Chapter XIV: The Rich Coast (3)

[121] "A sambo," writes Depons, "is the offspring of a negress with an Indian, or of a negro with an Indian woman. In color he nearly resembles the child of a mulatto by a negress. The sambo is well formed, muscular, and capable of supporting great fatigue; but unfortunately, his mind has a strong bias to vice of every kind. The word sambo signifies, in the language of the country, everything despicable and worthless, a knave, a drone, a drunkard, a cheat, a robber, and even an assassin. Of ten crimes committed in this district, eight are chargeable on this villainous and accursed race."--Travels in South America, p. 127, London, 1806.

[122] Op. cit., Vol. I, p. 43.

[123] Compare Cassani, J., Historia de la provincia de la compañia des Jesus del Nuevo Reino de Granada en la America, descripción y relación exacta de sus gloriosas missiones en el reino, llano, meta, y rio Orinoco, etc. Con 1 mapa. Folio. Madrid, 1741.

[124] P. 14. How like the labors and cares of the bishops of the early Church were those of the missionaries among the children of the forest! Both were continually called upon to act as causarum examinatores--arbitrators--and to settle difficulties that were ever arising among the flocks entrusted to their care. St. Augustine, the great bishop of Hippo, refers frequently to "the burdensome character of this kind of work, and the distraction from higher activities which it involved"--"Quantum attinet ad meum commodum," he writes in his De Opere Monachorum, XXIX, 37, "multo mallem per singulos dies certis horis, quantum in bene moderatis monasteriis constitutum est, aliquid manibus operari, et ceteras horas habere ad legendum et orandum, aut aliquid de divinis litteris agendum liberas, quam tumultuosissimas perplexitates caussarum alienarum pati de negotiis secularibus vel judicando dirimendis vel interveniendo præcidendis."

[125] Every reader is familiar with the story that has long been in circulation regarding monkey bridges, and, in his youth, was, no doubt, entertained by pictures of such imaginary bridges. It is quite safe to say that no one ever saw such bridges in any part of South America or elsewhere. And yet the tale regarding their existence has had currency since the time of Acosta, who visited the New World in 1570. "Going from Nombre de Dios to Panamá," he writes, "I did see in Capira one of these monkies leape from one tree to an other, which was on the other side of a river, making me much to wonder. They leape where they list, winding their tailes about a braunch to shake it; and when they will leape further than they can at once, they use a pretty devise, tying themselves by the tailes one of another, and by this means make as it were a chaine of many; then doe they launch themselves foorth, and the first holpen by the force of the rest takes holde where hee list, and so hangs to a bough and helps all the rest, till they be gotten up." Historia Natural y Moral de las Indias, Bk. IV, Chap. 39, Grimston's Translation, London, 1604.

The fable about the monkey bridge belongs to the same class as those that obtain in certain parts of South America regarding the "great devil," or "man of the woods," a near relative of Waterton's "Nondescript."

Kingsley, in the following passage from Westward Ho!, referring to some of the things seen and heard by Amyas Leigh and his companions during their voyage up the Meta, paints a picture that is doubtless before the mind's eye of most people when they think of the forest-fringed banks of this river, but which is about as far from the reality as could well be imagined. "The long processions of monkeys," he writes, "who kept pace with them along the tree tops and proclaimed their wonder in every imaginable whistle, and grunt and howl, had ceased to move their laughter, as much as the roar of the jaguar and the rustle of the boa had ceased to move their fear." Chap. XXIII.

[126] Op. cit., p. 347.

[127] Historia de Abiponibus, Vol. II, p. 231 et seq., Vienna, 1784. "Attention has recently been called to a group of peasant superstitions that have made their appearance in Germany, which are closely analogous in principle to the couvade, though relating not to the actual parents of the child but to the god-parents. It is believed that the habits and proceedings of the god-father and god-mother affect the child's life and character. Particularly, the god-father at the christening must not think of disease or madness lest this come upon the child; he must not look round on the way to the church lest the child should grow up an idle stare-about; nor must he carry a knife about him for fear of making the child a suicide; the god-mother must put on a clean shift to go to the baptism or the baby will grow up untidy," etc., etc. See E. B. Tylor's Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, p. 304, Boston, 1878.

For further information on La Couvade, the reader is referred to Brett's Indian Tribes of Guiana, p. 355; Max Muller's Chips from a German Workshop, Vol. II, p. 281; Spix and Martius's Travels in Brazil, Vol. II, p. 247; Du Tertre's Histoire Générale des Antilles habitées par les Francais, Vol. II, p. 371; Gilli's Saggio di Storia Americana, Vol. II, p. 133; Tschudi's Peru, Vol. II, p. 235; Tylor's Researches into the Early History of Mankind and the Development of Civilization, p. 293, et seq; and Lafitau's Moeurs des Sauvages Americains, Vol. I, p. 259.

[128] One of the peculiarities of some savages is the decided objection they manifest to having their photographs or portraits taken. They imagine that they lose somewhat of their own life by having their likeness transferred to paper or other material. And the more perfect their likeness the greater, they fancy, is the loss which they personally sustain. Having had some experience with the Indians of North America regarding this matter, I was not surprised to find that there are in South America certain Indians who entertain similar notions regarding the danger of having their pictures taken. Some, to avoid having their photographs taken, will at once avert their faces; others will run away to escape the impending danger. Cf. On the Origin of Civilization and the Primitive Condition of Man, by Lord Avebury, London, 1902, and The Indians of North America, Letter 15, by George Catlin, Edinburgh, 1903.

[129] For the benefit of those who are familiar with Spanish I give this touching quotation in the original. It is quite impossible to reproduce in a translation the verse and rhythm of the sonorous Castilian of the poet.

"Así de la Mision todos los niños
Corren en torno de la cruz que arranca
Enhiesta al aire y cercan al anciano,
Que entre tantas cabezas infantiles
Descuella allí con su cabeza blanca.
Oh! ni Platon, ni Socrates, famosos
En los anales del saber, supieron
Tras largos años de velar continuo
Lo que estos pobres niños, candorosos,
De los tremulos labios del anciano,
Al pié del leño rústico aprendieron."

