their parentage. In Guiana colour prejudice is most
conspicuous among these lighter people, for they want to marry a
'higher' colour than themselves, and are considered as degrading the
family when demeaning it by coming down towards the negro. A black
woman will think more of her illegitimate mulatto children than of
those she has borne to her negro husband. The ideal of the pure negro
is the bucra--the well-to-do European; poor whites or coloured people
are in his opinion unworthy of respect. He rarely gets on well as
servant to one of his own colour; quarrels and fights are common
among workmen where they are under men of their own class. The negro
also despises the Chinaman and East Indian, who in turn prefer to
have few dealings with them. The general result is that there are not
many sexual unions between the races. Now and again a respectable
black man, doctor or lawyer, marries a white woman, but such unions
generally bring trouble. The tendency now is for the darker coloured
people to merge themselves in the black and the lighter in the
white; the probable result will ultimately be to increase the
distinction and reduce the present variations.

"There will almost certainly, however, always remain a coloured
class, the future of whom has often been considered by travellers
and anthropologists. Some have gone so far as to say that they will
ultimately be the rulers of the West Indies, but there is little
foundation for such an opinion. No doubt the lighter-coloured people
will in time take the place of the pure whites from their greater
suitability to the climate; their number will, however, probably
never be great enough to make much impression. The coloured man is
not so aggressive as the educated negro, who has come to the front in
late years as a political agitator, and who speaks of 'the people' as
being those of his own race, notwithstanding the fact that in British
Guiana they are exceeded in number by the East Indians.

"The negro is prominent in the Legislature and the learned
professions; he is the schoolmaster, the dispenser or sick nurse,
and the lower grade clerk, but he does not succeed as a shopkeeper.
The gold and diamond diggers and balata-bleeders are also black men
under white superintendence. He undoubtedly fills a place which, in
his absence, could only be occupied by inferior workmen of other
races, and is gradually becoming a useful member of the community.
As a plantation labourer he fails, mainly because he expects higher
pay than estates can afford. He is capable of doing more hard work
than any other tropical labourer, but he prefers a job of a few hours
rather than steady, continuous work. His passions are easily roused,
and when the fit is on it is useless to reason with him. After giving
his employer volleys of abuse he sometimes asks a favour as if he had
done nothing. Some will boast that they bear no malice, that they are
open-minded, much better than some other people who will not forget
an offence. Morality is largely a matter of law. 'You can't do me
nothing' is a common reply when he is told that something he was
doing was wrong. Many of them are well versed in the law, for crowds
assemble round the magistrates' courts every day. Sometimes one will
say that if he had ten dollars to pay the fine he would do something
illegal; in fact, it is notorious that people who complain loudly of
poverty can often pay fines of what is to them very large amounts.
One day a poor woman will be begging a penny and the next paying two
to five pounds in the court. Yet they have rarely anything saved, but
the fines can be raised by loans and gifts from their relations and
friends.

"The East Indian will certainly be the man of the future in Guiana if
the immigration system is continued. Already he is ahead in British
Guiana, and forms more than a third of the population of Surinam, if
we include the Javanese. Though not so strong as the negro, he is
more reliable, and without him there would be no Demerara or Surinam
sugar. He enjoys better health in the Tropics than other races, as
is easily seen by the census returns of India and the death-rates
on the plantations. A great increase of population may generally be
predicted where people are kind to their children, and in this the
East Indian is pre-eminent. We shall say something further about
him in another place, and will only here deal with his clothes.
He is probably the only real tropical man who dresses to suit the
climate, and he is always well dressed. With a few yards of cotton
cloth he drapes himself in a manner that could only be emulated by a
great artist. Any one who knows what tight-fitting European clothing
means in the Tropics can appreciate the loose folds of the East
Indian. Through the ages he has learnt how to dress in a graceful
and picturesque manner, which, however, is practically inimitable
by others. The women wear most gaudy colours, but their taste is
so perfect that there is rarely anything discordant. And yet these
people are hardly ever of a higher class than that of the field
labourer. This natural taste in drapery and colour must have been
the result of experience during long ages; that light clothing is
a success is proved by the natural increase, notwithstanding war,
famine and pestilence.

"The Chinese were imported as agricultural labourers, but may be
considered as failures in that line, although in other respects very
useful colonists. They have been condemned in other countries as
undesirable, and even in British Guiana they were once stigmatized
as sly rogues and thieves. Now the stigma is undeserved, for they
form a trading class of considerable importance. A few have worked
at the gold-diggings as well as in the forest as wood-cutters and
charcoal-burners; there is also a small agricultural settlement on
the Demerara River which is a picture of clean economic cultivation.
They are, however, more conspicuous for their success in carrying
on small country shops, where the profits are hardly sufficient to
support people who are not content with a very bare living.

"The only white men ever imported as labourers were the Madeira
Portuguese. Madeira was almost ruined by the vine pest about the
time of the slave emancipation, and thousands of poor people came
to British Guiana. For want of care during the year of seasoning
many died, and the remainder were found quite unfit for field work.
They were, however, useful colonists, and are now traders and in
many cases well-to-do property owners. They came as paupers, but by
thrift and industry went ahead, until practically every spirit-shop
and corner grocery was in their hands. Only the Chinaman can compete
with them, and he only does so in the villages. The Madeiran is
a law-abiding citizen, but he cringes too much to the negro. The
general result of the competition of the small shops is that the
poorer classes get their provisions very cheap. Unfortunately, by
giving way to the demands of their customers, a condition of things
has arisen that no independent shopkeeper could possibly endure.
However, the Madeiran has learnt to bear and forbear, and he hardly
ever resents the insults and bullyings which the negress with her
penny is always ready to launch upon him. He is generally looked
upon as mean, and willing to stint himself to save, but this is
a character which is generally wanted in the Tropics, where the
tendency to thrift is always sadly lacking.

