Camarines

“ Camarines Sur contains more than five times as many inhabitants as Camarines Norte, although not very different in area. Their principal occupation is the cultivation of the extensive rice lands. They also produce some hemp and a little sugar. Large quantities of rice are exported to Manila, to Albay, and to Bisayas. Cattle are raised in the island of Buriás, which belongs to this province; it also produces some palm sugar. This province is much richer than either Tayabas or Camarines Norte. ”

“ Benefices and missions of the bishopric of Camarines, and the number of souls instructed therein.
In the bishopric of Camarines, whose seat is in the city of Caceres, there are at present only twelve or fifteen Spanish inhabitants, the alcalde-mayor, some few soldiers whom he takes with him, and the collectors of tribute for that province, all of whom do not number fifty men. They are ministered to in the cathedral by one secular priest, who has in charge two small villages near by, where live two hundred souls of the natives. ”

“ Almost all the people of Los Camarines pursue this handicraft. Close upon the province of Los Camarines and Bicor River are the mines of Paracali. As soon as the ships arrive, I shall try to effect a settlement near those mines with the people that may come, for I consider it a matter of importance for the service of your Majesty ”

“ Isolation of fertile regions.The north coast of Camarines, as I have frequently mentioned, is, during the north-east monsoon, almost unapproachable; while the south coast, screened by the outlying islands, remains always accessible. The most fertile districts of the eastern provinces, which during summer export their produce by the northern ports, in the winter often remain for months cut off from all communication with the chief town, because there is no road over the small strip of land to the south coast. ”

“ The natives of the province of Camarines partly devote themselves to the working of the mines of Mambulao and Paracale, which have the reputation of being very rich; but, far from availing themselves in the smallest degree of the advantages of art, they content themselves with extracting the ore by means of an extremely imperfect fusion, which is done by placing the mineral in shells and then heating them on embers. ”

“ The nations of the Bisayas and Pintados, who inhabit the provinces of Camarines in this island of Luzon, and those of Leyte, Samar, Panay, and other neighborhoods, came, I have heard, from the districts of Macasar, where it is said that Indians live who make designs on and tattoo the body, in the manner of our Pintados. ”

“ That village was colonized by Captain Don Juan de Arze at the order of Governor Francisco Sande.
That province is called Camarines and is very large and densely populated. It contains many small provinces in its confines. The people are well featured and are excellent husbandmen, and therefore they have considerable rice. There are many gold mines in that province and many excellent goldsmiths after their fashion. Those men roam throughout the island in order to gain their living. [387] Many interesting things made by them are taken to Mexico, especially filigree work. ”

“ In the mountains of Daractán, which extend from the lake of Bay to the east coast of the island of Luzón, they have several visitas and missions. In the province of Camarines, the convents and ministries of Naga, near the city of Nueva Cáceres, the seat of the vicar-provincial, together with Canaman, Quipayo, Milaod, Minalambang, Bula, Bao, Naboa, Iraya, Buhi, Liban, Polangui, Oas, Liyao, Guinobatan, Camarines, Cagsaua, and Ligmanan. ”

“ In the south Camarines, and in Negros, they will often come down to the coast towns, trading the wax and sweet potatoes of the mountains for sufficient rice to last them several days. They sometimes work a day or two in the adjacent hemp or rice fields, receiving for their labor a small measure of the rice. When they have eaten this, they fast until their hunger drives them down to work again. Their marriage relations are peculiar. While the father of the family has but one true wife, a number of women are dependent on him, widows or relatives who have attached themselves to him. ”

“ Later occurrences are that the province of Ylocos which is located in the northern part of this island of Luçon has been allotted in repartimientos, and we have sent men to colonize it. Another province located in the eastern part of this same island, called Camarines, has also been explored and pacified. The men are warlike and well armed for Indians; for they have corselets of buffalo hide, iron greaves, and helmets set with fishbones and stout shells, which no weapon except the arquebus can damage. ”

