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304
CARACAS.
[and three counts. All the wliites pretend to be noble, and nearly one third of them are acknowledged to be ko. The whites are all either planters, merchants, soldiers, priests, monks, financiers, or lawyers. A Spanish white person, especially a Creole, however poor he may be, thinks it the greatest disgrace to labour as a mechanic. The Europeans in Caracas form at least two very distinct classes ; the first comprises those who come from Spain with apjjointments : the second those actuated by industry and a spirit of enterprise, and who emigrate to acquire wealth ; the greater part of these come from Catalonia and Biscay ; their views are purely mercantile. Both Catalonians and Biscayans are distinguished among their fellow-citizens by the good, faith they observe in their business, and by their punctuality in their payments. The former class, the European placemen, are most obnoxious to the Creoles, and these are in point of ability and education almost always the superiors. The Spaniards from the Canary islands, who are impelled by want, rather than fired by ambition, to quit their native soil and to establish themselves at Caracas, import with them tlie united industry of the Catalonians and Biscayans. Their genius assimilates more to that of the latter than to that of the former ; but, in fine, both are useful citizens, like all who strive by honest means to gain their livelihood, and who are not ashamed to prove by example, that man is born to labour. The women of Caracas are agreeable, sensible, and engaging ; few of them are fair, but they have jet black hair, with complexions as clear as alabaster ; their eyes are large, well set, and lovely, whilst the carnation of their lips marks a health and vigour of constitution. There are a very few, however, above the middle size, whilst there are a great many under ; and their feet too are rarely handsome. As they pass a great part of their lives at their windows, it may be said that they are solicitous to display that in which nature has most favoured them. There are no female schools here ; the women therefore learn nothing but what their parents teach them, which is confined, in many cases, to praying, reading badly, and writing Avorse ; it is diflicult for any but an inspired lover to read their scrawl. They have neither dancing, drawing, nor music masters ; all they learn of these accomplishments is to play a fgw airs on the guitar and pianoforte; there are but a very few who understand the rudiments of music. But in spite of this want of education, the ladies of Caracas know very avcU Jiow to unite social manners with politeness, and the art of coquetry with ferniainc modesty. 'I'his is, however, a picture only
of those women whose husbands or fathers possess large fortunes or lucrative places ; for that part of the female sex who are doomed to procure their own livelihood, seldom know of any other means of existence than the public prostitution of their virtue : about 200 of these poor creatures pass their days in rags and tatters in the ground-floors of houses, and stroll out only at night to procure the pittance for their next day’s fare ; their dress is a white petticoat and cloak, with a pasteboard bonnet covered with lustring, to which they attach a bunch of artificial flowers and tinsel. The same dress often serves in one evening for two or three of these unhappy beings. The class of domestic slaves is considerable at Caracas, since a person believes himself rich only in proportion to the number of slaves he has in his house. In general, four times more servants are kept than are necessary, for this is thought an etfectual method of concealing poverty. Thus a white Avouian goes to mass with two Negro or Mulatto women in her train, without having an equal value in any other species of property. Those who are reputedly rich, are followed by four or five servants, whilst as many attend every white person of the same family going to another church. Some houses at Caracas contain 12 or 15 servants, Aritliout counting the footmen in attendance on the men.
22. Freed persons , — Probably there is not a city throughout all the West Indies that has so great a proportion, Avith respect to other classes, of enfranchised persons and their descendants, as Caracas ; they carry on all the trades which the whites disdain. Every carpenter, joiner, mason, blacksmith, locksmith, tailor, shoemaker, and goldsmith, &c. is or has been an enfranchised slave ; they do not excel in any of these trades, because in learning them mechanically they always err in the principle : moreover, indolence, which is so natural to them, extinguishes that emulation to Avhich tlie arts owe all their progress. However, their masonry and their carpentry are sutiiciently correct, but the joiner’s art is yet in its infancy. They Avork very little; and Avhat appears rather contradictory is, that they work much cheaper than the European artists ; in .general, burdened with families, they live heaped up together in poor houses, and in the midst of priva-' tions : In this state of poverty, to employ them, you must aflbrd an immediate advance of money. The blacksmith never has coals nor fire. The carpenter is always Avithout Avood even for a table ; even the wants of their families must be administered to by the employer. In fine, the predominant passion among this class of people is to consume]
CARACAS.
