Less than two miles up-stream from the ancient citadel of Guayana Vieja, the boundary of the Delta territory crosses the Orinoco, and the right bank of the river becomes the northern limit of the State of Bolivar under the Constitution of 1909. This State includes a vast unexplored region, in addition to the gold-producing district bordering on British Guiana, and occupies in all 238,000 square kilometres, or 90,440 square miles, mainly covered with virgin forest.

The capital of this huge State is the city of Angostura, named in 1846 Ciudad Bolivar, in honour of the Libertador. Its intercourse with the outside world is carried on solely through Port-of-Spain, in Trinidad, from which shallow-draught river steamers run over in about two days, once a week in the busy season, when the rubber, balatá, and other forest products from the interior are being exported in largest quantities, and once every ten days at other times; from the city smaller steamers ply up the Orinoco and the Apure to the borders of Colombia.

Founded in 1764 by the then Governor of the Orinoco province, Don Joaquin Moreno de Mendoza, on the slope of a granite hill overlooking the river, the new city received the name of San Thomé de la Nueva Guayana, as opposed to Guayana Vieja down the river. Later the name changed, naturally, to Angostura, from the fact that the river at this point narrows down to 800 metres, a physical feature which accentuates the rise of the Orinoco to such an extent that in the rains the water-level rises some 40 feet, flooding the lower parts of the city. There is a gradual descent from the fort and cathedral behind the town, with the cemetery again behind them, to the waterside, where there is a good road along the river-front, having the principal private houses and the large stores, many of which are owned by German firms; elsewhere there are scattered mansions dating back to colonial times, with massive walls as protection from the heat. The granite on which the city is built seems to absorb the heat throughout the day, and the radiation after sunset renders the atmosphere unusually oppressive for a town in so fine a position. The mean annual temperature is 86·6° F.

Ciudad Bolivar is the official port of entry, not only for the hinterland of Guayana but also for the eastern gold-mining region, the port of which is in reality passed on the way up the river, and is known as San Felix or Puerto Tablas, a few miles eastward of the mouth and falls of the Caroni. A special permit is occasionally granted for passengers to land at this point without first visiting Bolivar, but normally all passengers and goods perform the eight-hours journey between San Felix and Bolivar twice over, in order to pass through the custom-house at the latter.

The falls of Caroni, near Las Tablas, have been made famous by many travellers since the days of Raleigh, who was struck with the magnificent spectacle of their huge body of water descending a sheer 60 feet over black polished granite to join the greater river of which it is a tributary, after its hundreds of miles of comparatively quiet travel from the slopes of the Sierra Pacaraima, on the borders of Brazil. East of Caroni lie the two most populous districts of Bolivar, those of Piar and Roscio, containing numerous towns and fairly well provided with roads. The district of Heres has in the aggregate a larger population than either of the more easterly divisions, but over two-thirds of the whole of this is accounted for by the congregation of souls in the capital, so that from a general point of view the goldfield area is the most densely populated of all, and included 22,392 of the total of 55,744 in the State at the census of 1891.

San Felix receives its second name of Las Tablas from the elevated plateau behind the town, over which the road climbs to the interior. It is a busy little town, though small, with an hotel, a few stores, telegraph office, and custom-house; the last is rather a coastguard-station, as we have seen that all duties are collected in Bolivar. There is a British consular agent in the port. With the enormous possibilities of the water-power present in the Caroni falls, it seems strange that the place has not developed ere this into a flourishing and important city, instead of the small terminus town that it remains. As it is, the size of the place is no criterion of its commercial standing, for all the imports and exports of the two eastern districts pass through San Felix, and the freight paid there amounts alone to £200,000 annually. Merchandise proceeds southwards on ox-wagons and mule-carts, which carry in cotton goods and hardware and bring back balatá and hides, with the small amount of gold at present produced. The 215 kilometres to Guasipati may take any time from ten days to two months for the wheel traffic, according to the kind used and the season of the year, for the “road” is exceedingly primitive. Bridges are rare, and the route is a mere track cut through the forest or winding over sandy plains, without any attempts at surveying, metalling, or draining, so that deep mud-holes are frequently formed, wherein the wagons may stick for two or three days before they are hauled out with block and tackle. In these circumstances it is not surprising that the ordinary traveller hires a mule for the journey from San Felix, and so covers the distance to Guasipati in about twenty-five hours’ actual riding.