--From his ode Los Colonos.

[130] Known in the West Indies as the god-tree and greatly venerated by the native negroes. The ceiba is one of the few tropical trees that ever shed their foliage. The erythrina, when it exchanges its leaves for flowers, is another.

[131] G. Hartwig, The Tropical World, p. 137, London, 1892.

[132] Op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 47 et seq.

As early as 1640 the Dutch writer Laet refers to a milk tree which was evidently the same as the one that so impressed Humboldt. He says: "Inter arbores quae sponte hic passim nascuntur, memorantur a scriptoribus Hispanis quaedam quae lacteum quemdam liquorem fundunt, qui durus admodum evadit instar gummi, et suavem odorem de se fundit; aliae quae liquorem quemdam edunt, instar lactis coagulati, qui in cibis ab ipsis usurpatur sine noxa."--Descriptio Indiarum Occidentalium, Lib. XVIII.

[133] In Venezuela and Colombia the word parasita--parasite--is usually employed to designate all orchids, no matter what may be the species or genus. This is a mistake. Orchids are not parasites which, like the dodder or mistletoe, obtain their nourishment from the plant or tree on which they grow. They are epiphytes, that get their nourishment from the surrounding atmosphere, and use the branches and trunks of trees merely as supports or resting-places. The Old World genus Aërides is especially remarkable in this respect. One of the species, Aërides odoratum, "has this wonderful property, that, when brought from the woods, where it grows, into a house, and suspended in the air, it will grow, flourish and flower for many years without any nourishment, either from the earth or from water." For this reason the orchid is appropriately called Flos aëris, or Air Flower.

[134] Orchids: Their Culture and Management, p. 20, by W. Watson and H. J. Chapman, London, 1903.

Peter Martyr must have had some of these orchids in mind when he wrote the following sentence as translated by Michael Lok:--"Smooth and pleasinge words might be spoken of the sweete odors and perfumes of these countries, which we purposely omit because they make rather for the effeminatinge of mens minds than for the maintanance of good behavior." Dec. IV, Cap. 4, p. 161.

For colored figures and descriptions of the rare and beautiful orchidaceous plants found in Venezuela and Colombia, the reader is referred to The Orchid Album, 12 vols., conducted by Messrs. Warner, Williams, Moore and Fitch, London.

[135] Named after the astronomer Copernicus.

[136] In eastern Colombia, if a cattle farm contains more than a thousand head of cattle it is called a hato; if it counts less than this number it is known as fundacion. A plantation in the hilly country is called a hacienda, in the plains a conuco, and if it have a sugar-mill, it is named a trapiche.

[137] The steamer on which we had come to Orocué, took, on her return to Ciudad Bolivar, among other articles of freight, nearly three tons of orchids, of many species, collected from divers parts of Colombia. They were intended for certain New York florists, and were shipped directly to their greenhouses in New Jersey. They were gathered by one of the many orchid collectors that are constantly engaged in tropical America in making collections for florists in the United States and Europe.

Sometimes they come across new species of rarest beauty. This means a treasure-trove for the lucky finder. Not long before our visit to Colombia a truly magnificent specimen had been discovered by one of these collectors. It was sold in London for a thousand pounds sterling. And we heard of others that fetched prices quite as extravagant as any that were ever paid for tulip-bulbs during the period of the tulipomania in Holland in the early part of the seventeenth century.

[138] Viajes Cientificos á los Andes Ecuatoriales, p. 29, Paris, 1849.

[139] Personal Narrative, up. sup., Vol. II, p. 438 et seq.

[140] Casanare, p. 11, Bogotá, 1896.

[141] Writing of the juice of the arnotto berries, "that die a most perfect crimson and carnation," Sir Walter Raleigh declares, "And for painting, al France, Italy or the east Indies yield none such. For the more the skyn is washed, the fayer the cullour appeareth, and with which euen those brown and tawnie women spot themselues and cullour their cheekes." Op. cit., p. 113.

Peter Martyr, referring to certain painted Indian warriors, encountered by the Spaniards in the West Indies, declares, "A man wold thinke them to bee deuylles incarnate newly broke owte of hell, they are soo lyke vnto hell-houndes." Op. cit., p. 91.

[142] Ibid.

[143] Bongo, falca, and curiara are names given in Colombia and Venezuela to the dugouts or canoes fashioned from a single tree-trunk. They are sometimes large enough to hold from twenty to twenty five persons. Usually, however, their capacity is limited to five or six persons. The curiara is smaller than the bongo or falca. The bongo is generally provided with a covering in the centre called a toldo or carroza. This is made of lattice-work with palm leaves to shelter the traveler from the sun and rain. It is steered and urged backwards and forwards by a man standing at the stern, who uses a kind of oar--canalete--very much as a Venetian gondolier handles his oar for steering and propelling his gondola. When the current does not permit the use of oars those standing near the prow urge the boat forward by poles called palancas. The boatmen are called bogas and the ropes with which they sometimes pull their canoes forward are called sogas. The bongo, especially when the river is high, is a very slow means of locomotion. And owing to the very limited space of the toldo, even in the largest canoes, traveling in a bongo is, at best, very confining and uncomfortable. A journey any distance in one of these long, narrow, crank dug-outs--more unstable than a shell--is a trying experience, and one that all travelers in equatorial America avoid whenever possible. The treacherous craft is liable to capsize when one least expects it. Even a skilled Oxford or Harvard sculler would at times have great difficulty in keeping his balance in one of them.

[144] Also called papelon--cane-syrup boiled down, without being clarified, and cast into molds. The only kind of sugar obtainable here.

[145] A stanza from this poem will show what value the author placed on the hammock. It expresses, at the same time, the opinion of it entertained by all travelers in tropical countries.

