Cartago

“ Cartagena in Colombia was named after Cartagena in Spain, as the Spanish city, founded by Hasdrubal as an outpost to serve in future Punic campaigns, was named from the celebrated Tyrian emporium that was so long the rival of Rome. And when the sons of the Caribbean Carthage sailed up the Cauca to establish new colonies and extend the sphere of Spanish influence and enterprise, they commemorated their triumph, and exhibited their [382] loyalty to the land of their birth, by founding still another Carthage—the Cartago of the Upper Cauca. ”

“ We were, of course, anxious not to stay an hour longer at Cartago than was necessary; and yet it might seem strange to the inhabitants that an Englishman, travelling for the sake of amusement, should not wish to remain a sufficient time in the town even to form a correct opinion of it. The posada was a wretched one, but there were few people in it. The old woman who kept it declared that the Spaniards had carried off all her property; indeed, except a few red earthenware plates, I could see nothing on which our supper could be served. ”

“ The interval since the last calamity, when the city of Cartago was destroyed, has been forty years—so long that the next entertainment is expected to be one of unusual interest; and as no announcements are made in the newspapers, the people are always in a solemn state of uncertainty whether they will awake in a pile of brimstone and ashes or under their ponchos as usual. ”

“ Entries have been found in the records of Cartago dated in 1598, which show it to be the oldest city in Central America. Coming from San José, its appearance was that of an ancient city. The churches were large and imposing; the houses had yard-walls as high as themselves; and its quiet was extraordinary. We rode up a very long street without seeing a single person, and the cross-streets, extending to a great distance both ways, were desolate. A single horseman crossing at some distance was an object to fix our attention. ”

“ Its climate is warm, but healthy, and its population very widely scattered. Cartago, the ancient [2] capital, is situated in about 9° 10' north latitude, and 82° 46' west long. 400 leagues east, south-east, from Guatimala, thirty leagues from the Atlantic, and thirty from the Pacific. It has about 8000 inhabitants. This state decreed its constitution on the 21st of January, 1825. From the period of the publication of the basis on which the new government was to be founded, the constituent assembly continued its sittings, and on the twenty-second of November, 1824, presented its constitution. ”

“ The town seemed never to have seen a foreigner before. Perhaps travelers hitherto had all gone by way of Pereira. When I attempted to take a picture, the entire population, men, women, and the very babies, crowded so close around me that I could not fight them back to a focal distance.
Like those of the days of Shakespeare, the theater of Cartago consists of a stage—of split bamboo, with a tile roof—inside the patio of the “hotel.” The more expensive seats are chairs in the balcony of the second story; the populace stands in the barnyard ”

“ So bad was the reputation of the Matina valley in this respect that people, as the Costa Rican writer, Don Ricardo F. Guardia, informs us in his Cuentos Ticos, “used to confess and make their wills when they went to Matina, to the famous Matina which inspires fear in men and madness in mules,8 as they used to say in those days when men were braver and mules better.”—
Cartago—how often this Carthaginian name recurs in this part of the world!—is a delightful place nearly a mile above sea level, with a population of about seven thousand souls. ”

“ There are hot mineral springs much frequented by invalids at Bella Vista, a suburb connected with the town by a tramway 3 m. long. The local trade is chiefly in coffee of fine quality, which is readily cultivated in the rich volcanic soil of the neighbourhood. Cartago is said to have been in existence as early as 1522 ”

“ Costa Rica is a peace-loving little state, prosperous, and enjoying a delightful climate. Much coffee and cocoa is grown, shaded by the Bois immortel or madre de Cacao. The live-stock industry is also a large one, and the animals seen on the high grassy plains are well grown [Pg 275] and apparently well bred enough. I visited Cartago, a city which soon afterwards was destroyed by an earthquake.
On the railroad trip up to and back from the capital we passed through lovely and romantic scenery, high hills, deep ravines and virgin tropical forest. ”

“ To give an idea of the situation: Cartago's deputies were three clergymen, Peralta, Campo, and Carazo. Heredia also sent the priest Flores. If the senators must be still more grave and circumspect, where could they be procured? Montúfar, Reseña Hist., v. 173.
[XI-47] His successor was Juan Mora.
[XI-48] Costa R., Col. L., viii. 352-3, 384-5.
[XI-49] He was a native of Cartago; a man of elegant manners, cultured without affectation, well informed on general subjects, and a highly respected citizen. ”

“ The way lay through a rich and finely-cultivated country. The whole of this is now called the valley of San José, and consists, in truth, of a broad plateau, diversified by moderate hills and valleys, but all being at a considerable height; that is, from three to four thousand feet above the sea. The road also is fairly good; so good that a species of omnibus runs on it daily, there being some considerable traffic between the places; for Cartago is the second town in the republic. ”

“ In 1562 Juan Vasquez de Coronado was named Alcalde and Mayor of the Province of Costa Rica and Veragua. He founded the City of Cartago which remained the capital until 1823.
Up to 1622 fifteen governors succeeded Vasquez, but disappointed in their efforts to find gold, to enslave the Indian population, or to make the country prosperous, they allowed it to lapse into a barbarism far worse than it was at the time of its discovery. ”

“ Some of these Indians have bows and arrows, but they are not dexterous in their use, and do little harm with them. They have slings with which they throw stones with{82} great force. The men are of middle height, the women the same, and some of them good looking. Leaving this province, in the direction of the city of Cartago, we next came to the province of Carrapa, which is not very distant, and is rich and populous. ”

“ Colombia to within a few miles of Brito. The entire country may properly be divided into two distinctive groups by a natural line running between the mouths of the Reventazon and Rio Grande de Pirris; groups which can be called “volcanic mountains” or “mountains of the northwest,” and “Talamanca mountains” or “mountains of the southeast.” It is clear that the Caribbean Sea once joined the Pacific Ocean through this valley of the river Reventazon in which the Costa Rica Railway now climbs to reach Cartago. ”