The road to Guasipati passes through Upata, the capital of the Piar district, which is about ten and a half hours distant from Las Tablas. After one and a half hours across sandy, open ground, with stunted trees, the edge of the forest is reached, and the road continues through this for some seven hours more, beyond which two hours’ riding across open savannah is required to reach Upata. This is a small agricultural town with a population of less than 3,000, forming a market for the neighbouring villages and haciendas, and possessing a hotel, telegraph office, and a few shops.

After Upata the main road to Guasipati crosses the Orinoco-Cuyuni watershed, and winding all the way across open savannahs on which are grazing large herds of cattle, with villages here and there, finally enters the capital of the Roscio district, about fifteen hours’ continuous riding from Upata. Needless to say, the journey from San Felix is not necessarily one of two long stages, and those who do not mind putting up with the discomforts of small posadas may take four or five days over the journey.

In 1891 Guasipati had a population of over 3,000, and was then and subsequently the centre of the balatá industry, large quantities of the gum being obtained from the neighbouring forests. Unfortunately, the local operators adopted the extravagant and lazy habit of cutting down the trees in place of tapping them, and the source of supply has consequently retreated into the forests away from the town. For this and other reasons, notably the decreased activity in the goldfields, Guasipati has of late years decreased in size, but it is still the district capital, with the chief courts and registry offices, and possesses a fine plaza and church, hotel, telegraph office, and numerous stores.

While the botanical and zoological resources of the region have proved, as is usual, more satisfactory in the long run than mineral wealth, the principal attraction and chief source of revenue was originally, and to some extent still is, the gold of the El Callao region to the south of Guasipati. The town of that name lies some twenty-five kilometres, or three hours’ ride, from Guasipati, on the right bank of the River Yuruari. The town is built on and around the site of the famous mine of the same name, which is said to have been worked by Indians in very early times. The hills above the town are covered with dense tropical vegetation, the second growth which has replaced the former forests, whose trees supplied the fuel used in working the mines. The commencement of recent work and the discovery of the various alluvial and reef deposits is attributed to more than one source, but the most probable story is that which follows:—

The Spanish monks had a station at Tupuquen, on the left bank of the river some four miles above El Callao, and prospectors from this settlement followed up the rich alluvial valley of a small tributary known as the Mocupia, founding there the settlement of Caratal, where there are still many prospecting shafts working free gold from a depth of about 20 feet, with the ruins of various mills erected at a later date, during the boom of the early eighties, including that of the notorious Callao Bis. From Caratal the prospectors spread over the surrounding country and found numerous rich deposits, the chief being El Callao, about two miles from Caratal. In 1842 a Brazilian named Pedro Ayares visited Tupuquen, and recorded the existence of auriferous sands in the river, but primitive washings were not established there till 1849, when good returns were obtained. After many years of prospecting and handwork the El Callao company was formed, and a mill was erected, yielding the following results:—

paying in dividends, from 1871 to 1892, 48,332,200 francs, or £1,933,288. Since that time little of importance has been done, and at the present time the mine is practically shut down, after having been involved in endless lawsuits.