"Mi hamaca ea un tesoro,
Es mi mejor alhaja;
Á la ciudad, al campo,
Siempre ella me acompaña.
Oh prodigio de industria!
Cuando no encuentro casa,
La cuelgo de los troncos,
Y allí esta mi posada.
'Salud, salud doe veces
Al que invento la hamaca!'"

Mention is made of hammocks by Vespucci and Alonso de Ojeda as early as 1498. They are made on hand-looms from the fibres of various species of palm and bromelia or from cotton thread. In their manufacture the Indian women often display considerable skill and taste. This is particularly true of the hammocks made in the regions of the upper Rio Negro, which are beautifully decorated with the feathers of parrots, toucans and other birds of brilliant plumage.

"The hammock," as Schomburgk well observes, "is the most indispensable article in the Indian's house, or for an Indian's journey. On his travels it is carried folded up and slung round his neck; the greatest precaution is used to prevent its getting wet. Where a halt is made, be it of ever so short a duration, the first object sought for is a convenient tree from which he can suspend it. It is a compliment paid to the stranger, if the host takes the hammock from him on entering the house and slings it for his guest, and it is the duty of the wife to do this service for her husband. The common hammocks of the Indians are generally open, that is, not closely woven, and colored red with roucou or arnotto." Op. cit., p. 66.

[146] Peter Martyr, writing of the West Indies, informs us that "In all these Ilandes is a certeyne kynde of trees as bygge as elmes, whiche beare gourdes in the steade of fruites. These they vse only for drinkynge pottes, and to fetch water in, but not for meate, for the inner substance of them is sowrer then gaule, and the barke as harde as any shelle." Eden, op. cit., p. 76.

[147] "Tutti dormono insieme come i polli, chi in terra, chi in aria sospeso."--Historia del Mondo Novo, In Venetia, 1565.

[148] Often misspelled yucca, which is the name of a genus of plants belonging to the lily family. The Spanish bayonet--Yucca albifolia--is a familiar example.

[149] Life and Nature in the Tropics, p. 98, by H. M. and P. V. M. Myers, New York, 1871.

[150] Aus den Llanos, p. 147, Leipzig, 1840.

[151] Of the tonina, as of the dolphin that befriended Arion, one could say in the words of an ancient writer: "Of man, he is nothing afraid, neither avoideth from him as a stranger; but of himselfe meeteth their ships, plaieth and disporteth himselfe, and fetcheth a thousand friskes, and gambols before them. He will swimme along by the mariners, as it were for a wager, who should make way most speedily, and alwaies outgoeth them, saile they with never so good a forewind."

[152] The national dish of Venezuela, also much esteemed in Colombia. It is a kind of ragout composed of meat and vegetables, or fish and vegetables, highly seasoned with aji, or red pepper.

[153] Wanderings in South America, Second Journey.

Referring to Waterton's account of the bellbird and the distance at which it can be heard, Sydney Smith expresses his scepticism in the following fashion:--

"The description of the birds is very animated and interesting; but how far does the gentle reader imagine the campanero may be heard, whose size is that of a jay? Perhaps 300 yards. Poor innocent, ignorant reader! unconscious of what Nature has done in the forests of Cayenne, and measuring the force of tropical intonation by the sounds of a Scotch duck! The campanero may be heard three miles!--this single little bird being more powerful than the belfry of a cathedral, ringing for a new dean--just appointed on account of shabby politics, small understanding, and good family!

"It is impossible to contradict a gentleman who has been in the forests of Cayenne; but we are determined, as soon as a campanero is brought to England, to make him toll in a public place, and have the distance measured."

[154] "In angry sea, in sudden storm,
I thee invoke, our star benign."

[155] Compare the reception of Ulysses by Eumæus, in the fourteenth book of the Odyssey, where the old servant of the wandering hero is made to say to his unknown master:--

"Guest! If one much worse
Arrived here than thyself, it were a curse
To my poor means, to let a stranger taste
Contempt for fit food. Poor men, and unplac'd
In free seats of their own, are all from Jove
Commended to our entertaining love,
But poor is th' entertainment I can give,
Yet free and loving."

Crevaux, op. cit., p. 556, remarks anent this subject: "On pratique largement l'hospitalité dans les grandes solitudes."

[156] "Videmus lunam et stellas consolari noctem."--Confessionum, Lib. XIII, Cap. XXXII.

[157] Codazzi also refers to this and other similar phenomena in his Geografia Statistica di Venezuela, pp. 29 and 30, Firenze, 1864.

[158] Among the Indians of Guiana, p. 384, by Everard T. Im Thurn.

[159] The Bolivian Andes, p. 201, London and New York, 1901.

Padre Figueroa, in his Relaciones de las Misiones en el País de los Maynas, writes of similar phenomena observed among the Andes near the Amazon.

[160] Since writing the above I have discovered that both Antonio Raimondi of Lima, Peru, and Col. Geo. E. Church had arrived independently at a similar conclusion to my own. "The Andes," writes Col. Church, "at least within the tropics, are at times a gigantic electric battery, and so highly charged that they are very dangerous to cross."--The Geographical Journal, pp. 341, 342, April, 1901.

[161] Op. cit., p. 4.

[162] "Homo habitat inter tropicos, vescitur palmis, lotophagus; hospitatur extra tropicos sub novercante Cerere carnivorus."--Systema Naturæ, Vol. I, p. 24.

Besides the fruit-yielding palms there are others, like the palmetto or cabbage Palm, that also afford nutritious food. "The head of the Palmito tree," says Hakluyt, "is very good meate, either raw or sodden; it yeeldeth a head which waigheth about twenty pound, and is far better than any cabbage."--Early Voyages, Vol. V, p. 557. Schomburgk informs us that during his exploration of Guiana it was for weeks his chief sustenance.