"The native Indian can hardly be reckoned as a member of the
community; he is, however, useful to the traveller, the gold-digger
and balata-bleeder. As a boatman, wood-cutter or huntsman, he is in
his place, but his sturdy independence prevents him from becoming a
reliable servant. Make him your friend and he will do anything in his
power for you, but he takes orders from no one. This refers to the
man of the forest whose wants are few, and when satisfied, there is
no further necessity for his working. For a gun, powder or shot you
may induce him to help you; when he gets these he naturally wants to
be free to use them. There is, however, a class of half-civilized
Indians growing up who are fairly reliable, but they do not remain
in town longer than is necessary for transacting their business as
carriers of timber, charcoal and cord-wood. No Indian man can endure
the trammels of civilization; sometimes a buckeen, as the women are
called, will take a place as house-servant, but even these are not
common. Unfortunately, the men are given to rum-drinking, and laws
are made for the country districts to prevent the sale to them of
spirits.

"The real wild Indian is disappearing from his old haunts. Forty
years ago he could be found in many of the creeks of the Demerara
River where now only a few of his degenerated descendants exist. As
a huntsman he must have a sort of game preserve, which is impossible
where gangs of wood-cutters and balata-bleeders carry on their work.
He still exists, however, in the far interior, living in much the
same way as he did when America was discovered, except that he does
not fight. The men are still expert hunters and fishermen, and the
women as proficient in cultivating and preparing the staff of life,
cassava-bread. Their old weapons, the bow and blow-pipe, are largely
replaced by the gun, but the large fishes about the rapids are still
shot in the old way."[15]

The things of the natural world which meet the eye of the observant traveller are of extreme variety and interest here.

"Nowhere in the world, perhaps, are such beautiful adaptations to
natural conditions and such perfect interdependence. The trees bear
nuts and fruits to feed monkeys, rodents, birds, bats and fishes,
and because these are present in such numbers the cat family is also
well represented. Again, every tree has flowers that require insect
fertilization, consequently myriads of insects are here; these, in
turn, are kept within bounds by ant-eaters, birds, monkeys, lizards,
and those classes of insects which feed on them, such as mantids,
wasps and robber flies. In the water the smaller fishes feed on
fallen fruit; they provide sustenance to the larger species, which in
turn become the prey of alligators and otters. On the ground, in the
water, and up in the trees the struggle goes on by which the balance
of life is kept even. Notwithstanding this universal war on every
side, species hold their own and develop great capabilities according
to their needs. Beautiful contrivances have been gained to suit
the conditions under which they live, among them being protective
coloration and the careful adjustment of means to the end, whether
to catch and hold or to get away. The jaguar stalks the acourie so
that not a twig is snapped or a leaf rustled, but the sharp rodent
is always on the alert, ready to leave its feed of nuts the moment
it recognizes the nearness of its foe. Under this pitch-dark canopy,
through which no glimmer of moon and stars can penetrate, many a
painful tragedy goes on every night. But the acourie still lives, in
spite of its enemies, for, like its relation, the guinea-pig, it is
very prolific. The Indian says that every animal has its tiger; he
himself is one of these, and must move as silently or be content to
go without meat."[16]

Guiana is within comparatively easy reach of Europe and the United States. It cannot be doubted that, in the future, it will more and more become a resort of travel, and possibly of much greater settlement and development. Its bad name will be lost: its virtues brought to the front.

* * * * *

South of the Guiana region and of the Orinoco lies the great region of the Amazon Valley, which we shall now traverse.

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Readers of Kingsley's grand _Westward Ho!_ will remember the description of La Guayra and the coast here too.

[5] The emissary was instructed to suggest the interesting trade policy of a "goods for goods" exchange: a policy which in Latin America and elsewhere might have an important future.

[6] This natural canal has been well described in _The Flowing Road_, by Caspar Whitney.

[7] _Venezuela_, op. cit.

[8] Cf. _Colombia_, op. cit. Also _Venezuela_.

[9] _Venezuela_, op. cit.

[10] _Colombia_, op. cit.

[11] _Venezuela_, op. cit.

[12] _Venezuela_, op. cit.

[13] There is an indication that British Guiana is itself awakening to the need for exerting itself, in order to bring itself before the notice of a somnolent Mother Country. A deputation arrived in England from the colony in the middle of 1919 charged with the purpose of interviewing the Secretaries for the Colonies and Indian Government, and they went through a course of dinners, meetings and lectures, in which the customary excellent speeches were made. Certain of the speakers made the asservations that British Guiana "could supply all the meat, except mutton, consumed in the Mother Country," and sugar and minerals received equal notice, whilst gold, diamonds and bauxite--an ore of aluminium--were also dangled, metaphorically speaking, before the Imperial-minded diners.

To produce these excellent matters, five thousand settlers per annum are required, the word settler being employed as a well-meaning term for coloured labour. There must be a flow of British capital too. But British capital has not very readily been forthcoming. It can be spared for enterprises anywhere in Spanish America, even "wild-cat" schemes, but not for Guiana, apparently.

[14] _Guiana, British, Dutch and French_, Rodway, South American Series, a most interesting and valuable work.

[15] _Guiana_, op. cit.

[16] _Guiana_, op. cit.