That there is good reason to suppose that the region contains vast mineral wealth can hardly be denied, in view of the widespread indications of gold, so general that it is almost a daily occurrence to see men, women, and boys setting out with pan, pick, and shovel, carried on a donkey’s back, to try their fortune at some fresh alluvial discovery. A big rush of men took place to the Venamo Valley, on the borders of Guiana, in December of last year, and the field there is now being opened up, some sixty or seventy miles southward of Callao, and accessible by water only. One of the chief drawbacks to development of any part of the district is the high cost of transport—the freight from San Felix by ox-cart is 9 cents per lb., or over £30 per ton—and this is followed by a scarcity of labour, which is almost entirely derived from West Indian coloured settlers and immigrants, often of a very low type, so that it is necessary to pay B6.00 per day for the lowest class of unintelligent manual labour, and up to B16.00 for skilled (i.e., indifferent fitters’) work. These difficulties may, and doubtless will, be overcome in time; but the country moves forward slowly, if at all, and the early attempts at working the mines appear to have been too careless and unsystematic to offer much encouragement to immigration of a good class of settler. Mills were put up on any rich strike, and when that was worked out the company died, without any attempt to find any other sources of ore. Among many companies that have been thus floated from time to time may be mentioned the Nacupai, Chili, Potosi, Union, Victory, and Choco. Practically the only mine now worked regularly is the Goldfields of Venezuela, which has absorbed many of the old companies and employs modern methods under the direction of a superintendent of many years’ experience of the peculiarities of the country.

Outside the forest-clad hills of the auriferous territory there are immense stretches of savannah, which are divided up into ranches, and have been found excellent for cattle-breeding, though as yet the horses raised there are of very indifferent quality; the stocks are small, however, and much extension is possible in the industry, which is hardly so important at the present time as the cultivation of sugar. Many plantations and mills are to be found in the eastern districts of Bolivar, and the large quantities of rum and papelon (raw sugar) produced give a good return, the local demand for these commodities being considerable.

There are still some ruins, and in some cases modern villages, to mark the sites of the old Spanish settlements, among which may be mentioned Tupuquen, Carapo, Sicapra, and Cura; the last named must once have been a place of considerable importance, as near by are traces of a bridge over the Yuruari, the only one on record, and of a brick and tile factory. It is said to have been the port for small trading boats coming up the Essequibo and the Cuyuni from Dutch Guiana; the old Dutch bells found near by are adduced as evidence in support of this statement. The place is now entirely abandoned and in ruins.

Some six hours’ ride south of El Callao is the town of Tumeremo, which is rapidly coming to the fore as the centre of the balatá industry. At present it is near the forests, which are of enormous extent; but the system of wholesale destruction of the trees still prevails, and it is to be feared that the history of Guasipati will be repeated here, and that the industry will perish by a suicide’s death at no very distant date.

Famous as are the falls of the Caroni, the upper course and tributaries of this great river are practically unknown. For some fifty miles from its mouth, until the savannahs finally give place to forest, villages may be found on the sites of the old Capuchin Missions. The chief tributary is the Paragua, but this and the minor affluents are alike known chiefly from the casual information of the Indians who inhabit the forests along the banks. Yet there may be extensive savannahs in the uplands, and the geology of Guayana would lead one to expect to find gold, while the forests undoubtedly contain great wealth of timber and vegetable products, all waiting to reward the industry of the pioneer bold enough to take his lot in these remote regions.

Above Bolivar the Orinoco has a tranquil course for some distance between llanos on the north and granite hills and savannahs on the south. Above Moitaco, however, there is a sharp S bend, with many islands, where the current gradually increases in strength as one approaches the Puerto or Boca del Infierno (Gates of Hell), where the whole stream rushes through a narrow gorge with such force as to occasionally drive back the river steamers. Beyond this to the mouth of the Caura the main river, though full of rocks, is wide and the current less rapid.

Like most of the Guayana tributaries of the Lower Orinoco, for the last forty or fifty miles before it joins the main river the Caura flows through wide savannahs, broken here and there by wooded hills, and by the belts of trees along the river banks. In these more fertile belts clearings have been made at a few spots, with one or two miserable huts, whose occupants cultivate the sugar, rice, bananas, manioc, sweet potatoes, and yams of these tiny plantations.

Higher up the forests begin, and, as far as is known, the upper valley of the Caura is all forest, with very few savannahs. In these forests the tonka-bean (sarrapia) grows to perfection, and the collecting of these, and of a certain amount of copaiba-balsam and cedar-wood, constitutes the chief industry of the Caura settlements. Of late years the tonka-bean has gone down in value, and the inhabitants have turned their attention more to rice-farming, for which the Caura lowlands are well fitted. Most of the produce is used locally, but a small surplus is shipped to Ciudad Bolivar.