“ North Camarines is thinly inhabited, the population of the mining districts having removed after the many undertakings which were artificially called into existence by the mining mania had been ruined. The goldwashers are mostly dissolute and involved in debt, and continually expecting rich findings which but very seldom occur, and which, when they do occur, are forthwith dissipated;—a fact which will account for champagne and other articles of luxury being found in the shops of the very poor villagers. ”

“ Camiguin, Romblon and Camarines Norte got out of the list of poorest provinces in 2003. With tourism these provinces can become rich. ”

“ From 10° N. the frontier turns eastwards to the Logone, thence going north-east to the Shari river, which it follows to Lake Chad. The protectorate has an area of about 190,000 sq. m. Estimated population (1908) 3,500,000, of whom 1128 were whites.
Origin of the Name.—The name Camarões was first given by the Portuguese discoverers of the 15th and 16th centuries to a large bay or estuary, lying south-east of a great mountain close to the sea, met with after passing the Niger delta. ”

“ The greater part of Cameroon is thus a mountainous country, with, on the coast, a strip of low land. In the south this is very narrow; it widens towards the north save where the Cameroon peak reaches to the sea.
At the foot of the Cameroon peak a number of estuaries cut deep bays which form excellent harbours. The small rivers which empty into them can be ascended for some miles by steam launches. The principal estuary, which is over 20 m. wide, is called, as already noted, the Cameroon river or bay. ”

“ If you are not afraid of being known, there is a low black island on the Arabian coast called Camaran, it is in lat. 15° 39', and is distinguished by a white house, or fortress, on the west end of it, where you will procure excellent water, in greater plenty than at Azab; but no provisions, or only such as are very bad. If you should not wish to be seen, however, on the coast at all, among the chain of islands that reaches almost across the Gulf from Loheia to Masuah, there is one called Foosht, where there is good anchorage ”

“ In all the hills and plains and forests of this huge, amazing continent, from the Sahara to Kilima-Njaro, from the Niger to the Nile, there is no man more greatly to be feared than the Black Dog of the Cameroons. He knows neither pity nor fear. There is hardly a valley in these mountains with which he is not acquainted. Small wonder he discovered our hiding-place! He is a foe who cannot be despised. Single-handed he could keep an army of natives at bay. Almost every cartridge in his bandolier, almost every bullet in the chamber of his rifle, means the life's blood of a human being. ”

“ The middle zone of the Cameroon mountain has, however, a temperate climate and affords excellent sites for sanatoria.
Flora and Fauna.—The southern part of the low coast is chiefly grass land, while the river mouths and arms of the bays are lined with mangroves. The mountainous region is covered with primeval forest, in which timber and valuable woods for cabinet-making are plentiful. Most important are the Elaeis guineensis, Sterculia acuminata and the wild coffee tree. On Cameroon peak the forest ascends to 8000 ft.; above it is grass land. ”

“ All the natives are in arms, some purchased by rum by the Germans, others loyal to us. In the old days the Cameroon kings implored the British Government to take the country under its protection. In their own words, they wanted English laws. But the Government took no notice of them until it was too late, until the Germans had forestalled us and taken possession of the country, by buying over the chiefs. If you go into the bush, you run into a thousand dangers: yellow fever, malaria, even starvation, and the natives you encounter may sell you as prisoners to the Germans. ”

“ Joining the English possessions on the Gold Coast, two degrees north of the equator, are the German possessions of Kamerun, with high mountains and invigorating breezes; but the land at the foot is no more favorable to the European than the Guinea coast. One or two hundred miles in the interior of this part of the continent, the land rapidly rises to the tableland of equatorial Africa, rich and fertile, resembling the valley of the Kongo, possibly habitable by Europeans. ”