[163] It is surprising what erroneous notions have been and are still entertained regarding the distance of Bogotá from the head of navigation on the eastern side of the Andes. Many recent writers place the distance at twenty miles. Michelena y Rojas, in his Exploración Oficial, p. 293, makes it but four leagues. Schomburgk, in an article in the Journal of the Geographical Society, Vol. X, p. 278, assures us that by way of the Meta there is uninterrupted navigation to within eight miles of Sante Fe de Bogotá! The fact is that the nearest point to Bogotá to which vessels of even light draught may ascend by the Meta is Barrigón, more than one hundred and fifty miles from Colombia's capital. Small flat boats and canoes may, through some of the affluents of the Meta, approach considerably nearer. During the rainy season they may even reach the foothills of the Andes at the base of which Villavicencio stands. But from here, the nearest point to the capital which even the smallest craft can reach to Bogotá, the distance is still ninety-three miles at the lowest estimate. To navigate the Rio Negro, as Rojas and others imagine can be done, from the llanos to Caquesa--thirty-seven hundred feet higher than the plains--would be no more possible than it would be to row or sail up an Alpine torrent. From Caquesa to Bogotá is not four leagues, as Michelena estimates, but full twenty-five miles.

[164] "Dichoso aquel que alcanza
Como rico don del Cielo,
Para defender su suelo
Buen caballo y buena lanza."

[165] "When roseate Aurora shows her fresh face in the East, in vain I seek my gentle spouse, in vain I look for the daughter my soul adores, to imprint a kiss on their brows."

[166] "O what prodigies! What beauty! Man feels weak and poor in their presence. There is nothing here that does not amaze the heart. In everything is inscribed the name of God. Everything proclaims His omnipotence."

[167] A View of the Present State of Ireland.

[168] Also called cobija and ruana.

[169] The Chagres river, it is said, occasionally rises twenty-five feet in a few hours.

[170] The term Jurungo has much the same signification among the Llaneros as has "tenderfoot" in Australia and the western part of the United States. Guate, another word of similar import, frequently heard in the Llanos, is employed to designate a Serrano--a highlander or mountaineer--while jurungo refers more specifically to a stranger from Europe or the United States. Like the word tenderfoot, these two epithets are used in a certain depreciative sense.

[171] The reader who is interested in the famous expeditions of Hohermuth, von Hutten and Federmann, about which there is little in English that is satisfactory, is referred to Castellanos, Varones Ilustres de Indias, Partes II and III; Herrera, Historia de las Indias, Dec. VI; Oviedo y Baños, Conquista y Poblacion de Venezuela, Lib I and III; Oviedo y Valdéz. Historia General y Natural de las Indias, Tom. II, Lib. XXV; Ternaux--Compans, Voyages, Rélations et Memoires Originaux pour servir à l'histoire de la découvarte de l'Amérique, Tom. II, Paris, 1840; Klunzinger, Antheil der Deutschen an der Andeckung von Süd-Amerika, Kap. VI, IX and XII, Stuttgart, 1857; Schumacher, Die Unternehmungen der Augsburger Welser in Venezuela, Kap. IV, IX and XII, in Tom. II, of a work published in Hamburg, 1892, Zur Errinnerung an die Endeckung Amerikas; Topf, Deutsche Statthalter und Konquistadoren in Venezuela, pp. 18, 19, 33-42, 48-55; Tom. VI, of the Sammlung gemeinverständlicher wissenschaftlicher Vorträge, Hamburg, 1893; Humbert, L'Occupation Allemande du Venezuela au XVI Siècle, Période dite des Welser, 1528-1556, Bordeaux, 1905. The last-named work is illustrated by a valuable map. The subject possesses an added interest from the fact that it refers to the only attempt at colonial occupation ever made by Germans in South America. How different would now be the condition of Venezuela and Colombia if the Welser colony had been permanent and successful!

[172] "Plain folk and faithful, modest and frank,
Loyal, humble, sane and obedient."

This is particularly true of Indian children. Writing of them, a Dominican missionary, who had lived among them, and knew them well, expresses himself as follows:--

"Je ne sais rien d'aimable, de gracieux, de docile et d'intelligent comme le jeune Indien"--"I know nothing so amiable, so kindly, so docile and so intelligent as the young Indian."--Voyage d'Exploration d' un Missionaire Dominicain chez les Tribus Sauvages de l'Equateur, p. 310, Paris, 1889.

[173] The people of Venezuela and Colombia are very fond of using diminutives, and one must confess that it often gives to their conversation a peculiar charm and expressiveness. Thus from todo, all or every, they form todito, toditico; from cerca, near, they derive cerquita, cerquitita or cerquitica. Instead of Adios they will say Adiosito, and instead of Yo voy passando bien, one hears Yo voy passandito bien.

I once gave a young mother a medal for a child she was holding on her lap, and she at once said, "Muchisimas gracias, hijito, yo pondre la medallita lueguito al cuellito de la queridita que va andandito asi, no mas." "Many thanks, little son"--I was old enough to be her grandfather--"I shall immediately put the little medal on the little neck of the little darling, which is in rather delicate health."

[174] Richard Eden, op. cit., p. 71.

[175] Historia de las Indias Occidentales, Dec. II, Lib. III, Cap. 14.

[176] The town of Santa Rosa, in Ecuador, had to be abandoned because of the swarms of ants that invaded the place. It is now known as Anagollacta--place of ants.

[177] Birds of the World, Chap. IV, New York, 1909.

[178] So fixed are the periods of migration, and so punctual is the feathered tribe in starting on its semiannual flights, that "The Arabs are said to have been helped in the compilation of their calendars, by noting the times of the arrival and departure of migratory birds; and the Redskin in the far Northwest has received much the same aid from the birds of another continent."

All things considered, Professor Newton was probably right when he declared that the migration of birds is "perhaps the greatest mystery which the whole animal kingdom presents."

[179] Historia de las Indias, Dec. 1, Cap. V.

[180] "Certainly it is a marvelous fact in the history of the Mammalia," says Charles Darwin, "that in South America a native horse should have lived and disappeared, to be succeeded in after ages by the countless herds descended from the few introduced with the Spanish colonists!"--Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited during the Voyage of H. M. S. "Beagle" round the World, Chap. VII.

