Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1908-05-21
ROLE OF La GUAYRA.
Venezuelan Port Where Bubonic
Plague is Raging.
Scene Of Many BnttIc~-Onc Of
worlds Hot Spots. with Mean
Temperature Of 81 Degrees.

La Guayra, tho Venezuelan port strick-
en- with the bubonic plague, is u town
that has played an important role in bot
history and fiction. says tho BROOKLYN
Eagle. Founded in las. it had a record
Of daring adventure. battles and con-
quest before jamestown was settled It
was beginning to feel itself old when the
Pilgrim fathers landed in New England.
1t was the scene OF Perhaps tho most
thrilling of tho many episodes in Charles
knCslcN's "Westward Ho" II is tho
testimony of travclcrs-who have had to
pass through La Gtayra on the way to
| Caracas, that the port Is one Of tho
hottest, most disagreea bic places on the
face Of the earth.
In times of quiet little is heard of it,
But when there is any trouble brewing
either internal or international La
| Guayra assumes an Importance that
makes its name heard all over the civil
lied world. As tho principal port Of Ven
| ezue'a. ii Is n prize much coveted by
| every revolutionary leader who seeks to
| upset the established government
II was here that the British and Ger
man war vessels gathered in force in 1902,
to put into effect a blockade which almost
precipi,atcd a serious war. II was here.
too. that the British and Germans seized
the Venezuelan nect part Of which they
sank. Later when the allies landed
marines, the city was thrown into a state
of panic.
In the same year the forces ~ tho
| revolutonist Matos were making desper-
ate efforts to capture La Guayra Matos
was getting nearer and nearer to the
| ports-whcrc the revenues were collected
and he had the inhabitants OF La
! Guavra badly scared
Throughout this revolution, which Is
| said to have cost l2.N00 lives. La
| Guayra remained in the possession of the
government. on June Is. 1907 the rebels
attacked La Guayra. hut the government
answered by Smelling them from the forts
AMI they were repulsed
| Readers Of the Westward Ho" will re-
member the daring expedition Of the two
Rrtions to rescue tho Rose of Devon
from the castle on the hill overlooking
La Guavra. When the adventurous drew
near ia tho place they saw. in Kings
lev's words. "a low. black cliff. crowned
by wall: a battery at either end With
| f.. a fcw narrow streets Of white houses.
| running parallel with the sea. upon n
| strip OF fat which seemed not two hun
dred yards in breadth; and. behind, the
mountain wall. covering the whole in
| deepest shade
This was in 1896. twelve wears before
jamestown was founded. The description
continues:
In spite Of tho shadow of tho noun
tain. the whole place wore dusty and
glaring look. The hreaths of broczc which
came off the land were utterly sitting
and no wonder, for La Guayra. owing to
, the radiation Of that vast fire brick Of
heated rock. is one Of the hottest spots
on the face of the whole earth
History has it that Amias Preston (who
was Kinesley's herop landed at Macuto
east ~ Ia Guayra. and scaled tho preci-
pitous mountains. sacked tho city of Car
| acas. and returned safely to his ships
with his 400 bold followers. In 1850 the
city was sacked by the French under
C;rammont: in 1908 a Dutch squadron at
tackled it but was repulsed: in 1879 ar
English squadron was also repnlscd. and
again in l7+3. In l>lc LA Giayra was to-
tally destroyed by an earthquake. 1t was
at La Guayra that the plot for the roy
oluton Of Gaul and Espana was laid
and here were executed patriot and
Spanish prisoners
Baron Won Humboldt. said that the view
of La Guayra, as approached from tho
sea. could he cqualed only by tho beauty
of San CRUZ or TeneriTe in tho Canary
islands The coast range of mountains
rises abruptly from tho sea to a height
of more than 5000 feet. Tho port lies
along the narrow strip between the
mountains and the water.
ri Is narrow indeed that tins
city has begun to crawl up the hill. As
seen from the sea, the scattered houses
seem to cling like animals to the side nj
tho mountain. There are two forts
which were built by the Span iards. high
| above the city.
The NEAR temperature is about 81 de-
grees Fahrenheit. The inhabitants. ri
whom there are about 1o.0hh. consist, ac
cordinG to one who passed through. cot
those who. for one reason or another
can't get away"
one of the two railway lines in Vene
zucla runs from la Guayra to Caracas
BY air line the cities are not more thar
six miles apart. but SO steep is the
mountain and so many are the curves ii
the railroad that the railroad is % miles
long. In the account of his South Amer
lean travels. Richard Harding Davis says
of this line:
1T is a very remarkable railway; It's
tracks cling to the perpendicular surface
Of the mountain like the tiny tendris OF
"A vine on a stone wall, and the trains
creep and crawl along the edge OF It's
prccipices. or twist themselves into the
shape of n horseshoe magnet. so tha
tho engineer on the locomotive can lool
directly across a bottomless chasm into
the windows Of the last car. The view
from the train, while it pants and puffs
on its way to tho capital is the most
beautiful / have ever seen