Jl-KE I, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



419 



Up the Orinoco. 



By the Editor of ■'The India Rubber World.' 



Columbus and Sir Walter Raleigh. — Views of Other Travellers. — Aboard a 

 Stern-Wheeler. — Crossing the Gulf of Paria. — Daybreak on the Great River. — 

 Birds and Beasts. — Barrancas. — Gtiayana la Vieja. — San Felix, the Balata 

 Port. — Ashore at Ciudad Bolivar. — The Great Balata Territory. — Gathering, 

 Coagulating and Shipping Balata. — Rubber in the Alto Orinoco. Two New 

 Kinds of Rubber. 



COLUMBUS, sailing into the mouth of the Orinoco, believed 

 that he had at last found the site of the Garden of Eden. 

 Sir Walter Raleigh, going further up the great river, went 

 on record that here was to be found the famed El Dorado. 

 Travellers since then have, as a rule, not only been out of sym- 



The Lower Orinoco. 



patliy with the two romantic and distinguished gentlemen above 

 quoted, but have gone to the other extreme. The Orinoco has 

 been pilloried as a miasmatic, mosquito-infested, fever-ridden, 

 tropical inferno. As for the country through which it runs, 

 revolution, oppressions and hardships are in the main the burden 

 of their narratives. The fact is one's experiences, good or bad, 

 depend upon the individual, his preparation and his fitness for 



San Felix, the Gre.\t Bai..^ta Port. 



such a journey. It is possible to be very uncomfortable, to get 

 fever, to get into trouble. It is equally possible to make the 

 journey and suffer not the slightest hardship and enjoy perfect 

 health all of the time. 



To go coinfcrtably, one should leave ail extraneous baggage 

 behind, forget former impressions of the great river and of 

 Venezuela, and get on terms of friendship with one or more 

 Venezuelan officials. Then it is easy, interesting— nay, fascinating. 



Those who have been in the gulf of Paria, and have visited 

 Trinidad, have noted occasional, huge double-decked, light- 

 draught steamboats of the type once used on the Mississippi — 



The Orinoco Steamer "Delta." 



"stern-wheelers." These are Orinoco boats, and it was upon one 

 of these. The Delia, that we embarked, provided with tickets, 

 that looked like ornate stock certificates, and armed with a decla- 

 ration vised by the Venezuelan consul, that our luggage contained 

 only articles for personal use. The lower deck we soon dis- 

 covered was for baggage and the hammocks of the second-class 

 passengers ; the next contained the dining saloon, a well-stocked 

 "cantina," and some twenty large staterooms. This deck was 

 roofed in, but was open at the ends, and a door at each end of 

 the staterooms, together with skylights in abundance, gave fine 

 ventilation and a promise of coolness. 



As usual, when it was time to start a late boatload hove in 

 sight and we waited ; then after a pause came a later boat ; 



Barrancas. 



then in frantic haste the latest boat— and then some more. 

 Finally the anchor came up, crusted with sticky clay, and two 

 deck hands with hose and a stiff brush spent half an hour clean- 

 ing it while we drifted. At last there came a clanging of bells, 

 and the big boat sedately kicked up her heels and started. 



Night fell while we were still ploughing the murky waters 

 of the gulf, and as there was absolutely nothing to do, we went 

 to bed. There were bolts on the stateroom doors, but they 



