Spanish America, Vol. II (of 2)
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Mas-afuera contains plenty of wood and fresh water, falling in cascades from the high ground of the interior; but these articles cannot be procured without difficulty, on account of the rocky nature of the shore causing the surf to beat violently. Several birds, and amongst these large hawks, are seen on the land, and hovering over the fish which abound on the shores, and may be easily caught. Sea wolves, seals, and other aquatic animals, are also very common.
Off the south-western extremity of Juan Fernandez is a small uninhabited isle, or rather rock, named Isla de Cabras, or Isle of Goats.
These islands are noted for having been the residence of two persons whose adventure gave rise to the novel of Robinson Crusoe. The one was a Mosquito Indian left there by the Buccaneers, and the other Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, also left there by his ship, and who lived four or five years on Juan Fernandez, subsisting upon the goats he caught, which were introduced into the islands by Fernandez, the discoverer, who settled and died in La de Tierra.
In proceeding to the north from these, the next isles of any consequence off the coasts of Peru, are those named St. Felix and St. Ambrose; but these are mere rocks of some extent and very high, on which innumerable seals and marine animals are found. They are not more than five miles in circumference, and are four leagues and a half distant from each other, between 26° 19' and 26° 13' south latitude, and between 79° 41' and 79° 26' west longitude.
On the coast of Peru, opposite the town of Pisco are the Isles of Lobos, or the Sea Wolves, where numbers of seals and other aquatic animals may be caught; they are also, however, mere rocks; north-north-west of these rocks is the small isle of Sangallan in 13° 45' south latitude, famous for seals and sea wolves, and north of this are the isles Chinca, Pachacamac, and St. Lorenzo, all small, but the latter of which is famous as forming the road of Callao, being the place where the Dutch fortified themselves in 1624, when they made an attempt against Lima.
North of these are the Farellones de Huara, which are dangerous rocks, and the isles de Saint Martin, de Santa, and de Chao, also very small, and close to the coast of Peru.
The next are the Lobos de Mar, formerly the resort of the Buccaneers, and the Lobos de Tierra, the first sixteen leagues from the shore, and the latter close to it; they are twelve miles from each other, in 6° 25' and 6° 45' south latitude, but are unimportant.
North of these, in the gulf of Guayaquil, is the large island of Puna already mentioned.
The next on the coast of New Granada is Salengo, a small isle near Cape Santa Elena, and still further is La Plata, the place where Sir Francis Drake divided his plunder, and is a very small isle close to the coast, in 1° 10' north latitude, which is followed at a considerable distance on the shore of Atacames, by the Isla del Gallo, a small uninhabited spot, furnishing good wood and water, in 2° 28' south latitude, and 76° 47' west longitude.
The next is Gorgona, in 3° 36' south latitude, and 77° 52' west longitude, 10 miles in circumference, and eighteen from the coast; opposite to these, but at a great distance from the land, are the Gallapagos or Tortoise Islands, but as they are uninhabited, and more than 110 leagues from the land, a description will take us beyond the limits we have prescribed to the work.
From Plata there are no isles of any consequence on the coast, till those which lie in the bay of Panama, occur, but they have already been mentioned in the description of the isthmus.
Crossing to the western side, and beginning at the northern boundary of Panama, we find several groups of rocky islets on the shores of that province, but none of them are of sufficient size or importance to merit a detail of their figure or qualities; passing therefore along the northern shore, the island of Baru, or Varu, presents itself near the southern part of that which Carthagena is built. It is large, fertile, and inhabited; its length is about sixteen miles, and breadth three, in 10° 12' north latitude, and 75° 25' west longitude.
