Spanish America, Vol. II (of 2). Bonnycastle Richard Henry
in consequence of Faxardo, one of the conquerors having greatly praised the surrounding country; it was first built by Villacinda in 1555, with the view of establishing a port near the capital; but Alonzo Diaz Moreno afterwards preferred a scite more distant from lake Tacarigua (now Valencia), and he accordingly removed the colony half a league west of the lake to a beautiful plain, where the air was pure and the soil fertile.
The population of this city is said to be about 8000 souls, mostly creoles, of good families, with some Biscayans and Canarians; the streets are wide and well paved, and the houses built like those of Caraccas, but not of stone. This town has a beautiful square, in which the church, a very pretty structure, stands. In 1802 another church was built and dedicated to Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria; and the Franciscans have a monastery which has also a neat church.
The inhabitants were formerly noted for their indolence, but have lately become active and industrious, and the situation of the place is peculiarly favourable for trade, being separated from Puerto Cavello by only ten leagues of good road. Every commodity landed at that port for the consumption of the provinces of the interior passes through Valencia, which necessarily causes much traffic. The adjacent country produces every sort of provision and fruits in great abundance, and the plains feed immense herds of cattle, with sheep, horses and mules, so that its markets are well supplied. Near it is the lake of Valencia, which has been described already.
Valencia, with the towns of Victoria and Barquisimeto, suffered very much from the earthquake which overthrew Caraccas, La Guayra, Merida and the villages of San Felipe and Maiqueta, on the 26th of March, 1812.
Ocumara, though only a village, is celebrated for having a very fine port, the entrance to which has a battery for eight pieces of cannon. Ocumara is five leagues east of Porto Cabello; the port is excellent and well sheltered, with fine moorings. The village is about a league distant from the anchoring place on a small river of the same name, which, after fertilizing a fine valley, enters the sea at the foot of the fort. Between this bay and La Guayra are the bays of Choroni, Puerto, La Cruz, Los Arecifes and Catia, and between Ocumara, or Seinega de Ocumara are the bays of Turiamo, Burburata, and Paranego, from all of which the inhabitants of the coasts export their produce to La Guayra, Porto Cavello, or the West Indies, as each of these afford fine anchoring places for vessels. In the bay of Burburata there is a village, formerly a place of consequence, but principally of note for the number of mules which it exports.
San Carlos was formerly a missionary village, which owes its present beauty to the luxuriancy of the surrounding country; it is twenty-eight leagues south-south-west of Valencia, in 9° 20' north latitude; the climate is very hot, but owing to the prevalence of the north-east wind it is much ameliorated. The inhabitants amount to 9500, composed of Spaniards from the Canaries, and Creoles, and are engaged in rearing cattle, horses and mules, which form their chief riches; the quality of the soil is so good that it gives an exquisite flavour to the fruits, particularly to its oranges, which are celebrated throughout the province.
Indigo and coffee are the chief articles cultivated at San Carlos, and the town is large, handsome, and well laid out.
Araura on the shore of the river Acarigua is north-north-east of Truxillo, in a fertile country, where numerous herds of cattle are reared, and cotton and coffee are cultivated; this town, which was, till lately, a missionary village, contains a fine square, a handsome church, and several streets of well built houses.
Calaboso was also a mission until lately; it was formed into a town for the sake of those Spanish owners who wished to be near their cattle which roam on the vast plains of the same name.
It is situated between the rivers Guarico and Orituco, which unite their waters four or five leagues below the town, and then flow into the Apure.
The number of inhabitants in this new town is 4800, and it has 116 settlements in its jurisdiction, containing 1186 free Indians, 3100 people of colour, and 943 slaves. It is fifty-two leagues south of Caraccas, and about the same distance from the Orinoco, in 8° 40' north latitude.
San Juan del Pao is also inhabited by the proprietors of the cattle on the plains, and consists of a church and several handsome streets on the Pao, which runs into the Orinoco. It contains 5400 souls, and is fifty leagues south-west of Caraccas, in 9° 20' north latitude.
San Luis de Cura, in 9° 45' north latitude, twenty-two leagues south-west of Caraccas, and eight leagues south-east of Lake Valencia, possesses 4000 inhabitants, and a miraculous image of the Virgin, to which votaries are constantly flocking.
St. Sebastian de los Reyes in 9° 54' north latitude, twenty-eight leagues south-south-west of Caraccas, and in a hot climate, contains 3500 souls.
St. Felipe or Cocorota, in a very fertile soil, where cacao, indigo, coffee, cotton and sugar are cultivated, contains 6800 inhabitants, and is well built. It stands in 10° 15' north latitude, 50 leagues west of Caraccas, 15 leagues north-west of Valencia, and seven leagues north-west of Nirgua; which place was built in the early periods of the conquest, on account of its mines; but it is now in a decaying state, and is inhabited only by Sambos, or the race springing from the Indians and negroes; their number amounts to 3200. This town is in 10° south latitude, 48 leagues west of Caraccas.
Besides the above, there are several other smaller towns, and some very large villages in this government, which are too numerous to describe.
The country of Venezuela is not famous for mines of gold or silver, though some gold has occasionally been found in the streams, which rush from the mountains; the pearl fishery of its coasts will be described in treating of the island of Margarita.
THE PROVINCE OF MARACAYBO
Maracaybo, or Maracaibo, surrounds the lake of the same name. It is bounded on the west by Santa Marta, in New Granada; on the east by Coro and Venezuela; on the north by Santa Marta, and the gulf of Maracaybo; and on the south by Merida and Santa Marta. Owing to the great extent of the lake, this province extends but a short distance inland to the east and west, its length being about 100 leagues.
The soil of Maracaybo is unfruitful on the banks of the lake. The east shore is dry and unhealthy, and on the west shore the land does not begin to be fertile for more than twenty-five leagues south of the city. South of the lake the country may vie with the richest lands of South America.
In this province the population is estimated at about 100,000 souls.
It was from the Indian towns built on posts of iron wood on the lake of Maracaybo that the Spaniards gave the country the name of Venezuela, or Little Venice. This country was long unknown after the conquest. Ampues, who was governor at Coro, had engaged all the neighbouring nations of Indians, by his conciliatory measures, to swear allegiance to Spain, when, in 1528, Alfinger and Sailler, who had been sent, with 400 followers, to assume the government, under the authority of the company of the Welsers, landed at Coro. Unfortunately for the Indians, they dispossessed Ampues of his government, and began to search in every direction round the lake for gold; finding that their hopes of suddenly acquiring riches from this source were not likely to be realised, Alfinger took the resolution of penetrating into the interior, to pillage the Indian towns, and make prisoners of as many as he could, in order to sell them for slaves. The Indian villages about the lake were soon destroyed; carnage and havoc spread around; the natives were sold to the merchants from the islands, and the whole province was a scene of horror and devastation. Alfinger did not long survive this inhuman conduct, he met his fate in a valley, six leagues from Pamplona, in Merida, the natives killing him there in a skirmish in 1531.
Two other German agents succeeded him, and continued the same barbarous conduct towards the Indians, which coming to the knowledge of the king of Spain, they were formally dispossessed: but it is asserted that the traces of the crimes they committed are visible to this day. Four villages of Maracaybo were all that escaped, and are yet standing, the iron wood on which they are founded becoming like a mass of stone from the petrifying quality of the water. These villages are situated on the east part of the lake, at unequal distances from each other, and have a church, which is also built in the water on piles, and to which the inhabitants of all the villages resort.
Several small rivers