The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-14

Nearer the wild regions of the great
interior forests of Venezuela are nu-
merous settlements of lake-dwellers,
where they live in comparative secur-
ity. They give as reasons for their
peculiar choice of residence, first, of
course, because their ancestors from
time immemorial lived in the same
manner; and second, that they dare not
live on the main land for fear of wild
Indians, especially their deadly enc
mics, the wild and savage Guajiros. A
description of one lake-house answers
for all the rest. Its walls are of wild
canstalks or bamboos, set some dis
lance apart to let in light and air; its
roof is of dried palm-leaves, slipping
down on all sides to the foundation,
and its floor of poles laid side by side.
Between the flooring, the water, ten or
twelve feet below, is everywhere WISH
BILE. No need to open a door, Gf there
were such thing as doors in these
houses), to throw out "trush" and gar
bage-you simply drop it between the
poles into the lake. The fire in one COR
ner, over which the cooking is done. is
prevented from falling through by be-
ing laid on a thick bed of clap, above
which are a few fiat stones which not
only uphold the indispensable iron pot
and enclose the fire, but serve for bak-
ing bread upon. Heaps of rags, palm
leaves or dried grass indicate beds,
and on one of these we saw litter Of
baby-pigs contentedly snoozing. The
thatch overhead is stuck full of fishing
implements, spears. bows, arrows and
rude baskets and cradles, made by
these queer people. Generally in the
middle of the day, you will hardly
find a man, or a grown boy, in one of
these lake-villages; they are all off
hunting or fishing, or selling their
truck on the main land. But each hut
contains so many women, girls, babies
and small boys that you wonder where
the absent men find any room when
they return. Very few Of them are Of
the orthodox copper-color. Many are
nearly white, and some have blue eyes
and blonde hair-features accounted
for by the fact that their white fathers
live in the city, coming down to visit
their Indian harem whenever it suits
their lordly pleasure. Strange to say
| the lake-dwellers never make gardens
on dry land, though within half mile
of their miserable huts is plenty they
might have for the tilling. Many of
them have artificial gardens close by
or rather under their villages, which do
not float" like the celebrated Viga
gardens of Mexico, because strongly
moored to the piles that support the
houses. They are made by fitting great
palm logs together like fence and
filling in the enclosure-perhaps fifty
feet across-with earth brought from
the shore, a little at time in their
dug-outs. Think of the unnecessary
labor involved, when two or three feet
of water, to say nothing of fathomless
mud, forms the foundation of the gar
den. But pumpkins, corn, beans and
even fruit trees thrive in them. The
great lake of Maracaibo is one hun
dred and twenty seven miles long by
about eighty miles wide, and receives
constant tribute from several hundred
rivers and smaller streams, principally
of Andean origin. Many of the rivers
are navigable for long distances; such
as the Catatumba, the Bravo, etc, and
| the Zulia, which extends far into 1.-The
adjoining republic of Columbia and
! furnishes a route for the transportation
of an ever-increasing amount. of coffee,
| of both Venezuelan and Colombian
! growth, but classed in the market as
| "Maraeaibo" coffee. The shores of the
lake are generally low, except toward
the south and the mountains; and this
Is also true of the long neck of brack~
ish water which connects the body OF
the lake with the outer lagoon. or Co
lumbus' Gulf Of Sorrow" Along their
bordering plains are extensive groves
of cocoa-palms, the source of easy
wealth to their owners and beautify-
| ing the landscape by their staely grace
Besides these frequent cocoa-groves,
you see groups of the graceful date
palm; and in the sleepy pueblas, or
lake-viilages, long rows of magnificent
royal palms, suggestive Of the columns
Of temples and the perfection of Corin-
THAN architecture. One marvels that
the English language is so poor that it
could find, no better name than cab
bage- PALM to give to the most finished
and splendid tree in the world! Baron
Humboldt, you know, says that there
are upwards of three hundred distinct
varieties of palms, in South America;
and Venezuela has most of them. All
the lake side homes are empowered
with trees, usually bearing fruit, such
as orange, tamarind, sapodella, mango,
custard apple, sour-sop, pomegranite
fig, aguaacte bread-fruit, red, white
and yellow guavas, the caschew, the
calabash, and thousand other kinds
whose names I do not know. To the
Northern taste they are all equally in
sipid-except the orange. fig, guava
and mango-and 1t requires long Gull
tivation to acquire genuine liking for
them. Among the coast fruit trees,
the "Uva de playa" or grape-tree,
should be especially noted. 1t resem-
b1es the beech-tree of the North and
bears separate berries Of the size,
shape and flavor Of grapes.
FANNIE B. WARD.