Off the coast of Caraccas are several large islands, of which Aves, Rocca, Orchilla, Blanca, Tortuga-Salada, Margarita, Cubagua, Cocke, Los Testigos, and some others belong to the Spaniards, and are included within the limits of the captain-generalship of Caraccas. Aves and Rocca, are barren and uninhabited rocks; Orchilla or Horchilla, is a small cluster, in 12° north latitude, and 65° 20' west longitude, the largest isle being in the form of a crescent, and is low, excepting on the east and west capes, which are very hilly; on this part the trees and verdure abound, whilst the other sides are barren and salt. The only animals on it are goats and lizards, and it contains but little fresh water; Blanca, or Blanquilla, in 11° 56' north latitude, and 64° 40' west longitude, is also desert, but higher and more rocky than the former.
Tortuga-Salada is in 10° 53' north latitude, and 65° 18' west longitude, ninety-five miles east-north-east of La Guayra on the main land, and forty-eight west of Margarita, being about thirty miles in circumference, and abounding in salt ponds. The southern part contains some fresh-water springs, and is well covered with trees, but the rest is barren, naked and full of salt-pools, for which reason it was much frequented by vessels of all nations, in order to take in cargoes of that substance, but the Spaniards have lately laid these pools under water; this island is, however, still used by foreign vessels in time of peace, and on it are some goats which have multiplied very much. Margarita has been already noticed; its western side is a noted sea-mark, on account of a cape in 64° 26' west longitude, named Cape Macanao, the mountains of which are 3500 or 4000 feet in height above the sea.
Cubagua, Coche, Los Testigos and Los Frayles, are small uninhabited islands in the neighbourhood of Margarita, but were formerly noted for their pearl fishery, and they were first discovered by Columbus. On Cubagua a town was founded soon after by Ojeda, who named it New Cadiz; but no vestiges of it now remain. At that time the coast from Paria to Cape Vela, was named Costa de las Perlas, the Coast of Pearls, the first Spaniards who landed on this shore, finding the natives every where decorated with those valuable jewels. So actively was the trade carried on in these islands, that at the conquest, Coche alone furnished to the value of 1500 marks a month; and the King's annual fifth amounted to 15,000 ducats; til 1530, the pearl fishery averaged yearly 173,000l., while the American mines furnished only during the same period, 434,000l. sterling. But this fishery diminished rapidly afterwards, and was entirely at an end before 1683.
The destruction of the oysters contributed to this decay, as well as the cutting and setting diamonds which had become common in the 16th century. At present the Indians are the only persons concerned in this traffic, and they sometimes procure a few pearls, but they are generally of the seed kind, and they sell them at Cumana for five shillings a dozen.
The island of Cubagua is full of small deer, which are of a brownish red on the back, white under the belly, and beautifully spotted, some of them are quite white; the Guayqueria Indians frequently land on the island to kill them for the sake of the venison and skins.
Nearer the coasts of Caraccas, and between La Guayra and Cumana, in the bays of Mochima and Santa Fé, are some extraordinary islets named Caraccas and Chimanas the former being three, and the latter eight in number, but they are nearly barren rocks, some of which, as Picua, Picuita, Caraccas, and Boracha which is the largest, rise to the height of 930 feet above the surrounding ocean. On one of them are large wild goats, which were originally left there by a family who settled on it from the continent; but the father outliving his children, and becoming rich enough to purchase slaves, he brought two blacks from Cumana, who murdered him, and living on the produce of the farm, were undiscovered in so lonely a spot, for a length of time; but by some accident the affair becoming known, they were taken to Cumana, where one was beheaded, and the other turned public executioner in order to save his life.
Between Cape Unare and Barcelona are the two Piritoo islands, which are low and covered with herbage, but are uninhabited and of small size.
In the channel between the British island of Trinidad and Cape Paria are several small and desert isles which are of little importance; and descending further to the south, the islands of the mouths of the Orinoco present themselves, inhabited by a fierce and warlike tribe of Indians, named the Guarounoes.
No island of any importance occurs on the Spanish coast of South America, till we reach the mouth of the La Plata, where the island of Lobos, Wolves, in south latitude 35° and fifteen miles south-west of Cape Santa Maria, is found; it is small and chiefly noted for the quantity of sea-wolves, seals and other marine animals which are taken on it.
