22 chapters
4 hour read
Selected Chapters
22 chapters
Down the Orinoco in a Canoe
Down the Orinoco in a Canoe
By S. Pérez Triana With an Introduction by R. B. Cunninghame Graham ‘Que ejcura que ejtá la Noche! La Noche! que ejcura ejtá! Asi de ejcura ej la ausencia ... Bogá, Negrito, bogá, Bogá!’ Candelario Obeso New York Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Publishers 1902 New York Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. Publishers 1902...
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PREFACE
PREFACE
‘Climas pasé, mudé constelaciones, golfos inavegables, navegando.’— Ercilla : La Araucana . To read a book to which a friend has asked you to write a preface is an unusual—nay, even a pedantic—thing to do. It is customary for a preface-monger to look contemptuously at the unopened bundle of his friend’s proofs, and then to sit down and overflow you his opinions upon things created, and those which the creator has left in chaos. I plead guilty at once to eccentricity, which is worse than the sin
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
The hour was about ten one evening in December, which in equatorial Andine latitudes is a month of clear skies, cold winds, and starry nights. The moon shone brilliantly, casting upon the ground shadows as clear as those caused by a strong electric light. Truly, the local poet who said that such nights as these might serve as days in other lands was right. We came out—three of us, Alex, Fermin and I—through an old Spanish gateway, a rectangular structure of adobes , or sun-burnt bricks, capped w
7 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
A little geography may not be amiss here. A glance at the map will show that the city of Bogotá is situated upon a vast plateau, at an altitude of about 8,500 feet above sea-level, 4 degrees from the equator, and 75 degrees to the west of Greenwich. Its position in the continent is central. It is perched like a nest high up in the mountains. To reach the ocean, and thus the outer world, the inhabitants of Bogotá are even now still compelled to have recourse to quite primitive methods; true, ther
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
Returning to the lake, and now gathering the information furnished by geology, whose silent annals are so carefully and truthfully recorded (being as they are beyond reach of man’s little contentions and petty adjustments), we find that the original lake covered an area of about seventy-five square miles, and attained great depths. Its placid waters, beating possibly for centuries against the environing rocks, have left their marks, from which it may be seen that in some places the depth was 120
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
But let us go back to our subject. All this time we journeyed on. The stars had kept their watch above our heads, and the moon, as if passing in review the various quarters of heaven, had been moving from west to east, and was very high on the horizon. We were chilled through after the night’s ride, longing to arrive at some wayside inn or venta where we might get something warm. The dawn was heralded in the far east by a broad streak of light, which grew rapidly, covering that side of the horiz
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
From Miraflores on, the descent was continuous. Before penetrating into the forest, we skirted the mountain for a good many miles. The road, barely 4 or 5 feet in width, had been cut out of the rock, like the cornice of a temple. On the one side we had the bluff of the mountain, and on the other a precipice of hundreds, and even thousands, of feet in depth. The inclination at times was so steep that at a distance the line of the road on the mountain seemed almost vertical, and the file of mules
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
Before parting from our friends the mules, it may not be amiss to speak of the equipment for man and beast which obtains in Colombian Andine regions. The saddle used—sometimes native, sometimes European—offers nothing striking in its composition, only that it is provided with a crupper which must be very strong—strong as a braced strap—since in the steep ascents or descents the girth alone would be insufficient. The men wear leggings or zamorros , which, in fact, are rather seatless trousers tha
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
Early next morning, January 2, we started from the village, and, after a short ride across the plain, reached the river Tua, at the house of a small cattle-ranch called Santa Rosa del Tua. The owner of the premises welcomed us most hospitably, and, to our joy, placed at our disposal two small canoes. No others were to be found there at the moment. However, they were large enough to carry us and our belongings, and accordingly we made ready for an early start next day. The houses—or what serve fo
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
On the fourth day, about two hours’ sail from the confluence of the Tua with the Meta River, we stopped at a large cattle-ranch called Santa Barbara. The owner invited us to a dinner—the inevitable dishes of the llano : meat roasted over a bonfire, plaintains and coffee. The ranch consisted, we were told, of about 10,000 head of cattle, and was typical of the ranches to be found on the llanos of Colombia and Venezuela. Here, in the person of what might be called the sub-manager, whose name was S
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
Night soon asserted her sway. The blue vault of heaven, alive with innumerable stars, was clear and diaphanous; no cloud was to be seen. The evening noises died away, and the dead silence was only broken now and then by a vague rumour wafted mysteriously through space—the wash of waters on the shore, or possibly the lisp of forests by the river. We gave up all hope of the other canoe arriving that night, and faced the inevitable—no supper, no beds. As in our own canoe we carried a demijohn of ag
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