305
[their Ures in the exercises of devotion, and they arc tondof forming themselves into religious societies; indeed there are few churclies that have not one or two of these fraternities, composed entirely of enfranchised slaves. Every one has its uniform, differing from the other only in colour.
23. University. — The education of the youth of Caracas and ot the whole archbishopric is entirely in a college and an university united together. The foundation of the college preceded that of the university by more than 60 years. This institution originated in the piety and care of bishop A. Gonzales de Acuna, who died in 16S2. At first nothing was taught here but Latin, with the addition of scholastic philosophy and theology. It has now a reading and a writing school ; three Latin schools, in one of which they profess rhetoric ; two professors of philosophy, one of which is a lay or secular priest, and the other a Dominican ; four professors of theology, two for school divinity, one for ethics, and another for positive divinity, the last of which ought always to be a Dominican ; a professor of civil law ; a professor of canon law ; a professor of medicine. The university and college of Caracas have only a capital of 47,748 dollars and 6\ reals, put out at interest, and producing annually 2.387 dollars, 3| reals: this sum pays the 12 professors. All the ranks of bachelor, licentiate, and doctor, are granted at the university. The first is given by the rector, the two others by the chancellor, who is also endowed with the quality of schoolmaster. The oath of each rank is to maintain the immaculate conception, not to teach nor practise regicide or tyrannicide, and to defend the doctrine of St. Thomas. In this college and university there were, in 1802, 64 boarders, and 402 students not boarders, viz.
In the lower classes, comprising rhetoric, 202
Philosophy - - . 140
Theology - - - 36
Canon and civil law - - 55
Physic - - - 11
la the school of sacred music - 22
466
24. Police . — The Spaniards of Caracas, of all people in the world, stand least in need of a police to preserve public tranquillity. Their natural sobriety, and more especially their phlegmatic disposition, render quarrels and tumults very rare among them. Here there is never any noise in the streets ; every body in them is silent, dull, and grave ; 300 or 400 people coming out of a
church make no more noise than a tortoise moving along the sand. But if the magistrate has nothing
to fear from open crimes, he has so much the more to apprehend from assassinations, thefts, frauds, and treachery. The Spaniard is far from exempt from that vindictive spirit, which is the more dangerous as it seeks its revenge only in the dark ; and from that rancour which veils itself with the mask of friendship to procure an opportunity of gratifying its vengeance. A person who from his station and condition has no chance of revenging himself, save by his own hands, exhibits very little or no passion when he receives the offence ; but from that instant he watches the opportunity, which he seldom suffers to escape him, of plunging a poniard in the heart of his enemy. The Spaniards from the province of Andalucia are particularly branded with this criminal habit. We are assured that these unfortunate events were unknown here before the year 1778, at which time the liberty of trading with the province ofYenezuela, which was belbre exclusively granted to the company of Guipuscoa, was extended to all the ports of Spain, and drew a number of Spaniards to Caracas Irom every province, and particularly from that of Andalucia. It is true that almost all assassinations that happen at Caracas are perpetrate by the Europeans : those that can be laid to the charge of the Creoles are most rare. But all the thefts are committed by the whites or pretended whites of the country, and the enfranchised persons. False measures, false weights, changing of commodities and provisions, are likewise frequent practices ; because they are looked upon less as acts of dishonesty than as proofs of an address of which they are proud. HoAvever great may be the occupation of the police, it is certain many things call loudly upon their attention. It will hardly be believed that the city of Caracas, the capital of the province, and able to supply horned cattle to all the foreign possessions in America, is many days in the year itself in want of butcher’s meat. The residence of a captaingeneral, the seat of an archbishop, of a royal audience, and of the principal tribunals of appeal, with a population of more than 40,000 souls, and, in short, with a garrison of 1000 men, experience famine in the midst of abundance. If filth does not accumulate in the streets, it is owing t6 the frequency of the rains, and not to the care of the police ; for they are never washed but in honour of some procession. Such streets as procession* do not pass through are covered with an herb like the weed on ponds, the pnnicum dactylum of Linnaeus. Mendicity, which is in almost every other country the province of the police, appears to be unnoticed by it in Caracas. The streets arc]
306
[crowded with poor of both sexes, who Iiave no other subsistence than what tliey derive from alms, and who prefer these means of living to that of labour. It is feared that the indiscriminate charity exhibited liere is productive of the worst effects ; that it affords to vice the means of remaining vicious. The police are indeed acquainted with these abuses, but cannot repress them without the imputation of impiety. To form a correct idea of the number of mendicants that wander in the .streets, it is but necessary to know that the archbishop distributes generally alms every Saturday ; that each mendicant receives a half-escalin, or l-16th of a dollar ; and that at each of these pious distributions there is given a sum of from 75 or 76 dollars, wliich should make the number of beggars at least 1200 ; and in this list are not included those who are ashamed to beg publicly, and to whom the worthy prelate D. Francis d’lbarra, a Creole of Caracas, distributes certain revenues in secret. The cabildo^ composed of 22 members, and seconded by the alcaldes de barrio, who are magistrates distributed throughout the wards of the city, would be more than sufficient to manage the affairs of the police ; but the presence of the higher authorities, who wish to share the prerogatives of command, has made a division of all matters of police between the governor, the lieutenant-goyernor, and a member of the audience, who, under the title of judge of the province, exercises its functions in conjunction with the authorities just mentioned.