“ If the republic in many of its features cannot compare for sheer interest with its neighbours, it has yet a commanding claim to the attention of antiquarians, for it possesses the city of Cartagena, which was the most ancient and strongest of the Spanish power in South America. The renown of the city’s prototype in Spain, itself inheriting the name of the still more ancient and famous colony, Carthage, was transplanted to the New World, and for two centuries it enjoyed the esteem of the whole maritime world. Its sun-bleached walls still endure, stern relics of the power of Spain. ”

“ Although the city stands upon flat ground, it has a magnificent panorama of undulating hills spread before it. Innumerable islets, bays, and capes fill the great harbour, and as the steamer makes its way across the smooth waters it passes many of the loveliest bits of tropical scenery to be found anywhere. Cartagena formerly possessed untold wealth; rich and powerful merchants prospered within its protecting walls. Its fame was world-wide, and attracted the unwelcome attentions of the pirates, adventurers, and privateers of the sixteenth century. ”

“ I am a Colombian, from Cartagena. Yes, my dear mother and father they died in Cartagena, and my uncle he lives there now.”
“Cartagena?” echoed Richard Cary, his pulse beating faster. “Did you really come from that old town? And you know it well?”
“Better than any other place, you bet,” cried Teresa Fernandez, her rounded shoulder touching Cary’s arm. “This Cartagena—poof! she is too old and dead, you understand. Plenty of big walls and forts and plazas for the tourists to see, but it is not up-to-date, not one little bit. Hot and stupid! Lots of people there, but they are too slow. ”

“ The women of Cartagena, the half-breeds, mulattoes, and octoroons, are tall and lithe, often very handsome, resembling the types of Martinique more than those of the English islands of the Caribbean. The whites so called and coloured people mix freely with one another, and no defined colour-line seems to exist. In Cartagena the old order is loath to give place to the new, although in many cases new uses have been found for old buildings. Erstwhile forts are now common dwellings; stately buildings have been turned into shops and warehouses, churches and chapels into stables. ”

“ And what an eventful story is that of the Caribbean Cartagena! What changes has she not witnessed! What fortunes of war has she not experienced! What disasters has she not suffered! Like her African prototype, whose very strength caused her rival on the Tiber to decree her downfall, Cartagena seemed to be singled out for attack by all the enemies of Spain for long generations. Her cyclopean walls, that seemed to render her impregnable, did not save her. Time and again she was assaulted by pirates and buccaneers, who levied heavy tributes and carried off booty of inestimable value. ”

“ Let me tell you, messieurs, that two years ago I made a survey of Cartagena as a preliminary to raiding it. I came hither with some friendly trading Indians, myself disguised as an Indian, and in that guise I spent a week in the city and studied carefully all its approaches. On the side of the sea where it looks so temptingly open to assault, there is shoal water for over half a mile out—far enough out, I assure you, to ensure that no ship shall come within bombarding range of it. It is not safe to venture nearer land than three quarters of a mile. ”

“ Steaming slowly through the placid lagoon, the Tarragona found a circuitous path to Cartagena. The wharf, the corrugated iron cargo sheds, the railway tracks, were ugly and modern. Looking away from them, however, one saw only the stately seaport of the vanished centuries. Behind its ramparts the galleried streets and shaded plazas drowsed through the heat of the day until the breeze came sweeping from the sea with the setting sun.
The Tarragona had much freight to discharge before resuming the voyage to Santa Marta and filling her holds with bananas. ”

“ CARTAGENA, or Carthagena, a city, seaport, and the capital of the department of Bolívar, Colombia, South America, on the Caribbean coast, in 10° 25′ 48′′ N., 75° 34′ W. Pop. (1905, official estimate) 14,000. The population of Cartagena is largely composed of blacks and mixed races, which form the predominant type on the lowland plains of northern Colombia. The well-to-do whites of Cartagena usually have country houses on the Turbaco hills, where the temperature is much lower than on the coast. ”

“ Another fort defends this second passage. East and north of Cartagena lies the mainland, which may be left out of account. But to the west and northwest this city, so well guarded on every other side, lies directly open to the sea. It stands back beyond a half-mile of beach, and besides this and the stout Walls which fortify it, would appear to have no other defences. But those appearances are deceptive, and they had utterly deceived M. de Rivarol, when he devised his plan. ”

“ Next, the Greeks swooped down and planted colonies, rivalry between the two races precipitating the fierce conflict between their respective allies, the Carthaginians and the Romans. New Carthage, or Cartagena, was founded by Hasdrubal; his son made it the starting-place of his famous march to Rome. The city made a brave resistance to Scipio, and its fall marked the downfall of the Carthaginian in Spain.
As an outpost of the Roman Empire this district was one of the first abandoned to the attacks of the barbarians. ”

“ Of course I want to hear the news—”
“As they say, you stood this city on its head,” shrilly chuckled Ramon Bazán. “Revolutions have begun with less disturbance in some of our hot little republics of the Caribbean. Rumors flew about until your exploits were frightful. The children of Cartagena have never been so obedient to their parents. All they have to be told is that El Tigre Amarillo Grande, the Great Yellow Tiger, will catch them if they are naughty. ”

“ The curious little nautilus, or Portuguese man-of-war, is very common in these waters, and can be seen in quantities sailing along the surface with their crude-magenta membranes extended to the breeze. Cartagena de Indias, a city of narrow streets, high houses and massive ramparts, is a curious piece of seventeenth-century Spain to find transplanted to the Tropics. I imagine that all its inhabitants, by the law of the survival of the fittest, must be immune from fever, which is certainly not the case in that most unattractive spot Colon. ”