CHAPTER VI.

SOUTH AMERICA.

(ETAT. 20-24.)

La Guayra-Caraccas - Proposed Breakwater and Pier at La Guayra - Survey for Railroad between La Guayra and Caraccas Santa Fé de Bogota-Mariquita-Life on the Magdalena- Explores the Country Road between the Magdalena and the Mines - Santa Ana-Descriptions of Scenery - Arrival of the Cornish Miners— Insubordination of Miners-Friends, Pursuits, and Studies- Inclination and Duty Disappointment of the Directors-Their Secretary.

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ANDING in La Guayra on July 23, 1824, Robert Stephenson had to direct his attention to three important affairs and report thereon to Messrs. Herring, Graham, and Powles-the propriety of constructing a breakwater before the harbour of La Guayra, the cost and policy of building a pier for the same port, and the possibility of uniting La Guayra and Caraccas by a line of railway.

His reports on these three propositions were full and decisive. Having ascertained the characteristics of the harbour, the nature and declivity of the bottom of the shore, and the direction and force of the seas at different seasons, he pronounced that the construction of the breakwater would be a dangerous experiment.

A correct idea of the seas (he wrote) sometimes experienced in this port cannot well be conveyed by description.

One

circumstance, however, which may give some idea of their force is worthy of remark. It occurred during a storm last year, when a number of ships were wrecked. A large block of stone, upwards of two tons weight, measuring about eight feet long, four feet broad, and one foot thick, was thrown up by the waves four feet above the usual level of the sea, and such was the violence with which it was projected, that on its coming in contact with the other fragments of rocks on the shore, it was divided into two pieces, one of which now lies considerably out of the reach of ordinary seas. It is very remarkable that during the storm to which I have just now alluded, scarcely a breath of wind prevailed, while the sea raged with such violence as to drive every ship in the harbour from her anchors, and several were wrecked on the coast. The cause of this extraordinary phenomenon is yet unknown to us. It is not improbable that it was some branch of the Gulf Stream, modified by the conformation of the coast, the nature of the soundings, and many other circumstances combined, with which we are totally unacquainted.

Though he condemned the project of a breakwater, he advised the construction of a pier; and in support of this counsel he gave returns of the imports and exports of the harbour, the amount annually raised for wharfage of goods, and the insufficiency of the existing pier for the business of the port. The cost of such a pier as he advised (140 yards long and 24 feet wide at the top) would be £6,000, including the freight of workmen and of the necessary machinery to be sent out from England. The principal material of the structure would be the stone of the adjacent mountains, which could be conveyed by a short railroad to the site of the pier. In sinking the blocks of stone, he advised that care should be taken to 'give the pier a gradual slope on the seaward side, so that the waves might be completely broken, and consequently

their force almost totally extinguished, before reaching the body of the pier.'

When he came to consider the third and most important of the three propositions - the construction of a railway between La Guayra and Caraccas- the advantages likely to follow from the undertaking, and the natural obstacles to the work, caused him much anxious thought. The ground was very different from any on which he had ever seen rails laid. Mounting a mule, he surveyed the road between the two towns, and found it a wonderful example of human industry not of human skill.' The ascents and descents were so precipitous that he wondered how his brute contrived to keep on its legs.

To give you an idea (he wrote to his father) of the trouble I have already had in seeking for a new road, and the trouble I shall yet have, would be an impossibility. You may attempt to conceive it by imagining to yourself a country, the whole surface of which, as far as the eye can reach, is thickly set with hills, several thousand feet high, from six to eight times as large as Brusselton Hill. There is a valley, however, which extends the whole way nearly between La Guayra and Caraccas, up which I think is the only situation we could get a good road; but even in this valley there are hills as high as Brusselton. I dare not attempt any tunnelling, because the first earthquake· and there is no knowing how soon it may come - would close it up, or at all events render it useless. This circumstance, you will agree with me, puts tunnelling out of the question. And to make any very extensive excavations with high sides would prove equally fatal on the occurrence of an earthquake.

As he rode up the valley of Caraccas, with mountains on either side, he saw that to put down a colliery tramway in Northumberland, and to lead a line of rails through such a ravine, were widely different tasks.

Having thoroughly examined the proposed line, he came to the conclusion that, with everything in his favour, he could lay down the contemplated railway for about £160,000. The great risks, however, that would attend the operations made him see that speculators would not embark their money in the affair unless there was a probability of at least a 10 per cent. dividend. The annual goods traffic between La Guayra and Caraccas did not amount to more than 5,571 tons. Therefore, if the road were made and opened, Robert Stephenson could not see his way to more than £14,180 profit on each year's transactions - an annual revenue that would only pay 10 per cent. on a capital of £140,000. Against the probability that the estimated £160,000 would be exceeded, he put the fact, that large quantities of goods, of which he could get no returns, were annually conveyed between the two towns. Again, traffic would be augmented by the stimulus which a railway would give to commerce and agriculture. The question admitted of much debate; but Robert Stephenson, with that prudence which preserved him in after life from brilliant indiscretions, concluded his report with saying: 'I think it would not be prudent at the present moment to commence the speculation.'

Whilst he was thus engaged at La Guayra and Caraccas, the miners with whom he had come out from Liverpool went on to Carthagena, and thence along the River Magdalena.

As soon as he could get away from Caraccas, he mounted his mule, and, accompanied by a black servant and by Mr. Walker, the interpreter to the expedition, proceeded across the country to Santa Fé de Bogota.

The journey was one of fatigue and peril. Cut-throats and ruffians were numerous in the country; but being well armed, Robert Stephenson went his way unconcerned. He was very anxious to reach Mariquita, near which place the principal mines of the Colombian Association were situated; but the nature of his duties forced him to travel slowly. Messrs. Herring, Graham, and Powles had instructed him to examine the mineralogical characteristics of the country in every direction; and in spite of the care he took to conceal the object of his journey, it soon leaked out that he was the engineer of a new mining company, and daily he was accosted by strangers, ready to mislead him with false information. More than once he was induced, by misrepresentations, to ride a hundred miles after a mare's nest. On one occasion he spent several days in following a guide, who promised to bring him to a fissure in a rock abounding with quicksilver. On reaching the spot the quicksilver was there; and he could not account for its presence, till a former governor of the district told him that a bullock-wagon loaded with quicksilver had, some years before, been upset in that spot. On reaching Bogota, however, he wrote to his father on January 19, 1825, expressing great confidence in the mineral wealth of the country.

Having reached Mariquita, he forthwith proceeded to examine the mines of the surrounding country. On every side he found workings; some of which had evidently been deserted because they offered no prospect of gain, whilst the appearance of the others induced a belief that scarcity of labour and capital, during the revolutionary struggles of the country, had been the sole reason for leaving them.