25. Communications with the interior. — Caracas, the centre of all the political, judicial, fiscal, military, commercial, and religious concerns of its dependencies, is also naturally that of all the communication in the interior. The roads are almost every where just traced, and nothing more. The mud and overflowing of the rivers, over which there are neither bridges nor passage-boats, render them impracticable in the rainy season ; and in no part of the year are they convenient. They count the distance by a day’s journey, and not by leagues : but a fair computation of a day’s journey is 10 leagues, of 2000 geometrical paces each. The orders transmitted by the governor to the several towns of the interior arrive there by expre.ss, and communications of whatever nature are returned by the same means. There are no regular couriers setting out from the capital, excepting for Maracaibo, Puerto Cabello, Sante Fe, Cumana, and Guayana. All the towns situate on the roads to these four chief places enjoy the advantages of a post. The courier for Maracaibo sets out from Caracas every Thursday evening at six o’clock ;
it carries the letters of Victoria, Tulmeco, Maracay, Valencia, St. Philip, Puerto Cabello, and Coro ; it is 10 days going from Caracas to Maracaibo, and arrives from Maracaibo at Caracas ol’ v every 15th day, but from Puerto Cabello every Tuesday. On the 6th and 22d of each month, a courier sets out from Caracas for Santa Fe ; it carries the letters of San Carlos, Guanare, Araux, Tocayo, Barquisimeto, Barinas, Merida, Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Peru ; and arrives, or ought to arrive, the 4th and 20th of each month ; it is generally 42 days in going from Caracas to Santa Fe. The courier of Cumana and Guayana arrives at Caracas once a month ; it proceeds, or stops, according to the state of the roads and rivers. Five days after its arrival at Caracas it sets out again. The letters for Guayana go directly from Barcelona by a courier ; and those for Cumana and Margareta by another. This arrives at its place of destination in 12 days, and that of Guayana in SO days.
26. With Spain . — The official letters from Spain arrive at Caracas every month. A king’s packet sails on one of the first three days of each month from Coruna, touches at the Canaries to leave their letters, then sails for the Havanah, and leaves in its way to Puertorico the letters addresser! as well for that island as for tim government of Caracas. The latter are immediately forwarded by one of the little vessels kept for this service. During war the mail from Spain, instead of touching at Puertorico, leaves the letters for Caracas and its dependencies at Cumana, and those for the kingdom of Santa Fe at Cartagena, and finally always proceeds to the Havanah, from whence its departure for Spain is regular and periodical. The answers from Caracas, even those that are official, are sent to Spain by the merchant vessels which sail from Guaira to Cadiz.
27. Geographical and statistical notices of the capt amship'general of Caracas, and present historij. — Depons’ Voyage to the e. part of Tierra Firme, or the Spanish main, in S. America, comprises an ample description of this region ; and is the principal authority for the anterior and subsequent notices. This territory is situate between the 12th degree of«. latitude and the equinoctial. It comprehends
Venezuela, containing
500,000 inhabitants
Maracaibo,
100,000
Cumami,
80,000
Spanish Guayana,
54,000
Isle of Margareta,
14,000
728,000 ]
CARACAS.