[181] According to the Chibchas, the fossil remains found here were the bones of a race of giants, hence the name given the locality. Humboldt and Cuvier, at the beginning of the last century, showed that the larger bones found were the remains of the Mastodon angustidens. Similar fossils found in other parts of South America have given rise to like fables. Cieza de Leon devotes an interesting chapter to a race of giants whose remains were found at Point Santa Helena, near Guayaquil. And on the tradition of a race of giants, that at one time landed at this place, a certain Mr. Ranking, in 1827, published a fantastic book entitled Researches on the Conquest of Peru and Mexico by the Mongols, accompanied with Elephants. See La Cronica del Peru, Cap. LII, of Cieza de Leon.

[182] Campaigns and Cruises in Venezuela and New Granada from 1817-1830.

[183] "According to what the inhabitants told me," wrote Mollien, in the early part of the last century, "when the paramo se pone bravo is out of humor, then the greatest dangers threaten the traveler; a wind laden with icy vapors blows with tremendous violence; thick darkness covers the earth and conceals every trace of a road. The birds which, on the appearance of a fine day, had attempted the passage, fall motionless. The traveler seeks to shelter himself under the stunted shrubs which here and there grow in these deserts; but their wet foliage obliges him to find another covert. Worn out with fatigue and hunger, in vain urging on his mules, benumbed with cold, he sits down to recover his exhausted strength. Fatal repose! His stomach soon becomes affected as when at sea, his blood freezes in his veins; his muscles grow stiff, his lips open as if to smile, and he expires with the expression of joy upon his features. The mules, no longer hearing their master's voice, remain standing, till at length tired, they lie down to die."--Travels in the Republic of Colombia, pp. 96, 97, London, 1824.

[184] Signifying a large hole, or a wide opening.

[185] The author of Campaigns and Cruises, already quoted, writing of the pass where Bolivar's army crossed the Cordillera describes it as "strewed with the bones of men and animals, that have perished in attempting to cross the paramo in unfavorable weather. Multitudes of small crosses are fixed in the rocks by pious hands, in memory of former travelers, who have died here; and along the path are strewed fragments of saddlery, trunks and various articles that have been abandoned, and resemble the traces of a routed army." Vol. III, p. 165.

[186] The Guia de la Republica de Colombia, p. 301, por M. Zamora, Bogotá, 1907, places the altitude at three thousand and nine hundred metres.

[187] Nueva-Geografia de Colombia, Tom. I, p. 985.

[188] According to Vergara y Velasco, the name Suma Paz is of Indian, and not of Spanish origin. If this be true, the name should be written as one word--Sumapaz. Personally, I prefer to think the name is Spanish. For this particular range it is a most appropriate epithet.

[189] Padre Simon says that Federmann, after crossing the Cordillera, tarried for a while in the province of Pasca. Castellanos declares it was in the pueblo of Pasca, a small town a short distance south of our route. According to Vergara y Velasco, the adventurous German conquistador entered "the Sabana of Bogatá by way of Pasca and Usme." Usme is a village that is on the road along which we passed. Col. Joaquin Acosta tells us the Cordillera was crossed in the broadest and most rugged part, "where even to-day the most daring hunters scarcely ever venture. Neither before nor since Federmann have horses scaled the craggy crests of Pascote and crossed the heights of Suma Paz and descended thence to Pasca in the valley of Fusagasuga." Oviedo informs us that it required twenty-two days to cross the paramos, which was so extremely cold that sixteen horses were frozen to death. But whether Federmann crossed Suma Paz where we did or, as some think, at a point farther south, it is reasonable to suppose that his route from Villavicencio to Bogatá was practically the same as our own.

[190] "Earth receives againe,
Whatever she brought forth, and they obtaine
Heaven's couverture, that have no urnes at all."

--Lucan's Pharsalia, Lib. VII, vv. 319 et seq.

[191] It was made a city by Charles V in 1540 with the title of "muy noble y muy leal," very noble and very loyal.

[192] "You do well to weep like a woman for what you failed to defend like a man."--Irving's A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, Chap. LIV.

[193] Op. cit., Appendice B., p. 10.

[194] Called by Colombians la Sabana, or la Sabana de Bogatá.

[195] "In the remotest times," writes Humboldt, following Quesada and Piedrahita, "before the moon accompanied the earth, according to the mythology of the Muysca or Mozca Indians, the inhabitants of the plain of Bogatá lived like barbarians, naked, without agriculture, without any form of laws or worship. Suddenly there appeared among them an old man, who came from the plains situate on the east of the Cordillera of Chingasa; and who appeared to be of a race unlike that of the natives, having a long and bushy beard. He was known by three distinct appellations, Bochica, Nemquetheba, and Zuhe. This old man, like Manco-Capac, instructed men how to clothe themselves, build huts, till the ground, and form themselves into communities. He brought with him a woman, to whom also tradition gives three names, Chia, Yubecayguaya, and Huythaca. This woman, extremely beautiful, and no less malignant, thwarted every enterprise of her husband for the happiness of mankind. By her skill in magic, she swelled the river of Funza, and inundated the valley of Bogatá. The greater part of the inhabitants perished in this deluge; a few only found refuge on the summits of the neighbouring mountains. The old man, in anger drove the beautiful Huythaca far from the Earth, and she became the Moon, which began from that epoch to enlighten our planet during the night. Bochica, moved with compassion for those who were dispersed over the mountains, broke with his powerful arm the rocks that enclosed the valley, on the side of Canoas and Tequendama. By this outlet he drained the waters of the lake of Bogotá; he built towns, introduced the worship of the Sun, named two chiefs, between whom he divided the civil and ecclesiastical authority, and then withdrew himself, under the name of Idacanzas, into the holy valley of Iraca, near Tunja, where he lived in the exercise of the most austere penitence for the space of two thousand years."--Vues de Cordillères et Monuments des Peuples Indigènes de l'Amérique, par Al. de Humboldt, Paris, 1810. Compare Piedrahita's Historia General de las Conquistas del Nuevo Reino de Granada, Cap. III, Bogotá, 1881. Piedrahita, following other authors, was of the opinion that Bochica was no other than the Apostle Bartholomew, who, according to a widespread legend, preached the gospel in this part of the world.

