Evening star., 1899-10-14
Lake DWellers Of Venezuela and Their
Queer Homes.
LIVE BY HUNTING And FISHING
The People Still Practice a Form
of Slavery.
VISIT TO THE VILLAGE


Written to- The Evening Star.
The last. the very Last, OF those am
phibious creatures who erect their dwell
ings over the water in preference to living
on dry land are found today only in the
northern part of Venezuela. 1t is not much
more than fifty years since the wonderful
lake dwelIers of Switzerland were found,
and We all remember the furore among the
scientists that the discovery created A
new world was opened. new line of inyes-
tigation made possible, and the relics OBJ
tanned from the lakes where they We're
found were eagerly sought by all the
museums in Europe and America. Yet it is
just 400 years since these lake dwellers
of South America were discovered and 1t
was by no less parsonage than the great
Americus Vespucci, after whom, it is claim
ed. the western continents were named 1t
was in the year 1893 that Vesoucci and
AIonzo de Ojeda made voyage along the
north coast Of South America, first sighting
land at Paria and Island Trinidad, and then
visiting the Pearl Islands King Ferdinand
Of Spain had expressly stipulated with
Christopher Columbus that the fruits of
all his discoveries should be shared between
them, and that no voyagers should follow
I'll his tracks without his permission But
NeSpucci. having been the royal cartog-
rapher at court for several years, knew
thing or two. and somehow obtained per-
mission TO tit out a vessel and go where he
pieA@rd- And, though Columbus had first
brought to light the vast deposits of pearl
oysters AZ Margerira and Cubayna. yet as
his vessels Were leaky he bore up for Saut0
Domingo without thoroughly exploiting
them. intending 10 return But he never
got back, affairs in the northern islands
claiming his attention. and 50 Vespucci
and Ojeda. as well as some others slipped
in and robbed him of his hard-earned treas
Ures.
Visit of the spnniards.
And. by the way. it was these same lake
dwellers who unwittingly furnished the
name by which Venezuela is known at the
present time-has been ever since, in fact
The Spaniards were 50 well received by the
Indians of the Pearl Islands that they car
ried away bushels of pearls. some of them
as large as pigeons eggs. and, says the old
historian. every Indian they met thought
himself happy, when they came to rivers
and creeks, II he could but carry over a
Spaniard on his shoulders; and he that Of
tenest carried any ever looked upon him
self most Fortunate
But after the islands had been left be-
hind and the great Gulf of Maracaibo was
entered things were not quite so lovely for
the Spaniards, for whenevr they ap-
preached the shore they were received
by flights of arrows and driven away
without making a landing. Finally, after
rounding the peninsula of COro they sighted
the strangest collection of structures they
had ever seen. in the shape of huts made of
palm poles and thatched with palm leaves.
perched upon piles driven into the water
far from shore in a quiet bay of the gulf
or lake.
i Warm Reception.
1t was not only the first time the Span
iards had ever seen such queer dwellings,
but it was also the first time the Indians
living in them had ever looked upon any
white men They were not afraid however.
and, though these Wild men had never before
seen such large vessels as those which came
H.. -.rTr- Il
they made bold front. sounded their horns
OF CuHch shell. raised their draybridges
and aTrayed their war canoes for y most
desperate resistance The Spaniards. hay-
ing been already sated with SDuiIS aud
having had such a different reception from
The other Indians To the eastward. made
an attempt To parley with them: bur i'm
vain The val ant red men sent their uo-
men and children to the shore and onened
me ban by showering upon the ships a
flight "f poisoned arrows. For a time the
battle Waged furirusly; but in the end
seeing that they made no head against the
invaders. with their great guns, their crosso
Dp"s ana ar4uebuSeS, the Indians fled pre-
ctpitately and left their empty h0usas 70 he
pl-laEed by the Spaniards
Lit;ae Venice.
1t was the cannon that did the b,si-
ness wrote Nespucci to his king. when he
made a report of the affair. '.for when We
hred on our big guns the Indians turnps,1
INTO the water like frogs hopping off a Iop
IEeE the Spaniards sailed up close to the
city, hoisted out their small boats. and he
gan pillage Of its huts and houses. -rnav
found little to reward them however av
copt some rude fishing implements snrna
bows and arrows. the latter poisor-tipned
with wurari. some stone knives hatcha+s
ana SptdrhSa ads; 50 they soon retired In dis
gust But Commander NeSpuccf was SO i'm
pressed with this lacustrine settlement it
be'nE the nrst of its kind that any Euro
pcan had seen. that he called ii Venezuela a o..
or Little Venice: and thus. as has been re-
married. bestowed a name that has since
been applied TO the entire country ADJACENT
W. md the descendants Of those aborig-
Ina! lake dwelleTs OccupyIng the same
sites, and apparently the same huts as
their far-away ancestors, living exactly in
the same primitive style and subsisting on
the same diet of fish. vegetables and roots
obtained from the mud Of the shore There
sre al present two settlements on Lake
AaFaca.oo. the larger being far UP that
NdSt Dody OF water, about 100 miles from
the sea; but the smalIer-the village or It's
site discovered by Vespucci in 1895 onIy
uozen miles OF SO from the city of Mara
caioo and Is easily accessible from that
city. '
An Interesting Trip.
To reach Maracaibo Itself one must taxa
steamer to the quaint Dutch island OF Gu
racao. and then change to subsidiary line
which runs into the gulf The master of
the only steamer running thither when
wished to visit Maracaibo was an American
lied Norwegian named Lackzy. rho was quite
as original a character as any of the lake
dwellers. and almost as unsophisticated-
His speech was mixture OF Norwegian,