SOT
[Of the population two tenths are whites, tliree slaves, four freedmen and their descendants, and the remainder Indians. There is scarcely any emigration from Spain to Tierra Firme. The government of Caracas, like tliat of other parts of Spanish America, is so constituted as to keep it dependent on the parent country. The governor or captaingeneral represents the monarch, and commands the military force. There are delegated governors, who have each an assessor : the royal audience of Caracas consists of a president, who is tlie captaingeneral, a regent, three judges, two fiscals, one for criminal afi’airs, the other for the finances, with a reporter and other necessary officers. It administers justice, regulates the finances, and has other great prerogatives. The naval force of Tierra Firme is trifling, and could not resist a single frigate. Several sea-ports have fortresses. Maracaibo has 25,000 inhabitants, is defended by three forts and four companies of troops of tlie line, and a proportion of militia. The haven or port of Coro, called La Vela de Coro, sixteen leagues e. of Maracaibo, had at the time of General Miranda’s expedition in 1S06, two batteries with 15 or 18 pieces of cannon of various calibres from six to 18 pounders. Puerto Cabello, 58 leagues to the e. of Coro, has a strong fort with a large and numerous artillery. In time of war it is supplied with two companies of regular troops. In case of attack, says Depons, 3000 militia might be collected here in eight days. La Guaira, the haven of Caracas, 25 leagues to the e. of Puerto Cabello, is very strongly fortified. Cumana, 100 leagues e. of La Guaira, is of difficult access, has a fort, and might collect a force of 5000 men. The island of Margareta, four leagues n. of Curnana, has trifling batteries, one company of regular troops, one of artillery, and several of militia. Thus it appears tlie strong places are distant from each other (30 or 100 leagues ; hence it is observed, a debarkation on the coast might easily be efl'ected in various places, and the troops proceed into the country, whilst the ships, by attacking the forts, would distract the military operations. The military force, as stated by Depons, is a regiment of regular troops of 918 fnen, distributed at Caracas, La Guaira, and Puerto Cabello: 400 troops of the line are at Maracaibo, at Curnana 150, at Guiana 150, and at Barpias 77. The artillery at the respective {jlaces is served by separate companies besides militia ; the whole armed force of the captainship-genera^regulartroopsand militia, is stated at 13,059. There is no religion but the Homan Catholic. To be suspected of heresy is dangerous ; to be convicted, fatal. The tribunals of the inquisition are erected at Mexico, Lima, and Carta-
gena, and are very powefful. They prohibit bad books to the number of 5420. Spanish America abounds in priests, who are held in great respect ; the missionaries are numerous ; the churciies are decent and often elegant. The tithes are paid, one tenth part to the king, one fourth to the bisliop, one fourth to the chapter, and remainder to the parish priests and to other pious uses. The income of the bishop of Caracas is 40,000 dollars. The productions of this region are cacao, coffee, sugar, indigo, and tobacco. Besides the present products, there is a great variety 'of others which the soil offers to the inhabitants, without requiring any advance, or subjecting them to any trouble, but that of collecting and bestowing on them a light a?id easy preparation. Among these Depons mentions wild cochineal, dyeing woods and barks, gums, rosin, and medical oils, herbs, roots and bark for medicine. From this country half Europe might be supplied with wood for its furniture and cabinetwork. Commerce might draw much from the animal kingdom. The neat cattle are calculated at 1,200,0(X) ; horses and mares 180,000 ; and mules at 90,000 ; sheep are innumerable, and deer abundant : notwithstanding this abundance, agriculture is at a low ebb in this country. La Guaira, Puerto Cabello, Maracaibo, Curnana, Barcelona, and Margareta, havearight to trade with the mother country. In 1796 the imports from Spain to Caracas were estimated at 3,1 18,8117^^ dollars, and the exports at 283,316 dollars. There is a limited trade to the other colonies, which brings about 400,000 dollars into the country. It exports to foreign West India islands articles of its own produce, except cacao, in neutral bottoms ; part of the returns must be in Negroes or in farming or household utensils, and the remainder in specie. But this remainder is principally smuggled in manufactured goods. The contraband trade, divided chiefly between Jamaica, Curasao, and Trinidad, was estimated at 750,000 dollars annually before the war of 1796. It has increased greatly since that period. The whole regular exports of Caracas from 1793 to 1796 are stated at 12,252,415 dollars ; from 1797 to 1800, 6,442,318 dollars. The finances of Caracas are under the direction of an intendant. The revenue arises principally from the customs, a duty of five per cent, on sales from stamps, licences, and tithes, and from the produce of the cruzada and of the sale of tobacco. T’he two last are destined for the treasury at home. There is usually a deficit, even in time of peace ; in 1797 the receipt was 1, 147,788 dollars ; expenditure, 1,886,363. According to Humboldt, the dollars imported into Caracas in j
[1803 amounted to 5,500,000, and the exports consisted of produce to the value of 4,000,000 dollars. He also states the population in 1808 at 900,000 souls. The receipts of Caracas, Guatemala, and Chile, are consumed within the country. The population of some of the chief cities is thus stated ; Caracas 40,000, La Guaira 6000, Puerto Cabello 7600, Coro 10,000. The harbour, or La Vela de Coro, as it is commonly called, and its environs, are supposed to contain not less than 2000. In 1797 three state prisoners were sent from Spain to Caracas, on account of their revolutionary propensities. Being treated with great indulgence by the officers and soldiers to whose care they were committed, they formed the project of a conspiracy against the government. They engaged a number of persons, some of them of consequence, in their party. After gaining their first converts, the spirit did not spread. The coldness and apathy of the people did not admit of the effervescene they desired. After the plot had been kept a secret for many months it was disclosed to the government. Some of the ringleaders escaped, and others were taken. It was found that seventy-two had entered into the conspiracy; six were executed. The rest either escaped, or were sent to the galleys or banished from the country. For an account of the recent revolution in Caracas, see Venezuela.]