[196] "Why do you plant these eucalyptus trees around your houses?" I asked of a peon one day. "Para evitar la fiebre, Sumerced," to prevent fever, your honor. The "Sumerced," in this reply, is only one of many indications of deference on the part of the common people in their intercourse with strangers, or with those whom they regard as their superiors. It is an echo of the courtly language employed in the days of the viceroyalty.

[197] The height of the falls, according to Humboldt's measurements, is one hundred and seventy metres. Before his visit they were supposed to be much higher. Piedrahita calls them one of the wonders of the world and declares that their height is half a league. Around the top of the falls are seen oak, elm and cinchona trees; at the bottom are found palms, bananas and sugar-cane. Colombans always refer to these facts when they wish to impress the stranger with the extraordinary height of Tequendama, as compared with that of other great falls. By a single plunge, they proudly tell us, its waters pass from tierra fria to tierra caliente.

[198] Le Tour du Monde, Vol. XXXV, p. 194.

[199] Not Benalcazar, as is so often written. He took his name from his native town, Belalcazar, on the confines of Andalusia and Estremadura.

[200] "Ours be his gold and his pleasures,
Let us enjoy that land, that sun."

[201] Op. cit., Parte III, Canto 4.

[202] Compendio Historico del Descubrimiento y Colonization de la Nueva Granada, p. 168, Bogotá, 1901.

[203] Piedrahita, op. cit., Lib. VII, Cap. 4, Bogotá, 1881. See also Noticias Historiales de las Conquistas de Tierra Firme en las Indias Occidentales, por Fr. Pedro Simon, Tom. IV, p. 195, Bogotá, 1892.

[204] Antologia de Poetas Hispano-Americanos, publicada por la Real Academia Española, Tom. III, Introduccion, Madrid, 1894.

[205] A peculiar phenomenon, which has been frequently commented on, is that the early prose writers of Latin America exhibited more true poetic feeling and enthusiasm in their productions than did those who expressed themselves in verse. La Araucana, the so-called epic poem of Ercilla, pronounced an Iliad by Voltaire and considered by Sismondi a mere newspaper in rhyme, is a case in point. Nowhere, in this long work of forty-two thousand verses, "has the aspect of volcanoes covered with eternal snow, of torrid sylvan valleys, and of arms of the sea extending far into the land, been productive of any descriptions that may be regarded as graphical." It exhibits, it is true, a certain animation in describing the heroic struggle of the brave Araucanians for their homes and liberty, but, aside from this, the higher elements of poetry--especially of epic poetry--are entirely lacking.

The same observation can be made with still greater truth of the Arauco Domado, of Padre Oña; of the Argentina, of Barco Centenera; the Cortés Valeroso, and the Mejicana, of Laso de la Vega; and the oft-quoted Elegias de Varones Ilustres de Indias, of Juan de Castellanos. All of these, with the exception of the last-mentioned work, have long since been buried in almost complete oblivion. The influence of the Italian school is everywhere manifest in these productions--an influence which, while it may have contributed to purity, correctness and elegance of expression, was quite destructive of the vigor, freshness and originality so characteristic of the great masters of Spanish verse. Compare Humboldt's Cosmos, Vol. II, Part I; and Historias Primitivas de Indias, por Don Enrique de Vedia, Tom. I, p. 10, Madrid, 1877, in the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles desde la Formacion del Lenguaje hasta Nuestros Dios.

Those who are interested in the literature of Colombia will find the subject ably discussed in Historia de la Literatura en Nueva Granada, by Don José Maria Vergara y Vergara Bogotá, 1867.

[206] The first printing press seen in the New World was brought to the city of Mexico by its first bishop, the learned Franciscan, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, shortly after the conquest by Cortes.

[207] The people of some of the other South American capitals would, I am sure, take exception to the claims here made in favor of Bogotá. I myself think them greatly exaggerated.

[208] The Colombian and Venezuela Republics, p. 101, Boston, 1905.

[209] Compendio de la Historia de Venezuela desde el Descubrimiento de America hasta Nuestros Dias, p. 213, Paris, 1875.

[210] See especially introduction and Cap. I, Vol. I, Quinta Edicion, New York, 1901.

[211] A Narrative of the Expedition to the Rivers Orinoco and Apure, pp. 462-464, London, 1819.

[212] Memoirs of Simon Bolivar, Vol. II, pp. 3, 236, 257 and 258.

[213] After the battle was over the survivors of this decisive conflict were saluted by Bolivar as Salvatores de mi Patria--Saviors of my country.

[214] Op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 249, 250.

[215] "Colombia had been an efficient war machine in the hands of Bolivar by which the independence of South America was secured, but was an anachronism as a nation. The interests of the different sections were antagonistic, and the military organization given to the country only strengthened the germs of disorder. Venezuela and New Granada were geographically marked out as independent nations. Quito, from historical antecedents, aspired to autonomy. Had Bolivar abstained from his dreams of conquest, and devoted his energies to the consolidation of his own country, he might, perhaps, have organized it into one nation under a federal form of government, but that was not suited to his genius. When his own bayonets turned against him, he went so far as to despair of the republican system altogether and sought the protection of a foreign king for the last fragment of his shattered monocracy."--History of San Martin, p. 467, by General Don Bartolome Mitre, translated by W. Pilling, London, 1893.

[216] After writing the above paragraphs, I was glad to learn from Mr. W. H. Fox, the American Minister to Ecuador, that General Alfaro, the present chief executive of that republic, is, like many distinguished patriots and statesmen of Colombia and Venezuela, an ardent advocate of the restoration of Bolivar's great Republic of Colombia. "I would," said he to Mr. Fox, who has given me permission to publish this statement, "rather be governor of Ecuador, as one of the states of such a great republic, than be its president, as I am now."

