Some Notes on Venezuela 



/ 



York,* to make the first comprehensive 

 and general collection of jade. The 

 Bishop collection recently presented to 

 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 



* On December 10, 1902, since this article 

 was written, Mr. Bishop died at his residence 

 in New York City. By the terms of his will 

 ample provision has been made for the preser- 

 vation of his famous collection in a special 

 room of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 



that city embraces every variety of the 

 stone, and includes examples by pre- 

 historic and primitive jade workers as 

 well as the greatest gem-cutters of the 

 Mogul and Chinese courts. Years of 

 work have been devoted to the descrip- 

 tive catalogue of this collection, which 

 will be the authoritative work on the 

 subject. 



SOME NOTES ON VENEZUELA 



VENEZUELA was the first part of 

 the American continent sighted 

 by Columbus. During his third 

 voyage, in 1498, he first saw the coast 

 from the Island of Trinidad, and thought 

 that it was another island ; but the fresh 

 water of the Gulf of Paria, whose shores 

 he coasted for several weeks, soon con- 

 vinced him that great continental rivers 

 were pouring into the gulf, and that the 

 vast Asiatic continent at last stretched 

 before him. Sickness prevented him 

 from making extended explorations of 

 the coast and sent him back to Hispan- 

 iola. 



The following year Alonzo de Ojeda, 

 accompanied by the celebrated Amerigo 

 Vespucci, traced a greater extent of the 

 Venezuelan coast. It was Ojeda who 

 gave the country its present name — 

 Venezuela.* 



' ' Proceeding along the coast, he ar- 

 rived at a vast, deep gulf resembling a 

 tranquil lake, entering which he beheld 

 on the eastern side a village, the con- 

 struction of which struck him with sur- 

 prise. It consisted of twenty large 

 houses shaped like bells and built on 

 piles driven into the bottom of the lake, 

 which in this part was limpid and of 



* Washington Irving : " Life and Voyages of 

 Christopher Columbus and the Voyages and 

 Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus." 

 Five vols. Vol. IV, p. 166. G. P. Putnam's 

 Sons, New York. 



little depth. Each house was provided 

 with a drawbridge and with canoes, by 

 which communication was carried on. 

 From these resemblances to the Italian 

 city, Ojeda gave to the bay the name of 

 the Gulf of Venice, and it is called to 

 the present day Venezuela, or Little 

 Venice. The Indian name was Coqui- 

 bacoa." 



After a small skirmish Ojeda ' ' sent a ' 

 detachment of twenty-seven Spaniards 

 on a visit to the interior. For nine days 

 they were conducted from town to town 

 and feasted and almost idolized by the 

 Indians, who regarded them as angelic 

 beings, performing their natural dances 

 and games and chanting their tradi- 

 tional ballads for their entertainment. 



' ' The natives of this part were dis- 

 tinguished for the symmetry of their 

 forms; the females in particular ap- 

 peared to the Spaniards to surpass all 

 they had yet beheld in the New World 

 for grace and beauty. Neither did the 

 men display in the least degree that 

 jealousy which prevailed in the other 

 parts of the coast. 



" By the time the Spaniards set out 

 on their return to the ship the whole 

 country was aroused, pouring forth its 

 population, male and female, to do them 

 honor. Some bore them in litters or 

 hammocks, that they might not be 

 fatigued with the journey, and happy 

 was the Indian who had the honor of 