Caracas, some islands of the N. sea near the coast of the kingdom of Tierra Firme, in the province and government of Cumana. They are six in number, all small and desert, serving as places of shelter to the Dutch traders, who carry on an illicit commerce on that coast.
Caracas, a small port of the coast of Tierra Firme, in the province and government of Vene;zuela, between the capital and cape Codera.
CARACHE, a settlement of the province and government of Maracaibo, situate n. of the city of Truxillo, on the shore of a small river which enters the Matazan.
CARACHIS, San Carlos de a settlement of the province and country of the Amazonas ; a reduccion of the missions which belonged to the abolished order of the Jesuits. It is at the mouth of the river Huerari, where this enters the Maranon.
CARACOA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Parinacoche in Peru, where there is a spring of warm medicinal water.
CARACOL, Port, on the coast of the S. sea, and of the province and government of Panamá ; it is near the point of Garachine, behind mount Zapo.
CARACOLI, a port of the coast of the kingdom of Tierra Firme, and of the province and government of Venezuela, to the w., of cape Codera.
Caracoli, a bay formed by the s. coast, in the province and government of Darien, of the kingdom of Tierra Firme ; it lies at the back of point Garachine.
Caracoli, a settlement of the province and government of Cartagena, situate on the shore of the Rio Grande de la Magdalena, and on the n, of the town of Maria.
CARACOLLO, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Oruro in Peru, eight leagues distant from its capital.
=CARACOTO== a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Lampa in Peru.
Caracoto, another, in the province and corregimienlo of Sicasica in the same kingdom.
==CARAGAIAS, a town of the island of Cuba, situate on the n. coast between Cadiz and Nizao,
CARAGUATAI, a river of the province and government of Buenos Ayres ; it runs s. s. w. and enters the Ayum or Yumeri.
CARAGUET, a small river of Nova Scotia or Acadia ; it runs e. and enters the sea in the gulf of St. Lawrence, opposite the island of its name.
CARAHUACRA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Huarochiri in Peru; annexed to the curacy ofYauli.
CARAIBAMBA, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Aimaraez in Peru ; annexed to the curacy of Chalvanca.
CARAIMA Alta, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Quillota in the kingdom of Chile ; situate on the coast between point Caraimilia and point Pena Blanca.
CARAIMILLA, a settlement on the coast of the province and corregimiento aforementioned, between point Caraima Alta, and the isle of Obispo.
CARAMA, a settlement of the province and government of Antioquia in the new kingdom of Granada.
CARAMANTA, a city of the province and government of Antioquia in the new kingdom of Gratiada ; founded by Sebastian de Benalcazar in 1543, near the river Cauca. Its temperature is hot and unhealthy, but it is fertile in maize, vegetables, grain, and abounds with herds of swine : near it are many small rivers which enter the Cauca, and some salt pits of the whitest salt. On the mountains within its jurisdiction, are some settlements of barbarian Indians very little known. This city is indifferently peopled, and is 65 leagues distant to the n. e. of Popayan, and 50 from Antioquia. Long. 75° 33' w. Lat. 5° 58' «.
CARAMATIBA, a settlement of the province and captainship of Rio Grande in Brazil ; situate on the shore of the river Carabatang.