The Falkland or Malouin Islands, on the east of the Straits of Magellan, are at present possessed by the Spaniards, as they have a fort and barracks on the eastern one, which they have named Soledad; here all the male criminals from Peru and Buenos Ayres are sent for life; vessels sail with these convicts, and with provisions at stated seasons, but as no woman ever accompanies them, Soledad cannot be named a Spanish colony; and it is even doubtful, whether in the present state of the government of Buenos Ayres, they continue to send their delinquents to this banishment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATE OF COMPARATIVE ALTITUDES OF THE MOUNTAINS INSPANISH NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA
The accompanying plate represents the elevations which some of the most noted summits attain in Mexico or New Spain, contrasted with the altitudes of the higher peaks of the Southern Andes in Quito, Merida, Santa Marta and Caraccas; by which it will be readily seen, that the northern range of the Cordillera of the Andes, is not very inferior in height to that part of the chain which has been considered, till very lately, to reach an elevation unequalled by any other mountains in the world.
Recent enquiries, and the researches of zealous travellers and geographers, have not only disclosed the fact, that the Asiatic summits rival and surpass those of Peru, but have also made it questionable whether the continuation of the Andean chain, south of Chimborazo, Cotopaxi, &c. is not far superior in altitude to those celebrated peaks.
It is true, that the Cordillera sinks very much after it has passed the confines of Peru, and that it continues to lower its lofty crest in running through the vast deserts of Atacama, in the kingdom of La Plata, and the upper districts of Chili; but no sooner has it passed these provinces, than it again assumes the same majestic form, and continues it in three parallel ridges, as far as the forty-fifth degree of south latitude, beyond which scarcely any thing is known of this enormous chain, excepting that its height is very great till it loses itself in the ocean of the south, opposite to Cape Pilares, the western entrance of the Straits of Magalhaens.
From its quitting Copiapo, the most northerly province of Chili, till it arrives opposite to the great island of Chiloe and the archipelago of Guaytecas, is the space in which the Cordillera is conjectured to attain an elevation superior to that of the equatorial ridges of Popayan and Quito; as in this space are the lofty peaks of the Descabezado, the Tupungato, Blanquillo, Manflos, Longavi, Chillan, and the Corcobado or Gibbous mountain; all of which rise so far superior to the lower limits of perpetual congelation, that not only Molina, but other travellers have imagined they must be higher than the equinoctial range, though unfortunately all those who have had the opportunity of seeing them, have either been ignorant of the methods of determining their altitudes, or have been engaged in such active employments as to have precluded them from making any other than slight and general observations.
One of the most curious circumstances attendant on the scenery of the Cordillera of the Andes, and which is, from local causes, in a great measure peculiar to those mountains, is the extreme regularity with which the inferior term of congelation or lower limit of perpetual snow, is described on their heads; this feature has therefore been introduced into the drawing, and that in such a manner as to show by the scales placed on its sides, the various heights at which the phenomenon takes place, in the different latitudes the mountains are situated in.
Some of the principal cities, towns and volcanoes, and a few of the most extraordinary scenes in the Andes, have also been introduced, and a scale of miles has been adapted to the right hand, as well as a scale of feet to the left, in order to afford every facility to the reader of the work, in forming just notions of the singular situations of those objects, which may be better done in a graphic manner, than by any description; but as the immediate object of this plate is to exhibit comparative magnitude, on a determinate scale, it is with this view only that it has been constructed, no regard having been paid to the effect as a drawing.
In the centre is introduced the Mountain island of Socorro, one of the Revillagegido group, off the western coast of New Spain, which attains a great elevation for so small a spot, and is remarkable as being nearly on the same parallel as the volcanic summits of Popocatepetl or the Smoky Mountain, Citaltepetl, or Pico de Orizaba, or the Starry Mountain; Iztaccihuatl, or the White Woman; Nauhcampatepetl, or Cofre de Perote, or the Square Mountain; the Volcan de Xorullo and the Volcan de Colima, on the continent, and as being itself evidently the produce of an ancient eruption.
