Antioquia

“ I say, then, that on leaving San Sebastian de Buena Vista, which is the port of Uraba, to go to the city of Antioquia, the road runs by the coast for five leagues as far as the banks of a small river called Rio Verde, whence the distance to the city of Antioquia is forty-eight leagues. The whole country, from this river to certain mountains called Abibe, of which I shall speak presently, is flat, but covered with very dense forests, and traversed by many rivers. The district near the road is uninhabited, as the natives have retired to a distance from it. ”

“ Traversed also by the West and Central Cordillera Antioquia has great diversity of character. It is the leading Department in mining, in education, and as centre of industries; it is among the foremost in agriculture, has the largest, most enterprising, and prosperous population. Nearly one-fourth of the coffee exported from Colombia comes from Antioquia, that from Medellín bringing the highest price. The forests contain hard wood and rubber. The Department has five cities besides the capital with a population of 20,000 or above, and 30 more with a population over 10,000. ”

“ They do not entirely attain to a belief in the immortality of the soul. The water and all that the earth produces is referred to nature, although they well know there is a Creator, but their belief is false, as I shall relate presently.
The city of Antioquia was founded and settled by the Captain Jorge Robledo, in the name of his Majesty the Emperor Charles, King of Spain and of the Indies, our lord, and by order of the Adelantado Don Sebastian de Belalcazar, his governor and captain-general of the province of Popayan, in the year of the nativity of our Lord 1541. ”

“ One day I saw in Antioquia, when we founded it in some hills where Captain Jorge Robledo first fixed the site (which was afterwards{53} changed by Captain Juan Cabrera to the site where the city now stands) , while walking in a field of maize, four Indians close to me, who met another, and killed him with their clubs. They then drank his blood and eat his entrails by mouthfuls. They have no arrows, nor do they use any other arms than the above. I have never seen any temple or house of worship, except that which was burnt in the valley of Guaca. They all talk with the devil ”

“ These territories formerly belonged to the departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca and Cauca. The seven new departments are: Atlantico, taken from the northern extremity of Bolívar; Cáldas, the southern part of Antioquia; Galán, the southern districts of Santander, including Charalá, Socorro, Velez, and its capital San Gil; Huila, the southern part of Tolima, including the headwaters of the Magdalena and the districts about Neiva and La Plata; Nariño, the southern part of Cauca extending from the eastern Cordillera to the Pacific coast ”

“ Following the western slope of this system of mountains of Antioquia, we find that the point of partition of the waters that flow towards the Pacific and the Caribbean Sea (latitude 5 1/2 and 6 degrees ) nearly corresponds with the parallel of the isthmus of Raspadura, between the Rio San Juan and the Atrato. It is remarkable that in this group, more than 30 leagues broad, without sharp summits, between latitude 5 1/4 and 7 degrees, the highest masses rise towards the west; while, further south, before the union of the two chains of Quindiu and Choco, we saw them on the east of Cauca. ”

“ In many other provinces, through which I have passed, they bury their dead in very deep holes, while in others, as{228} those within the jurisdiction of the city of Antioquia, they pile up such masses of earth in making their tombs, that they look like small hills. A door is left through which they pass in the body, the live women, and all the things that are buried with it. ”

“ Chocó, the next coast region to Antioquia, is in striking [Pg 24] contrast to Caldas. An Intendencia bordering on Panamá and the Pacific as well as on the Caribbean, it is rich in possibilities for mining, and for agricultural and forest products; but the excessive rainfall and great heat, unpleasant throughout the district, make the lowlands swampy and unhealthful, and the whole region unattractive to settlement. Less than one-tenth of the population is white; negroes form the great majority of the rest, and there are some Indians. ”

“ Baraya, in command of the Federal troops, defeated Nariño and laid siege to Bogotá, but was repulsed and totally defeated in an ill-planned attack upon the city.
At this time Marshal Montalvo, a Cuban by birth, arrived as Viceroy in place of Perez. Patriotism, enervated by civil strife, revived. On the 16th July, 1813, Cundinamarca declared itself an independent State, and the Province of Antioquia followed the example. Nariño came to an arrangement with Congress, and offered troops to reinforce the army which was sent against the Royalists now advancing from the south. ”

“ The mountains of this country attain the greatest elevation of any of the three parallel chains in this part of the Andes. They reach the period of perpetual congelation, and in some of their summits greatly exceed it; indeed the whole country is so thickly surrounded with these mountains, that those who are not strong enough to travel on foot, or dislike being carried on the backs of men, must pass their whole lives within its bounds.
The capital of this province is Santa Fé de Antioquia, in 6° 48ʹ north latitude, and 74° 36ʹ west longitude ”

“ It happened a few months after the freeing of Guayaquil. The people of the city, dressed in their gayest clothes, were crowding along the streets, and craning their necks to watch for a procession.
Triumphal arches spanned the streets. On each arch was inscribed:—
BOLIVAR!
And while the people watched eagerly, lo, the new white and blue flag of independent Guayaquil was hauled down from the gunboats on the river, and in its place were run up the red, yellow, and blue colours of the great new Republic of Colombia, which had just been formed to the North of Guayaquil. ”

“ The colonial government of Antigua is confided to the governor-in-chief of the Leeward Islands​—​a council, nominated by the governor, and confirmed by the crown​—​and a house of assembly, consisting of twenty-five members, representing the capital town of St. John’s, and the twelve divisions, which the six parishes of the island compose, elected by the freeholders. The council act in two capacities​—​the one as the advisers of the governor in the administration of the executive branch of government ”

