LatAm Digital Edition and Gazetteer

CAR

an hermitage dedicated to St. Denis the Areopagite. It lies to the s. of the city of Barquisimeto, Between that of Tucuyo and the lake of Maracaibo. (Carora is 30 leagues to the s. of Coro. Its situation owes nothing to nature but a salubrious air. Its soil, dry and covered with thorny plants, gives no other productions but such as owe almost entirely their existence to the principle of heat. They remark there a sort of cochineal silvestre as fine as the misleca, which they suffer to perish. The land is covered with prolific animals, such as oxen, mules, horses, sheep, goats, &c. ; and the activity evinced by the inhabitants to make these advantageous to them, supports the opinion that there are but few cities in the Spanish West Indies where there is so much industry as at Carora. The principal inhabitants live by the produce of their flocks, whilst the rest gain their livelihood by tanning and selling the hides and skins. Although their tanning be bad, the consumer cannot reproach the manufacturer, for it is impossible to conceive how they can sell the article, whatever may be its quality, at the moderate price it fetches. The skins and leather prepared at Carora are used in a great degree by the inhabitants themselves for boots, shoes, saddles, bridles, and strops. The surplus of the consumption of the place is used throughout the province, or is sent to Maracaibo, Cartagena, and Cuba. They also manufacture at Carora, from a sort of aloe disthica, very excellent hammocs, which form another article of their trade. These employments occupy and support a population of 6200 souls, who, with a sterile soil, have been able to acquire that ease and competency which it appears to have been the intention of nature to deny them. The city is well built ; the streets are wide, running in straight parallel lines. The police and the administration of justice are in the hands of a lieutenant of the governor and a cabildo. There is no military authority. Carora lies in lat. 9° 50' n. and is 15 leagues e. of the lake of Maracaibo, 12 n. of Tocuyo, IS n. w. of Barquisimeto, and 90 w. of Caracas.)

Carora, a great llanura of the same province, which extends 16 leagues from e. to w, and six from n. to s. It was discovered by George Spira in 1534, abounds greatly in every kind of grain and fruit, but is of a very hot temperature. Its population is not larger than that of the former city, to which it gives its name.

CARORI, a settlement of the province and government of Venezuela ; situate on the shore of the Chirimichale, in the point of Hicacos.

(CAROUGE Point, the northernmost extremity

of the island of St. Domingo in the W. Indies ; 25 miles n. from the town of St. Jago.)

CARPE, Island of the, in lake Superior of New France, between the n. coast and Cape Breton.

CARPINTO, Punta De, a point on the coast of the province and government of the Rio del Hacha.

CARQUIN, a port of the coast of Peru and S. sea, in the province and corres^imiento of Chancay.

(CARR, a small plantation in Lincoln county, district of Maine.)

(CARRANTASCA Lagoon, or Cartago, is a large gulf on the s. side of the bay of Honduras, about 70 miles n. w. of cape Gracios a Dios, and nearly as far s. e. from Brewer’s lagoon.)

CARRASCAL, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Cuio in the kingdom of Chile; situate s. of the city of Mendoza, and on the shore of the river of this name.

CARRETAS, Puerto de las, a port in the sierra of its name, in Nueva España,

CARRETO, a settlement of the province and government of Cartagena ; situate on the shore of the cano or dike near the sea-coast.

Carreto, a river of the province and government of Darien, and kingdom of Tierra Firme ; it rises in the mountains of the n, coast, and enters the sea behind the bay of Calidonia.

CARRION DE Velazco, a small but beautiful and well peopled city of the kingdom of Peru, in the pleasant llanura of Guaura ; it is of a mild, pleasant, and healthy climate, of a fertile and delightful soil, and inhabited by a no small number of distinguished and rich families.

CARRIZAL, a settlement of the province and government of Venezuela; situate on the coast and point of Coro, to the n. of this city.

Carrizal, sierra or chain of mountains of the same province and government, which runs from e. to w. from the shore of the river Guarico to the shore of the Guaya.

Carrizal, another settlement of the province and government of Sonora in Nueva Espana ; situate near a river, between the settlements of Bategui and San Marcelo.

Carrizal, another, of the province and corregimiento of Rancagua in the kingdom of Chile, to the s. of the city of Mendoza, and on the shore of the river of this name.

Carrizal, another, of the province and government of the Rio del Hacha, situate on the coast of the country of the Guajiros Indians, be-

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ters the sea between the river Rosa and the settlement and parisli of Cul de Sac.

CERICUNCUA, a bay of the coast of Brazil, in the province and captainship of Seara, between the port of Tortuga and the settlement of Nuestra Seilora del Rosario.

CERINZA, a settlement of the corregimiento of Tunja in tlie Nuevo Reyno de Granada, is of a cold temperature, and abounds in cattle and the productions peculiar to the climate. It contains 300 families, and lies in a valley, from which it takes its name.