The settlement of San Pedro del Arrastradero—or of Arimena, as it is also called—lies on the right shore of the River Meta about 150 miles from its confluence with the Orinoco. Within a very short distance of the Meta at that point, less than a mile to the south, the caño of Caracarate branches towards the Muco River, which, flowing to the south-east, joins the Vichada; the latter, of about the same volume as the Meta, flows south-east till it strikes the Orinoco above the rapids. The Meta and t
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
Though several years have elapsed since my journey across those wild vast regions, the remembrance of them is most vivid and clear in my mind. It seems to me that everything in that period of my life, landscape and human beings, forest and plain, stream and cloud, mountains and breezes, all, all are still alive; they form part of the panorama or scene wherein my memory keeps them immortal, abiding for ever as I saw them, though unattainable to me. What was, is; what was, must be; so I imagine. M
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
The course of the rivers on the llanos is far from being as straight as the proverbial path of righteousness. They meander, wind, and turn about, so that when on a sharp curve one often sails almost directly against the main direction of the waters. The Indians take short cuts overland which enable them to travel much faster than the canoes. Thus the news of our coming preceded us by several days, and long before we reached the mouth of the Vichada all the tribes had heard that the largest exped
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
Whenever we started afresh in the morning, or after any temporary halt, the man at the prow of the canoe would call out, ‘ Vaya con Dios ,’ and the man on the stern, who steered with a paddle far larger than the others, would reply, ‘ y con la Virgen ’ (‘God go with us,’ ‘and the Virgin,’ respectively). The fair Queen of Heaven, being thus commemorated, piety was wedded to chivalry. The days followed each other in seemingly endless succession, like the windings of the river. Familiarity with the
14 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
Friend Valiente turned up at Santa Catalina, his canoes laden with mañoc and casabe , two days after our arrival. Though the ranch had been abandoned for some time, stray cattle, more or less wild, roamed about the neighbourhood. Leal and Valiente soon lassoed a fine heifer, which, slaughtered without delay, replenished our commissariat. We celebrated a banquet like that held on New Year’s Day at San Pedro del Tua. We still had a little coffee, but of rum, which had then formed such an attractio
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
We spent ten days in covering the distance from the upper to beyond the lower rapids, walking whenever it was impossible to use the canoes, which were drifted by the current or shot over the rapids. The delay was due chiefly to the loading and unloading of the canoes, and the necessarily slow transportation of packages, bundles, and sundry articles along the shore. The banks of the river on either side along the whole length of the rapids are high and rocky, sometimes extending for a mile or two
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
With the accession of Gatiño and his family and Valiente and his men, our numbers had gradually increased, and the camp at night had quite a lively aspect. The men would tell their adventures, and conversation frequently turned on local topics. We had gradually drifted into practical indifference concerning the doings of that distant world to which we belonged, and towards which we were moving. Newspapers, letters, telegrams, the multifarious scraps of gossip, the bursts of curiosity which fill
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
Not far from the Atures rapids, we stopped at Puerto Real, a short curve in the river where the waters penetrate into a sort of bay justifying the name of ‘port,’ but with no other title to it, for no human habitation, not even the humblest hut, exists on either shore. Here the canoes were laden permanently, as the river flowed straight to the ocean, free from all rapids except at a few narrow places where the current is swifter. These, however, did not call for the precautions of the past days.
13 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
The journey from La Urbana to Caicara passed off without any incident. On jumping ashore at this latter point we hoped that we were leaving our canoes for good, and that the rest of the journey to Ciudad Bolivar would take place by steam. The people received us very kindly, and, though the town was far from modern or rich, we enjoyed some comforts that we had lacked during the long journey which lay behind us. Though eight weeks had passed since the news of the death of the Governor of San Carlo
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
I have thus far sought to give an idea of my personal impressions during a journey most memorable to me; and I am aware that I bring no new or useful contribution from a scientific point of view. We had no instruments of observation, not even an ordinary every-day compass, enabling us to fix the cardinal points with certainty. Furthermore, had we possessed more complicated instruments, we were too ignorant to use them. Let these remarks be borne in mind should errors of appreciation be noticed,
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
After a week in Ciudad Bolivar, we bethought ourselves of continuing the journey to the sea. Civilization had reclaimed us for her own, and rigged in European attire, such as befits the tropics, with all the social conventionalities once again paramount in our mind, we set forth on that, the last stage of the journey. We had been, not a nine days’ but a nine hours’ wonder in the historical town which rears its houses and churches alongside the narrows of the majestic stream. Early in the afterno
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter