Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
Mr. Ferguson to Mr. Burton
Dear Sir: The great interest you take in
all matters that may have a tendency to throw any light upon the
resources of this country, prompts me to communicate an outline of
my late journey through the province of Rio Hacha.
From La Cienega, a town of 10,000 inhabitants, which lies seven
leagues to the southward of Santa Marta, a road extends to the city
of Valle Dupar, situate near the centre of the State of Magdalena
and distant seventy leagues from La Cienega. For a distance of forty
leagues, the forests on either side of the road are heavily timbered
with caoba or mahogany, ceiba, caracoli, and guayacan, or
lignumvitæ. The mahogany is but little used by the natives. One
species of the ceiba furnishes them a means of catching fish; the
sap is drawn from the tree, and when thrown into the streams the
fish become stupefied and are easily caught. The “caracoli,” not
unlike our cedar in the color of its wood, furnishes canoes. In most
cases these are built far away from the streams, to which they are
drawn, when completed, on round sticks placed across the road at
regular intervals; in some instances they draw them in this manner
for five miles.
Sixty leagues distant from La Cienega are the mountains of
Camperucha. These abound in copper. A mine has been opened and is
now in operation here, worked by the natives, but owing to the great
difficulty in the way of transportation the profits are merely
nominal.
Ten leagues from these mines lies the city of Valle Dupar. Built of
“material” its houses are now in good condition, though hundreds of
years have passed since its foundation. It formerly possessed 10,000
inhabitants; now there are scarcely 1,500. The frequent revolutions
have so affected the people, they are without the courage and energy
necessary to improve their condition.
In the Sierra Nevada mountains is the village of San Sebastian,
fifteen leagues to the northwest from Valle Dupar. The road to the
village is over mountains fearfully high and quite bare of
vegetation. Situated in the charming valley of the river of the same
name, it is inhabited solely by the Arnaco Indians. Fifty-eight
adobe houses constitute the village, which is encircled by a stone
wall. No animals are allowed within the enclosure or limits. It is
cleanly kept, and the Indians do not occupy it except on feast days,
their time being spent upon the farms in the valley and in tending
their cattle on the mountains. The Arnaco Indians are a robust and
muscular tribe, industrious and inoffensive. They have a peculiar
dialect of their own, and number between seven and eight hundred,
though not more than one fourth of this number dwell about San
Sebastian. The costume of the men is a pair of coarse cotton pants
reaching just below the knees, and a “serape” of the same material
three and a half yards long, with a hole in the centre for the head
to pass through. This is secured to the waist by a sash of the same
material. The women wear a skirt as well as the serape. Their hair
is long, coarse, and jet black, and the color of their skin not
unlike that of the North American Indians. The men have a practice
of chewing a mixture of shell lime, and the leaf of a plant called
jaya. They take a small gourd and make a hole in one end of it; in
this they put the lime of a shell obtained on the coast. Chewing the
leaf, they insert the lime in their mouths by means of a long stick.
Every Indian has his “porporo,” as the vessel containing the lime is
called, and they frequently pass days without eating, asserting that
the “porporo” kills hunger.
The finest sheep are raised in this valley, as well as cattle and
horses. Cotton and flax are cultivated, and onions, potatoes, beans,
cabbages, yuca, aracacha, and perrico.
Two leagues from Valle Dupar, on the road to San Sebastian, is a
mountain called Revisado. A copper mine has been opened here, though
not worked at present. Specimens of green and blue carbonate from
this mine yielded 60 per cent. pure metal. Copper is sufficiently
abundant at this point to justify the investment of capital,
providing there existed other means of transportation than mules and
donkeys. The distance from this mine to the nearest shipping point
(Rio Hacha) is twenty-five leagues.
On the outskirts of Valle Dupar are forests of Brazil wood. A
considerable amount of this valuable dye-wood is shipped to Rio
Hacha on the backs of donkeys, and great quantities are consumed as
fuel by the inhabitants of Valle Dupar.
Eight leagues from this city in an easterly direction lies the town
of San Juan, situate on the Rio Cæsar. This place contains about
4,000 inhabitants, and has suffered to a fearful degree from the
late revolutions. Las Juntas is a settlement near San Juan, where
iron and copper exist in considerable quantity. No attempt has as
yet been made to work these mines. The fences in this neighborhood
are made of Brazil wood, which grows in great abundance. Nine-tenths
of all the dye-wood shipped from Rio Hacha is obtained from this
vicinity. Divi-divi is also abundant.
Four leagues to the eastward of San Juan is the little village of
Molino, situate near the base of the Cordillera de Maracaybo. In
these mountains, two leagues from Molino, copper exists in
abundance. At a place called Faria, also near Molino, the richest
copper mines exist I have yet seen. The whole mountain is
impregnated with blue and green carbonates, specimens of which have
yielded 75 per cent. pure metal. None of these mines are in
operation, from the difficulty presented in taking the ore to the
coast.
This section of the province is sufficiently rich to justify the
construction of a railroad
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from Rio Hacha to some point in the interior, say Barranca, as, in
addition to the immense amount of copper, coal is said to exist near
this point in great quantities.
Brazil wood, divi-divi, and sugar would make no inconsiderable item
in the way of freights. The distance from Rio Hacha to Barranca
through the valley is about eighteen leagues. Should proper parties
become interested in the copper mines of this section, there is no
doubt an immense revenue would be the result; and a railroad from
the coast to the interior would have a tendency to develop the
resources of that portion of the country, which, until such an
event, must lie dormant.
I have the honor to be your obedient servant,