All friends of Greater Colombia, and their number among enlightened and far-seeing statesmen is rapidly increasing, hope the day is not far distant when Bolivar's plan can once more be put into effect, but this time on so enduring a basis that it cannot again be affected by the machinations of the jealous military rivals and self-seeking politicians, by whom so many hapless countries in Latin America have so long been cursed.

[217] Quoted by F. Hassaurek, formerly United States Minister to Ecuador, in his Four Years Among Spanish Americans, p. 209, New York, 1868.

[218] Since writing the above the connection has been made.

[219] Vergara y Velasco, Nueva Geografia de Colombia, p. 253.

[220] Castellanos, in his Historia del Nuevo Reino de Granada, Tom. II, pp. 61, 62, in referring to the delicacies Don Alonso Luis de Lugo and his half-famished companions found on their reaching the Sabana de Bogotá, after their dreadful journey through the "pluvious, swampy, impassable, dismal" sierras of the Opon, makes mention, among other things, of well-cured hams and capons that were provided for their entertainment.

"Cuantidad de jamones bien curados,
Porque tenian ya buenas manadas
De puercos desque vino Benalcazar
Que trajo los primeros de la tierra.
Hubo tambien capones y gallinas,
Que se multiplicaron desque vino
Nicolao Fedriman de Venezuela,
Que al Nuevo reino trajo las primeras."

[221] Fray Bernardo Lugo, in his Gramatica de la lengua Mosca, published in 1619, and Padre Simon, in his Noticias Historiales, written shortly after, were the first to state that the language spoken was the Chibcha. Muisca is a Chibcha word signifying person.

[222] The Chibchas, like many people living on the Andean plateaus to-day, derived their chief sustenance from potatoes and maize, both of which are indigenous to South America. Oviedo speaks of the potato as their principal aliment, as it was always served with whatever else they ate. According to Castellanos, it was a favorite article of diet with the conquistadores, as well as with the Indians.

Maize afforded them meat and drink, for out of it they made bread and their highly-prized beverage, chicha, which is still so popular among their descendants. Of the paramount importance of this article of food among the aborigines of the New World, John Fiske, in his valuable work, The Discovery of America, writes as follows:--

"Maize or Indian corn has played a most important part in the history of the New World, as regards both the red men and the white men. It could be planted without clearing or ploughing the soil. It was only necessary to girdle the trees with a stone hatchet, so as to destroy their leaves, and let in the sunshine. A few scratches and digs were made in the ground with a stone digger, and the seed once dropped in took care of itself. The ears could hang for weeks after ripening, and could be picked off without meddling with the stalk; there was no need of threshing or winnowing. None of the Old World cereals can be cultivated without much more industry and intelligence." Vol. 1, pp. 27, 28. M. Alphonse de Candolle, in his learned work, Origin of Cultivated Plants, seems to regard Colombia as the original home of maize, while he inclines to the opinion that Chile was the point of departure of the potato--Solanum tuberosum.

[223] Prehistoric America, p. 460, London, 1885.

[224] It is saying more than the facts will warrant to assert, as does Ameghino, that "En Nueva Granada las inscripciones geroglificas se encuentran a cada paso"--that hieroglyphic inscriptions are found everywhere. Cf. his La Antiguedad del Hombre, Vol. I, p. 92.

[225] Los Chibchas antes de la Conquista Española, p. 176, Bogotá, 1895. Cf. also El Dorado, Estudio Historico, Etnografico y arqueologico de los Chibchas, Habitantes de la Antigua Cundinamarca y de Algunas Otras Tribus, por el Doctor Liborio Zerda, Bogotá, 1883, and Nouvelle Géographic Universelle, par Elisée Reclus, Tom. XVIII, pp. 292 et seq., Paris, 1893.

[226] Chap. I, New York, 1877.

[227] Compare Fiske, op. cit., Vol. I, Chap. I.

[228] Crossing a mountain range like the Oriental Cordilleras, is not, as is so frequently imagined, a gradual and uninterrupted ascent to the summit, and then a similar continuous descent to its base. Far from it. It is literally an ever-recurring journey "up the hill and down the dale," from the foothills on one side of the range to the foothills on the other. The accompanying diagram from Karsten's Géologie de l'Ancienne Colombie Bolivarienne, gives a good idea of the eastern range of the Andes along our route from the Meta to the Magdalena.

[229] Commonly called "chaps."

[230] Notwithstanding the statements, frequently made by travelers, about their mules climbing roads inclined at angles varying from 30° to 45°, it can safely be affirmed that the maximum angle is but little, if any more than 20°, as actual measurement will show. When the inclination becomes greater than this the mule will always take a zigzag course, so as to reduce the grade as much as possible.

[231] "Heavy, tortuous and dark."--Ovid.

[232] I do not pretend to deny that drunkenness exists in Colombia. Even Colombian writers would be the last to do this, for they are fully aware of the extent of the ravages of the drink evil. They will tell you frankly that the inhabitants of certain parts of the country are addicted to intoxication, or, as one of them expresses it, that they are "muy amigos de embriagarse"--fond of getting drunk. And no one, I think, will deny that the prevalence of the drink habit is one of the country's greatest curses. A good old padre, learned and patriotic, wrote a book some decades ago, in which he contended that Colombia, by reason of its favored geographical position and its wonderful natural resources, should rank among the richest and most prosperous countries of the New World. And it would be, he insisted, were it not for three drawbacks. These, in his estimation, were borracheria, holgozaneria and politiqueria, to-wit, drunkenness, indolence, and the habit, so universally prevalent, of its people dabbling in questionable politics. We have no equivalent in English for the expressive word, politiqueria, although we should have frequent use for it if it existed. It means, literally, the methods and occupation of a politicaster--an individual who is as much of a drawback to the best interests of our own country as is the politicastro to Colombia.

