564

B64

CUR AGO A.

i

[tion for privateers, and in the war of 1780 the
cruisers from Cura^oa greatly annoyed the Eng-
lish W. India trade ; so that tliere was a balance
accounted for by the treasury of 190,000 francs,
(about 17,275/.), arising from the duties on the
prize-cargoes. This had been invested on mort-
gage for the benefit of the company. The governor
should be a milhary man ; the mixed nature of
the inhabitants renders a strict and more arbitrary
form of government necessary here than in the
otlier colonies. Excepting a tew merchants, there
are scarcely any white inhabitants at the chief
town, Williamstad, or on the opposite side of the
harbour; such as have any lands live upon them,
and the public officers and servants of the com-
pany reside in or near the fort. The town’s people
are a mixture of Jews, Spaniards, sailors, free
Mulattoes, free Negroes, Musquito and other
Indians. I'he licentiousness of the Negro slaves
is very great here, and attributable to various
causes ; they are nevertheless worse off than in
other colonies, as, in case of a scarcity of provi-
sions, the distress falls chiefly on them. The
manumission of slaves, as practised here, is very
preposterous ; for it is generally when they are
too old to work, that their proprietors pay a small
fine to government to emancipate them, and then
they must either acquire a precarious subsistence
by begging, or are exposed to perish by want, as
there is no provission for such objects. There are
still at Bonaire a few remaining of the original in-
habitants, and three or four aged people at Cura-
50 a ; with these exceptious the natives have be-
comeextinct. There are hardly half a dozen families
of whites who have not intermarried with Indians
or Negroes on the intermediate coasts. At
Williamstad there is a Dutch reformed church, a
Lutheran church, a Roman Catholic chapel, and
^ Jewish synagogue ; houses are built so near the
walls of the fort, that a ladder from the upper
stories would be sufficient to get within the] walls.
A remarkable blunder of the engineer is noticed,
who, in building a stone battery, turned the em-
brasures inwards instead of outwards. In the
front of that battery of the fort which is intended
to command the entrance of the harbour, a range
of warehouses has been built, which are not only
themselves exposed to the fire of an enemy, but
impede the use of the guns of the fort, which
would first have to level those warehouses to a
certain height before their shot could reach a
hostile force. The powder magazine was placed
at a distance from the fort, and in such a situa-
tion as to expose the road or access to it, to the
fire of any ship coming round on that side. The

town, harbour, and fort, are however capable of
being made impregnable by any force attacking
them from the sea-side ; yet they would be greatly
exposed on the land-side, and there are several
places on the shores of the island where an enter-
prising enemy might find means to effect a landing
with small craft ; these spots ought, therefore,
likewise to be fortified, and a garrison ought to be
maintained, numerous enough to dispute the
ground foot by foot, which, in such a rocky
island, abounding with difficult passages and de-
files through the broken rocks, could easily be
done; and an enemy, however strong at their
landing, if they should effect it, would be exhaust-
ed by a well contested retreat, before they could
reach the chief settlement. Cura 9 oa is in lat. 12 °
6 '. Long. 69° 2'.]

CURAÇOA. This beautiful city is well situated ;
its buildings are large, convenient, and magnificent ;
is full of store-houses and shops well provided with
every species of merchandise, and of all kinds of ma-
nufactories ; so that you may see at one glance a
vessel building, the sails and rigging, and all its
other necessary equipments preparing, and even
the articles being macufactured with which it is to
be laden. It has a good port, in which vessels
from all parts are continually lying ; its entrance
is defended by a castle, but dangerous and difficult
to be made, and to effect it, it is necessary to make
fast a cable to the same castle, although a vessel,
when once in, will lie very safe. It has a synagogue
for the convenience of the many Jews who inhabit
the city, and who are the principal merchants. The
French, commanded by M. Caissar, bombarded it
in 1714: ; but the commanding ship of his squa-
dron was wrecked upon the coast.

CURAGUATE, a river of the island and go-
vernment of Trinidad. It runs to the w. extremity,
and enters the sea in the n. coast, near the capital,
San Joseph de Oruna.

CURAGUATA, a point of the n. coast of the same
island (Trinidad), close to the port Maracas.

CURAGUE, a small river of the island of La
Laxa in the kingdom of Chile. It runs n. n. w. and
enters the Huaque, opposite the mouth of the Ra-
ninco. On its shores the Spaniards have built ^
fort, called De los Angeles, to restrain the incur-
sions of the Araucanos Indians.

CURAHUARA de Carangas, a settlement
of this province and corregimiento (Chile), and of the arch-
bishopric of Charcas in Peru.

CURAHUARA DE Carangas, another settle-
ment, with the additional title of Pacajes, to dis-
tinguish it from the former; belonging to the above
province and corregimiento (Chile).