The ensuing list will be found to contain an enumeration of most of the works which may be referred to as the best authorities for the early and modern history, &c. of the Spanish colonies in the western world.
LIST OF WORKS ON, OR RELATING TO SPANISH AMERICA, QUOTED IN THIS PUBLICATION, OR WHICH CONTAIN THE MOST VALUABLE INFORMATIONCONCERNING THOSE COLONIES
Account of the Expedition to the Mississippi, and to the interior of New Spain, by Zebulon Montgomery Pike, 1810.
Acosta, Historia Natural y moral de las Indias, 1591 and 1603.
A Journey through Peru, from Buenos Ayres on the great Rio de la Plata, by Potosi, to Lima, 8vo. in German, by Helms, Dresden, 1798.
Alcedo's Dictionary (Geographical and Historical) of America and the West Indies, edited by Thompson, 5 vols. 4to. 1810. London.
Alzate, Don J. A. Descripcion de las Antiguedadas de Xochicalco. Mexico. 1791.
Anquetil, Precis de l'Histoire Universelle, 12 vols, Paris, 1801.
Anson's Voyage round the world.
Astronomical, Barometrical and Trigonometrical Observations in the Equinoctial Regions of America, from 12° of south latitude to the 41° of north latitude, by M. de Humboldt, in French, 2 vols. Paris.
Aublet, Histoire des Plantes de la Guyane Francoise.
Aurora ó Correo Politico-economico de la Havanah.
Azara, Voyage dans l'Amerique Meridionale de Juin, 1781 jusqu'a 1801. 4 vols Translation, 1809, 8vo.
Azara, Don Felix de, Essais sur l'Histoire Naturelle des Quadrupedes du Paraguay, 2 vols. Paris, 1801.
Bancroft's Natural History of Guiana.
Beauchamp, Histoire de la Conquete et des Revolutions du Perou, 2 vols. Paris, 1801.
Bernal Diaz, Historia de la Conquista del Mexico.
Berenger, Collection Abregée des Voyages autour du Monde, 9 vols. Paris, 1789-90.
Biggs' History of Miranda's attempt to Revolutionize South America, 8vo. 1 vol.
Borda, Voyage de la Flore.
Boturini's Bernaducci, Historical Essay on New Spain.
Bougainville, Voyage autour du monde.
Bouguer, Figure de la Terre, 1 vol. 4to. Paris, 1749.
Buffon, Histoire Naturelle, 54 vols. Aux Deux Ponts, 1785-90.
Carli, J. R. Comte de, Lettres Americaines, 2 vols. Boston, 1788.
Cateri, 1697.
Cardenas, Historia de la Florida.
Chappe d'Auteroche, Voyage en Californie.
Cronica del Peru, por Piedro de Cieca de Leon, 1554.
Charlevoix, Histoire du Paraguay.
Churruca, Apendice a la Relacion del Viage al Magellanes, 1790.
Clavigero, Storia Antica di Messico.
Colnett's Voyage to the South Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, 4to. 1 vol.
Condamine, Voyage a l'Equateur. Paris, 1745.
Comentarias Reales de los Incas, por Garcilasso de la Vega.
Cook's Voyages round the World. 7 vols.
Correspondence du Ferd. Cortez avec Charles V. sur la Conquete du Mexique. Francfort, 1775.
Cosme Bueno, Descripcion del Peru.
Cronica Serafica de Queretaro, 1792. Mexico.
Dampier's Voyages, 4 vols. 8vo. London, 1729.
Depons, F., Voyage a la Terre Firme dans l'Amerique Meridionale, 1801-4, 3 vols. Paris, 1806.
Des Marchais, les Voyages de, par Labat, 4 vols.
Dobrizhoffer, de Abiponibus. Vienna, 1784.