To the great amount of chicha sold in these estancos, usually kept by women, is undoubtedly traceable the origin of the saying, Toda chichera muere rica--Every chicha vender dies rich.

[233] According to Franz Keller and other travelers in South America, the Indian women in certain parts of the continent prepare chicha by masticating the maize, just as some of the Polynesians prepare kava and certain other of their favorite beverages by mastication. They claim that when thus prepared it has a far more agreeable flavor than when prepared artificialmente, that is, by the method above described. See The Amazon and Madeira Rivers, p. 164 et seq., London, 1874.

Spix and Martius' Travels in Brazil, Vol. II, p. 232, London, 1824, say, "It is remarkable that this mode of preparing a fermented liquor out of maize, mandioca flour or bananas, is found among the various Indian tribes of America, and seems peculiar to this race."

Sir Robert Schomburgk, referring to the intoxicating drink, paiwori, made from cassava bread, writes as follows:--

"The women, who prepare the beverage, assemble around a large jar or other earthen vessel, and having moistened their mouths with fresh water, they commence chewing the bread, collecting in the vessel the moisture which accumulates in the mouth. This is afterwards put into a trough, called canaua, or in large jars, in which a quantity of the charred bread has been broken up, over which boiling water is poured; and it is then kneaded, and portions which are not of an even consistency are again carried to the mouth, ground with the teeth, and returned into the earthen pot. The process is repeated several times, from the idea that it conduces to the strength of the beverage. The second day fermentation begins, and on the third the liquor is considered fit for use. We have seen a whole village, young and old, men and women, occupied in this disgusting process when it was contemplated to celebrate our unexpected arrival among them; otherwise, for common use, the females alone employ themselves ex officio with the preparation. Their teeth suffer so much from this occupation that a female has seldom a good tooth after she is thirty years old.... The taste of the paiwori is very refreshing after great fatigue, and not unpleasant to the taste; if offered as the cup of welcome by the Indian, it would be a great offense to refuse it."--The Discovery of Guiana, ut sup., pp. 64, 65.

[234] Reisen in den Columbianischen Anden, Leipzig, 1888.

[235] The usual name given the humming bird by the people of Venezuela and Colombia is colibri. It is also known as the pajarito-mosca--little bird fly--or pica-flor--flower-nibbler. But the most beautiful and most picturesque names are those in use by the Indians, who seem to have a particular faculty for inventing appropriate epithets for whatever specially strikes their fancy. By them humming birds are called "The rays of the sun," "The tresses of the day-star" and "Living sunbeams." The poet Bailey has incorporated the last of these names in the couplet,

"Bright Humming-bird of gem-like plumeletage,
By western Indians Living Sunbeam named,"

Audubon was but imitating the children of the forest when he called humming birds "Glittering fragments of the rainbow."

[236] Even the Colombian writer, Vergara y Velasco, who, like South Americans generally, is slow to grow enthusiastic over natural scenery, refers to the view from El Sargento as a "Sitio pintoresco si los hay"--a picturesque place if there be any.

[237] Act III, Scene VI.

[238] According to Karl Fauehaber, the explorer of the Quindio Cordillera, Tolima has an altitude of 20,995 feet.

[239] "With Francis of Assisi and his Hymn to the Sun," we are informed by a recent writer, "the love of wild nature became more articulate." As an illustration of the effect of Nature-love on sensitive souls, we are told that the poet Gay, after visiting the Grande Chartreuse, declared that if he had lived in St. Bruno's day, he would have been one of his disciples. "It was," he said, "one of the most solemn, the most romantic and the most astonishing scenes I ever beheld."

[240] Shelley's Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude.

[241] The negroes of Colombia are often of a highly poetical nature, and, like those of our Southern states, are passionately fond of music, singing and dancing. Their voices are often marvelously elastic, expansive and harmonious. Their favorite air and dance is the bambuco, of African origin, to which Jorge Isaacs refers in his charming Caucan novel, Maria, and of which Vergara y Vergara in his valuable Historia de la Literatura en Nueva Granada (Parte primera, p. 513, Bogotá, 1867) gives us so glowing an account. It is the latter writer that assures us that if a negro were to play a marimba in the forests of the South Coast, he could be certain that wild beasts and serpents would listen to him in silent ecstasy.

[242] "Hail, hail, majestic river!... Contemplating thee, adorned by the eldest of Earth's sons; full only of thee, I feel my soul carried on by the foam of thy waves, which in deep whirlpools roar, absorbed in the giant works of that Being which embraces the infinite."

[243] The reader will be surprised to learn that the aggregate capacity of all the boats--champans included--at present plying on the Magdalena--proudly named by the people the Danube of Colombia--is not more than eleven thousand tons, about half the tonnage of one of our great transatlantic steamers.

[244] Op. cit., 3a Noticia, Cap. IX.

[245] The first mention, apparently, of the Magdalena, as distinguished from the Rio Grande, occurs in Benzoni's work, already cited.

[246] Called by the natives Cabeza de Negro--Negro-head--from the globular form of the spathe enclosing the nuts.

[247] The introduction of the steamboat on the Magdalena will soon suppress the rude yet picturesque craft known as the champan. With it will disappear that interesting type of negro known as the boga. The boga is tall and robust, with the habits of a savage. He spends the greater part of his time in the champan, and his life as a punter is a strenuous one and full of danger. He speaks a barbarous jargon--currulao--composed of Spanish and of certain African and Indian dialects. His ideas of honor and honesty are not unlike those of similar people in other parts of the world. One can safely trust him with money and clothing, but, if the traveler have liquor of any kind with him, the boga will be sure to purloin it at the first opportunity. He is simple, frank, and brave. He sings during good weather, even while struggling against the current or fighting caymans, but he swears like a trooper during rain and thunder storms, especially when the lightning strikes near him. For him death is a very simple matter. A dead man to him is like a champan damaged beyond repair--something to be carried away by the all-devouring river.