The dense forests are not absolutely unbroken, however, for here and there are bare open spaces of flat granite rock, known as lajas; it is to these that the foresters come often to crush and dry the tonka-beans. Up the Nichare, a western tributary of the Caura above the Raudales of Mura, there is said to be much rubber of good quality, but it remains practically untouched for want of population in the region.

Some 130 miles up the Caura from its mouth are the falls or rapids of Pará, with a total descent of apparently about 200 feet, according to André, the author of the only reliable account of the Upper Caura. Some day, as he suggests, the falls may provide power for saw-mills and a town whose prosperity is founded upon the natural wealth of the surrounding forest; at present all is wild, and almost unknown. There is a portage over the falls, by way of an island in the middle, and then begins the Merevari, as the Caura above Pará is called.

The two chief tributaries on the west bank are the Nichare, already mentioned, and the Erewato, above Pará, once colonised by the early missionaries and afterwards the line of a short cut to the Upper Orinoco; now the valley is unknown to Europeans.

Two days’ journey in canoes above the big rapids is the gorge of Ayaima, where the great stream is forced to rush through a channel 30 feet wide, between walls of granite. Above this the flat-topped, steep-sided peak of Achaba, and beyond it those of Arichi to the west and Améha to the east, may be seen. On his adventurous journey André reached the last of these, where he experienced one of the severe thunderstorms of the region, interpreted by the Waiomgomos as the angry voice of the spirits of the mountain.

These Waiomgomos are found in their original haunts round the head-waters of the Caura, and there they are said to go about with faces and bodies painted bright red, wearing only the guayuco or buja. It is strange that they are very reluctant to give their Indian names to outsiders, and always on approaching the bounds of civilisation adopt a Spanish name.

The forests and savannahs of the Lower Caura, like most of the districts near the Orinoco, are frightfully infested with bush-ticks, mosquitoes, and sandflies; higher in the hills these pests decrease, but they effectually prevent absolute enjoyment of an exploring trip where they are found.

Beyond the Caura’s mouth the main river is devoid of special interest to Caicara, where it comes sweeping round a hill, leaving a fine backwater behind as a safe anchorage for boats—the reason of the former importance of the town, now, alas! only a village of mud and wattle huts. Its commerce is confined to rice, tonka-beans, and hides, the latter from the savannahs which stretch away southwards in all directions to the hills.

The Cuchivero, which enters the Orinoco fifteen miles east of Caicara, is, in part at least, far better known than the Caura, and, though smaller, is a more important river at the present time, since the savannahs of the Cuchivaro support many cattle, and there are hatos here and there as far as the Raudal Seriapo. These savannahs are of guinea-grass, broken here and there by chaparral, moriche-palms, or morros—i.e., small rocky hills covered with trees, amongst which the Dipteryx odorata is common, giving to the wooded mounds the name of sarrapiales.

The waters of the Guaniamo, a tributary of the Cuchivero, are said to be noticeably affected by the quantity of sarsaparilla on the river’s banks, and the whole upper valley of the Cuchivero is rich in rubber, copaiba, quinine, mahogany, “cedar,” and other valuable forest products. According to Major Paterson, traces of gold, cinnabar, and silver are found in the hills. In the distant south are the typical mushroom peaks of Guayana, showing that here also the geology is similar to that of the goldfield area, and the minerals may therefore also be alike.

It is not pleasant travelling in the Cuchivero forests, Major Paterson tells us. The trees grow over loose rock, and the crevices under the tangled roots may often cause nasty falls; and there are the ubiquitous mosquitoes and sandflies, to make matters worse. But higher up the insects become fewer, and from the occasional savannahs or lajas splendid views may be obtained of the hill ranges to the south, between the Caura and the Ventuari. The Indians of these forests are presumably the Piaroas, said to be a peaceable, mild race.

The climate of all the lower Orinoco Valley is far from pleasant in the rains, but in the dry season, which lasts from October to March, an easterly breeze blows both morning and afternoon, the sweltering interval during the lull at midday serving only to accentuate the pleasant comparative coolness of the rest. The nights then are often chilly, owing to the heavy dews.