The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-11-14
LAKE MARACAIBO.
COLUMBUS "GULF OF SOR-
ROW"
''LittIe iVenios"-Life In the Great
LagOon-Fhe Lake-DHeIIers OF Vene-
zueln.
zueIa


Especial Correspondence of the Journal
and Courier.)
Maracaibo City, Venezuela,
October 9th. 1902
To reach Lake Maracaibo-that vast
body of navigable water which sep
arates Venezuela from it's westward
neighbor, Colombia-you sail from La
Guaira, or from the mouth of the
Orinoco, around the northern border of
this turbulent republic, to its western
limit. 1t was this inland sea which
Columbus Ell Golfo Trieste" Gulf of
Sadness" because his little fleet was
nearly destroyed there by a hurricane,
during his third voyage of discovery.
The great admiral, however did not
penetrate beyond the outer lagoon,
which lies between the two peninsulas,
Ooajira and Paraguana, now called
Coro. Had he pushed his caravaIs
through the narrow passage which is
at present defended by the castle of
San Carlos and sWarms of crocodiles,
into the beautiful fresh-water lake be-
yOnd, he would surely have given it a
more cheerful christening. Ojeda found
the great lake, year later than Co
lumbus visit; and his friend and COM
panion, Anlerigo Vespucci, the Flor
entine adventurer, changed its aborig-
inal name, Maracaibo, to Venicia.
The borrowed title was bestowed on
account of numerous Indian villages
built. on piles above the water, whose
canals and waterways in lieu of
streets reminded Vespucci of the Mis-
tress of the Adriatic where he had Of
ten been on trading voyages. Happily
the Indian name, Maracaibo, was soon
restored to this locality; but, strange
to say Little Venice" Cvenezuela),
became the name of the whole country
To this day several lake villages re-
main, in all their prehistoric simple
ity and being only about weeks jour-
ney from New York, he (or she) who
will, may easily visit them. and see
life just about as it was more than
four hundred years ago. The most ac-
cessible of these odd communities is
situated four miles below the city Of
Maracaibo, and Is called Santa Rosa"
Spanish for Holy Rose; and more
inappropriate title would be difficult
to conceive. Coasting the lake. you see
in the distance group of palm leaf
huts, ranged in straight rows, like
streets, ten feet or more above the wa
ter and apparently half a mile from
shore. Leaving the steamer anchored
in deep water, you descend into a row.
boat; and soon find yourself humping
into score of dugouts, each followed
from the trunk of tree, in primitive
Indian fashion. They are moored to
the piles that form the foundations of
the houses, the latter lifted high above
two or three feet of Shiny water, which
smells Of anything but holy roses"
having been for centuries the dumping
place Of all the refuse and offal of the
village.
AT the first indication of approach,
the whole place suddenly springs into
life. Men, women and children swarm
out of the huts and along the frail
staging, climbing like monkeys to the
ridge poles, or clinging to the piles like
barnacles, or dropping into the dirty
water like anphibious creatures. You
are reminded of Vespucci's words con-
corning their ancestors when he wrote
to his king that "At the sound of the
Spaniard's guns, the Indians jumped
into the water like frogs leaping off a
log" He said that at first they seemed
to have no fear, though they had never
seen large vessels before, they sounded
their conch-shells war signals, raised
their drawbridge and prepared to do
battle. The Spaniards, being in kindly
mood, because satiated with spoils-
having just come from the Pearl ISL
ands, where they we're 80 we'll received
that they brought away bushels of
pearls, many Of them large as pigeons
eggs-attempted to parley with the red
skinned warriors Of Maracaibo. The
Indians answer was a shower of pois-
oned arrows upon the ships, and for a
time battle waged furiously. ut was
our cannon that did the business" re-
marked Vespucci. Finding that their
puny arrows, though poison-tipped,
were no match for the great guns,
cross-bows and arquebuses of the in
vaders, the Indians fed, leaving their
empty villages to be sacked and burn
ed. The Spaniards found little to re-
pay their trouble-only some rude fish
ing implements, bows and arrows,
stone knives, hatchets and spearheads.
The lake-dwellers Of to-day are as poor
as their fathers-perhaps poorer; but
they are an exceptionally hale and
hearty community and seem to live in
undisturbed content. They are short
in stature, like the Tierre del Fuego In
dams, but not SO grotesquely deform-
ed as their far-away island relatives.
These have symmetrical limbs, small
hands and feet and rather pleasant
! features. They live mainly by fishing
and by the sale Of their children. 1t