“ Perhaps it may be considered almost an impertinence in me to remark​—​the fact is so well known both in England and the West Indies​—​that, among this numerous body of her majesty’s subjects, there are some of the highest respectability. Every West Indian island has its élite, and Antigua is not behind the rest. Many, very many, could be mentioned, who are superior in every way​—​well-read, strong-minded, with excellent natural talents, and unexceptionable, both in public and private life. ”

“ From the period when Antigua was first settled by the English, the Caribs, as we have already seen, had been in the constant habit of landing upon it, and perpetrating the most fearful and horrid acts of violence upon its inhabitants. So frequent and barbarous were these attacks, that the colony at one time was in danger of being abandoned; and nothing but firm and vigorous measures on the part of the English could restrain the fury of their Indian adversaries, and quell their turbulent assaults. ”

“ Having been resident in Antigua both before and after the passing of the Emancipation Act, and having had ample opportunity of judging of the practical effects of that memorable event, the observations I have made with relation to it may not be considered altogether unimportant.
In perusing the early history of the colony, the English reader may be surprised to find how many men of family became early settlers in the West Indies ”

“ Colombia, like Peru or Mexico, or Ecuador or other of the sisterhood of nations in our survey, [19] is a land of great contrasts, whether of Nature or man. The unhealthy lowlands of the coast give place to the delightful valleys of higher elevations, which in their turn merge into the bitter cold of the melancholy paramos, or upland passes, and tablelands of the Andes. Or the cultivated lands pass to savage forests, where roam tribes of natives who perhaps have never looked upon the face of the white man. ”

“ For the present-day traveler who is interested in earthquakes and their effects and in the ruins of Spanish architecture, nothing more entertaining can be found than a visit to La Antigua, which can be reached from Guatemala City by a few hours' ride in carriage or on horseback. Antigua stretches through the beautiful and fertile valley which in the Indian language means dry lake because the tradition exists that in prehistoric times there was a fine sheet of water covering the land. The panorama which delights the eye from any elevated point of Antigua is glorious. ”

“ The embroidery and lace, wood carving and portrait painting of Quito, are commendable; but the grandeur of the Andes, like the beauty of the Alps, was never sketched by a native.
Ecuador boasts of one University and eleven colleges; yet the people are not educated. Literature, science, philosophy, law, medicine, are only names. Nearly all young gentlemen are doctors of something; but their education is strangely dwarfed, defective, and distorted; and their knowledge, such as they have, is without power, as it is without practice. ”

“ In the Andes fashions change not with time, but with place. In Inca days each district had its own distinctive garb, or at least head-gear, a custom which was strictly enforced in colonial times, in order that Indians belonging to one province might not escape compulsory labor by going to another. What a convenience it would be in our own land if we could recognize each man’s place of birth by the shape or color of his derby! The bonnets of Ayacucho are hard to believe. ”

“ Altogether it is an admirable society, and I strenuously advise all inhabitants of Antigua, whose ideas are not absolutely tied down to “profit and loss,” to become members; they cannot spend their spare money more agreeably, nor while away their leisure to better purpose. ”

“ For the particulars of this case, I am indebted to an old man well known in Antigua. He bears the burthen of eighty-six years, and is still as active and strong as many a one only half that age. I heard him speak very highly of our late gracious majesty William IV., who, when he was in the navy, visited Antigua for some time. “Prince Henry was a good young gentleman, God bless his memory!” cried the old man. “I used to wait upon him, and have often heard him speak of what good he would do, should he ever come to the throne. He has spared many a black person a good flogging. ”

“ To resume our description of these ancient possessors of Antigua​—​these warlike Caribs. Vanity is a passion which to a greater or lesser degree pervades the breast of almost every mortal, and the savage in his native wilds feels the force of it in the same manner, although, perhaps, not to the same extent, as the giddy fair who whirls round the vortex of dissipation within the purlieus of May Fair. When first discovered by the Spaniards, the Caribs were habited in different fashions ”

“ The first physician in Antigua is a Dr. F., a man of versatile and brilliant talents​—​an able logician, well versed in polite literature, of energetic manner, and, what is above all, possessed of deep, heart-felt philanthropy, based upon that golden maxim, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
Some of the proprietors’ dwellings, situated upon their several estates, in the most cultivated parts of the island, are mansions which would not disgrace the parks of our English country gentlemen. ”

“ Just at the termination of the first descent is one of the sweetest spots in Antigua. It is one of tranquillity and repose. The fierce beams of the sun are excluded by the umbrageous foliage of the trees, around whose trunks various creepers entwine themselves, and throw their slender limbs from one to the other of these
“Green-robed senators of mighty woods,”
forming many beauteous alcoves, carpeted with the lowlier flowers; whilst the “purple wreath” hangs its tasseled blossoms on all sides, and gives an air of lightness to the whole. ”

“ All along down the mountain and over the burning plain of Darien to the very threshold of Antigua, the Spaniards fought a hidden foe, who never offered pitched battle, but so harassed them that ofttimes they were on the point of throwing away their heavy plates of gold, and lying down to die from thirst, hunger, and exhaustion. Nevertheless they arrived at Antigua with many slaves and much treasure.
All this time Vasco Nuñez was left in the background; and while such dastardly doings were in order it was as well for every honorable man to remain unoccupied. ”

“ It was not long, however, before this fair prospect of colonial happiness changed; and the governor, by his arbitrary behaviour, forfeited all claims to the good feeling and respect of the inhabitants. One of the earliest offences Colonel Parke gave the Antiguans, was his making a low man he brought to the island with him a member of the assembly. Being a vulgar man, he delighted in vulgar associates; and becoming acquainted with a private named Ayon, belonging to a regiment of foot stationed in Antigua, he prevailed upon the governor to appoint him provost- marshal. ”