CERMEN, a settlement of the province and government of Venezuela ; situate on the side of the town of San Felipe, towards the e. between this town and the settlement of Agua Culebras, on the shore of the river Iraqui.

CERRALUO, a town and presidency of the Nuevo Reyno de Leon, garrisoned by a squadron of 12 soldiers and a captain, who is governor of this district, for the'purpose of restraining the bordering infidel Indians. Between the e. and n. is the large river of this name ; and from this begins a tract of extensive country, inhabited by barbarous nations, who impede the communication and commerce Avith regard to this part and the provinces of Tejas and Nuevas Felipinas. Is 35 leagues to the e. of its capital.

Cerraluo, a bay of the coast and gulf of California, or Mar Roxo de Cortes, opposite an island which is also thus called ; the one and theother having been named out of compliment to the Marquis of Cerraluo, viceroy of Nueva Espana. TJie aforesaid island is large, and lies between the former bay and the coast of Nueva Espana.

CERRITO, a settlement of the island and government of Trinidad, near the n. coast, and to the e. of the capital of San Joseph de Oruna.

Cerrito Verde, an open and insecure port in the bay of La Concepcion, of the kingdom of Chile, and Pacific sea.

Cerrito, another, with the surname of Santa Ana. See Ctuayaquie.

CERRITOS, a small settlement of the jurisdiction of Orizava, and alcaldia mayor of Ixmiquilpan, in Nueva España.

Cerritos, another settlement in the province and goverment of Popayán.

CERRO, a settlement of the province and corregimiento of Angaraes in Peru.

Cerro, another, in the province and corregimiento of Porco in the same kingdom.

Cerro, another, with the surname of Negro, in the province and corregimiento of Rede, and kingdom of Chile ; situate at the source of the river Itan.

==Cerro, another, called San Miguel de Cerro Gordo==, which is a garrison of the province of Tepeguana in the kingdom of Nueva Vizcaya. Its situation is similar to the road which leads to it, namely, a plain level surface ; although, indeed, it is divided by a declivity, in ivhich there is a pool of water, and by Avhich passengers usually pass. This garrison is the residence of a captain, a Serjeant , and 28 soldiers, who are appointed to suppress the sallies of the infidel Indians. In its vicinity is a cultivated estate, having a beautiful orchard, abounding in fruit-trees and in zepas, which also produce fruit of a delicious flavour. The garrison lies 50 leagues n. w. of the capital Guadiana.

Cerros, San Felipe de los, a settlement of the head settlement of Uruapa, and alcaldia mayor of Valladolid, in the province and bishopric of Mcchoacan. It contains 26 families of Indians, and lies eight leagues to the e. of its head settlement, and 10 from the capital.

Cerros, another, in the province and corregrmiento of Castro-Vireyna in Peru.

CESARA, a large and copious river of the Nuevo Reyno de Granada, which was called by the Indians Pompatao, meaning in their idiom, “ the lord of all rivers,” is formed of several small rivers, which flow down from the snowy sierras of Santa Marta. It runs s. leaving the extensive llamtras of Upar until it reaches the lake Zapatosa, from whence itj issues, divided into four arms, which afterwards unite, and so, following a course of 70 leagues to the w, enters the Magdalena on the <?. side, and to the s. of the little settlement called Banco.

CESARES, a barbarous nation of Indians of the kingdom of Chile towards the s. Of them are told many fabulous accounts, although they are, in fact, but little known. Some believe them to be formed of Spaniards and Indians, being those Avho Avere lost in the straits of Magellan, and belonged to the armada which, at the beginning of the conquest of America, Avas sent by the bishop of Placencia to discover the Malucas. Others pretend that the Arucanos, after they had destroyed the city of Osonio, in 1599, took aAvay with them the Spanish Avomen ; and that it Avas from the production of these Avomen and the Indiatis that this nation of the Cesares arose. Certain it is, that they are of an agreeable colour, of a pleasing aspect, and of good dispositions. They have some light of Christianity, live without any fixed abode ; and some have affirmed that they have heard the sound of bells in their territorj". It Avas attempted in 1638, by the governor of Tucuman, Don Geronimo

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[tion for privateers, and in the war of 1780 the cruisers from Cura^oa greatly annoyed the English 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 mortgage 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 company 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 provisions, 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 inhabitants, and three or four aged people at Cura50 a ; with these exceptious the natives have becomeextinct. 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 embrasures 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 situation 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 enterprising 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 defiles through the broken rocks, could easily be done; and an enemy, however strong at their landing, if they should effect it, would be exhausted 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 manufactories ; 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 squadron was wrecked upon the coast.

CURAGUATE, a river of the island and government 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 Raninco. On its shores the Spaniards have built ^ fort, called De los Angeles, to restrain the incursions of the Araucanos Indians.

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

CURAHUARA DE Carangas, another settlement, with the additional title of Pacajes, to distinguish it from the former; belonging to the above province and corregimiento (Chile).