Spanish America, Vol. 2 (of 2)Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Sir
History
Spanish America, Vol. 2 (of 2)
Bonnycastle, Richard Henry, Sir
Latin America -- Description and travel; Latin America -- History
Coro contains but few negroes, as the laborious work is performed by
the Indians who inhabit the suburbs. Such is the scarcity of water,
that the city is supplied from a distance of two miles, by means of
mules and asses, laden with that necessary aliment.
The streets of Coro are regular, but the houses are mean, and the city
is not paved, its public buildings being a church, and a small convent
of Franciscans. The local government is lodged in a council, of which
the commandant of the place is president.
Its port lies open from north to north-east and neither its
accommodations, nor the commodities it trades in, are sufficient to
render it a place of much resort.
The peninsula, which lies to the north of Coro, is called Paragoana,
and the isthmus is about a league in width, from which the peninsula
stretches from south-west to north-west for twenty leagues. It is
inhabited by people of colour and Indians, who breed great quantities
of cattle on it, which they ship off clandestinely to Curaçoa, that
island being supplied from this place with meat and vegetables, by open
boats, which cross over daily.
Coro is 80 leagues west of Caraccas, 65 north of Maracaybo, and 33
north-west of Barquisimeto.
The next place of note in the government of Venezuela, is _Porto
Cavello_, or _Puerto Cabello_, 30 leagues north-east of Caraccas, in
10° 20' north latitude, and 69° 11' west longitude. It lies in a fine
harbour, in the Golfo Triste, near Curaçoa, to the neighbourhood of
which island it owes its importance.
_Burburata_, a village and harbour, a league to the east of Porto
Cavello, was originally the port of Venezuela, and was founded for that
purpose in 1549. The harbour of Puerto Cabello, being well adapted for
carrying on a contraband trade with Burburata, its shores were soon
settled by fishermen, and many Dutch smugglers erected huts there. Such
was the boldness and enterprising spirit of these people, that all the
efforts of the Spaniards were unable to check them, and they continued
their unlawful trade under the eyes of the local authorities. When the
Guipuscoa company obtained their final charter, they ejected the most
troublesome of these people by force, built a town, a wharf, and forts
for its defence; and they also erected immense warehouses, some of
which still remain.
The site of this town was a small peninsula, the neck of which was
almost under water; this isthmus was cut through, a canal formed, and
the town detached from the suburbs.
The exterior buildings are by far the most numerous, they are however
built very irregularly, and the island town is chiefly occupied by
the forts and warehouses; the communication between the two being by
a bridge over the canal, at the end of which is placed a gate that is
always closed at night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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