Due Antichi Monumenti di Architettura Messicana Illustrati, da Pietro Marques. Rome, 1804.
Du Pratz, Voyages dans la Louisiane, 3 vols. Paris, 1758.
El Viajero Universal, por Estalla. Madrid, 1796.
Equiara, Bibliotheca Mexicana.
Equinoctial Plants of America, 2 vols. folio, (French) by Humboldt.
Essai sur la Geographie des Plantes, &c. par Humboldt.
Falkner's Patagonia.
Fernandez or Hernandez, Nova Hispania.
Feyjoo, Relacion de la Ciudad de Truxillo, 1763.
Fleurieu, Voyage de l'Isis, dans 1768 et 1769.
Forbes' Oriental Memoirs, containing Observations on parts of South America, 4 vols.
Frezier, Voyages de, 2 vols. 12mo. 1717.
Gap's Voyage of Lewis and Clarke to the Pacific, 8vo.
Gage, on Spanish North America, 1655, folio.
Galleano Viage al Estrecho de Magellanes.
Gazetta de Literatura de Mexico, a periodical publication. Mexico.
Gemelli Carreri, Giro del Mondo. Naples, 1699. 6 vols.
Gilij, Saggio di Storia Americana, or Storia di Terra Firma, 4 vols. 1780. Rome.
Gomara, Conquista de Mexico, 1553, folio. Medina del Campo.
–, Cronica General de las Indias, 1553, folio.
Grynæi, Novus Orbus, 1555.
Gumilla, Orinoco Illustrada.
Henderson's account of the British Settlements of Honduras.
Herrera Descripcion de las Indias Occidentales. Madrid, 1730.
History of Chili, by Molina, English translation, 2 vols.
Historia de la Nueva Espana escrita por Don Hernando Cortez y aumentado por Lorenzana.
History of the Settlements of the Europeans in the East and West Indies, by Raynal, 8 vols.
Historia del Nuevo Mundo, Girolamo Benzoni.
Horn de Originibus Americanus, 1699.
Humboldt's Political Essay on New Spain, 4 vols. 8vo. London.
Humboldt's Personal Narrative of Travels in America, 3 vols. 8vo. London.
– Tableau de la Nature, 2 vols. Paris.
– Monographie de la Melastomas, rhexia, &c. 2 vols. folio, Paris.
– Observations sur la Zoologie, &c., 2 vols. 4to. Paris.
– Vues des Cordilleres, &c., 1 vol. folio, Paris.
– Researches, 2 vols. 8vo. London.
Jeffreys on the Spanish West India Islands, 1762, 4to. London.
Journal of Andrew Ellicott, Commissioner for determining the Boundaries of Ohio and Mississippi, &c.; 1803.
Kerr's Collection of Voyages and Discoveries.
Knox's Collection of Voyages.
Koster's Travels in Brazil.
La Florida del Inca, Madrid, 1723.
La Guia de Forasteros (Annual Almanac of Mexico); Mexico.
Labat's Voyages to the West Indies, 6 vols. 8vo.
Laet, Orbis Novus, 1633.
Lavaysse (Dauxion), Voyage aux Isles de Trinidad, de Tabago, de la Marguerite, et dans diverses Parties de Venezuela, 2 vols. Paris, 1813.
Leblond (J. P.), Voyage aux Antilles et à l'Amerique Meridionale, 1797 et 1802, 2 vols. 8vo. Paris. 1813.
Ledru, Voyage aux Isles de Teneriffe, Porto Rico, &c.; 1796-1798; 2 vols. Paris, 1810.
Lettre de Monsieur Godin.
Lockman's Travels of the Jesuits.
Malte Brun, Precis de la Geographie Universelle; 3 vols. and 2 vols. of maps, Paris, 1810.
Mawe's Travels in the Interior of Brazil, and Account of the Revolution in Buenos Ayres; 4to.