“ It is the chief town of the colony, and there are more white men there than elsewhere to buy them. It is not possible for a stranger to ascertain what part of the country a specimen is brought from. The native hunter will not tell the truth, lest some one else should find the game and thus deprive him of its capture and sale. I saw a specimen at Cameroon, and was told it had been captured in that valley, fifty miles from the coast; but I hunted up its history and found with absolute certainty that it was captured near Mayumba, two hundred miles south of Gaboon. ”

“ Probably nowhere in the world is to be seen a spot so desolate and so wretched. The village is planted at the extreme west angle of the Camargue. It can be reached by one road only, rough to travel over, and impracticable in winter. This road leaves Arles, or rather Trinquetailles, opposite Arles, traverses the marsh of the Grand Mar, follows the dyke of the river, and then threads its way among morasses, and over soil white with salt, and burning under the rays of the sun. ”

“ The same agreement settled a long-standing dispute between Spain and France as to the ownership of the district around the Muni river to be south of Cameroon, Spain securing a block of territory with a coast-line from the Campo river on the north to the Muni river on the south. The northern frontier is formed by the German Cameroon colony, the eastern by 11° 20′ E., and the southern by the first parallel of north latitude to its point of intersection with the Muni river. ”

“ And, as if in mockery, a mirage, born of those bitter tears, hovers on the horizon as the hot sun breeds an invisible vapour from which arise distant cities and a labyrinth of smooth lagoons that shimmer alluringly across the white solitude.
Such is the Camargue. The description, however, applies in strictness to the summer season. In winter the salt with which the ground is saturated is not visible; there is only a moist oozy-looking soil, growing reeds and stunted bushes. ”

“ Next I have memories of a long, lazy afternoon, when, embarked once more, we puffed and panted slowly upstream from Camaria, or else drifted in lazy silence on the bosom of the big sleepy river, whilst our out-board motor refused to function. The delightful blue hills on each bank of the Cuyuni seemed shouldering each other aside to catch a glimpse of the unaccustomed life ”

“ The former French Cameroon and part of British Cameroon merged in 1961 to form the present country. Cameroon has generally enjoyed stability, which has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, and railways, as well as a petroleum industry. Despite movement toward democratic reform, political power remains firmly in the hands of an ethnic oligarchy. ”

“ The natives round the Cameroon estuary are clever carvers of wood, and make highly ornamental figure heads for their canoes, which also sometimes show very fine workmanship. In the interior the people use the wild-growing cotton and fibres of plants to manufacture coarse drapery and plait-work. Plantations founded by German industry are fairly successful. Large reserves are set apart for the natives by government when marking off the land granted to plantation companies. ”

“ The most mountainous districts lie inland from the head of the Gulf of Guinea (Adamawa, &c.) , where heights of 6000 to 8000 ft. are reached. Exactly at the head of the gulf the great peak of the Cameroon, on a line of Volcanic action continued by the islands to the south-west, has a height of 13,370 ft., while Clarence Peak, in Fernando Po, the first of the line of islands, rises to over 9000. Towards the extreme west the Futa Jallon highlands form an important diverging point of rivers, but beyond this, as far as the Atlas chain, the elevated rim of the continent is almost wanting. ”

“ The markets most frequented by the English and American separate traders lay on the great middle stretches of the coast—Sierra Leone, the Grain Coast (Liberia) , the Ivory, Gold and Slave Coasts, the Oil Rivers as the Niger Delta was then called, Cameroon, Gaboon and Loango. The swarm of their ships was particularly great in the Gulf of Guinea upon whose shores the vast fan-shaped hinterland poured its exiles along converging lines. ”

“ If you see a man who seems to you to have a morbid caution in the method of dealing with his hat or folded dinner napkin, judge him not harshly, for the chances are he is from Cameroon, where there are scorpions—scorpions of great magnitude and tough constitutions, as was demonstrated by a little affair up here that occurred in a family I know.
The inhabitants of the French Ivory Coast are an exceedingly industrious and enterprising set of people in commercial matters, and the export and import trade is computed by a recent French authority at ten million [Pg 82] francs per annum. ”