Marchand, Voyage autour du Monde, 1790-2; 5 vols. 4to. Paris, 1798-1800.
Marieta, Historia eccleslastica, 1596.
Memoirs of the Jesuits concerning California, 3 vols, 4to. Madrid, 1757.
Mercurio Peruiano (a literary periodical work), Lima.
Michaux, Voyage a l'ouest des Monts Alleghany, 1804.
Munorz, Historia del Nuevo Mundo.
Notes on the Viceroyalty of La Plata; London.
Noticia de la California del Padre Fray Miguel Venegas, 1757.
Oexemelia's (Oliver) History of the Bucaniers, 1686.
Origen de los Indios del Nuevo Mundo por P. Garcia, Valencia, 1610.
Observaciones sobre el Clima de Lima, por el Doctor Don Hipolito Unanue, Lima, 1806.
Oviedo, Historia natural de Indias.
Pauw, Recherches Philosophiques sur les Americains, 1769.
Perouse (La), Voyage autour du Monde, 1785-1788, redige par M. L. A. Millet-Mureau, 4 vols. Paris, 1798.
Perez de Roxas, Historia de Cinaloa.
Pinckard's Notes on the West Indies, 2 vols.
Pinkerton's Modern Geography, 2 vols. 8vo.
Piedrahita (Lucas Fernandez, el Obispo), Historia General de las Conquistas del Nuevo Reyno de Granada.
Poterat (Marquis de), Journal d'un Voyage au Cap de Horn, au Chili, au Perou, &c., 1795-1800, Paris, 1815.
Purchas' Pilgrim; a collection of curious voyages, in 5 vols.
Raynal, Histoire Politique et Philosophique des Etablissemens et du Commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes, 10 vols. et Atlas, Geneva, 1780.
Relations des diverses Voyages curieux, par M. M. Thevenot.
Robertson's History of America.
Robin, Voyage dans l'interieure de la Floride occidentale, &c., 1802-1806, 3 vols.
Ruiz (Hyp.) y Jose Pavon, Flora Peruviana, 3 vols. Madrid, 1798 – 1802.
Semple's Sketch of the present State of the Caraccas.
Sir Francis Drake's Voyages, London, 1653, 4to.
Skinner on Peru.
Solis, Historia de la Conquista de Mexico y de Nueva Espana, por Josse, 3 vols.
Solorzano Pereira, de Indiarum jure.
Southey's History of Brazil, 4to.
Stedman's History of Surinam.
Thou (I. A. de), Universal History, 1543-1610; 16 vols. London, 1734.
Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, 3 vols. folio. 1615.
Touron, Histoire Generale de l'Ameriquedepuis sa decouverte, 14 vols. Paris, 1768-1770.
Tuckey's Maritime Geography.
Ulloa and Juan's Voyage to South America, 2 vols. 8vo. (English translation.)
Unanue, Guia Politica del Peru (periodical).
Vater, Inquiries into the Population of the New Continent (German).
Vancouver's Voyage round the World.
Vida del Padre Fray J. Serro, Mexico, 1787.
Vida del Almirante Colon por Fernando Colon.
Vidaurre, Compendio del Chili, 8vo. Bologna, 1776.
Volney, Tableau du Climat et du Sol des Etats Unis.
Voyage a la Recherche de La Perouse, par M. D'Entrecasteaux.
Voyage au Perou, 1791-1794, par les P. P. Manuel Sobreviella, et Narcisso y Barcel, 2 vols. with an Atlas, in 4to. Paris, 1809.
Vue de la Colonie Espagnole de Mississippi, en 1802, Paris, 1803.
Wafer's Description of the Isthmus of Darien, 1699.
Walton's Present State of the Spanish Colonies, 2 vols. London.
Wilcocke's History of the Viceroyalty of Buenos Ayres, 1806.
Ydea de una Nueva Historia General de la America Septentrional, por Boturini.
Zarate, Histoire de la Conquete du Perou; Paris, 1742.