No. 427. last few years by the Governor of Esquivo, so as to prevent the desertion of the Esquivo colony slaves and avoid any assault from the Caribs against the Esquivos or neighboring Spanish friends, that they had no other purpose, as it was shown by chapter five of the instructions they had; that the knives and other articles found with them were intended. for the purchase of victuals; that the Spaniards killed and wounded might have been shot by the Spaniards themselves, as they could not shoot; that the Guard where they were found is called Cuiba, near the banks of the Cuyuni river; that they had made no purchase of Poytos for merchandise; that the distance from that Guard to Esquivo is short; that he did not know whether that place was within the jurisdiction of Esquivo, but that said Post had been kept there for a few years; that the land was not fit for farms, as it was marshy. That the Post that Gravesand said to have been seized by the Spaniards near a rivulet towards the south of the Guayne river, between this and Povaron, where it was supposed that the Company had had from time immemorial a place of commerce and a Post depending without contradiction from the territory of the republic, the exponent supposes that it may be the one that the intruded Hollanders abandoned at the Barima river in the year 1768, when they ascertained through the Caribs, their friends, that our launches as corsairs were searching said river, as one of the most important emptying into the Orinoco, although he (Gravesande) tries to diminish its importance, calling it a rivulet; and that he did not dare call said river by its name, fearing to appear as an usurper, and to that end he feigned so poor a memory as to call immemorial an establishment hardly two years old, as it is shown in part No. 3. 72. From this part it appears that the Commander of Guayana was informed that several Dutch families had settled at the Barima creek within our jurisdiction near the large mouth of the Orinoco; that he sent a Captain with a launch and the corresponding crew, with directions to notify said families once, twice, and three times to remove their settlements from there, as that place did not belong to nor was within the territory of the States General, but was under Spain; that the Captain, in compliance with his commission, went and came back from that place, bringing several articles from the houses left by the families; that said articles were enumerated in a regular list and appraised and sold at auction after being proclaimed, and the proceeds distributed according to the Royal regulations; that said Captain and three of the persons of the crew made their affidavits, showing that after the receipt by the Commander General of Guayana of a report that at the aforesaid creek of Barima close to the large mouth of the Orinoco river, where it empties, some Dutch families had settled, they had been sent, said Captain and crew, with instructions to notify them one, two and three times to leave that territory that was No. 427. annexed to the Province of Guayana; that the exponents left for their destination, at the creek, and having reached its mouth saw there several Indians of the Carib tribe, and that these spread the news of their approach before reaching the establishments and farms of said strangers, who ran away, allowing no time for any notification; that the houses were found abandoned, and the effects, iron implements, and utensils found in them. were taken under an inventory and shipped on board of their two vessels; that they afterwards set fire to the houses so as to prevent their re-establishment, and destroyed as far as possible the farms around. 73. Continuing his representations, said Commander of Guayana showed that the Spaniards had never disputed then or at any time with the Dutch about fishing at the mouths of the Orinoco, because they (the Dutch) had never claimed the right to fish there; that during the three years elapsed since the time when he commenced to employ armed launches as corsairs in this river twenty-three foreign vessels had been seized, but none of them were employed in fishing; that they had not seen or even heard any report of the possession by the Hollanders of the fishing rights as it appeared by the part No. 1, as already mentioned; that he had found only an instance of a seizure by Spaniards in the year 1760 of a small schooner and two Dutch fishing launches at the mouth of the Orinoco and Barima river, as it appears by the part No. 4; that he was of the opinion that they ought to be prevented from fishing there, as said fishing might degenerate into an illicit trade, difficult to stop and too injurious to the Spanish Provinces. 74. It appears by said part No. 4 that the Commander of Guayana, after having received intelligence that a few Hollanders near Barima were carrying on the inhuman and illicit commerce of purchasing Indians in trade for merchandise from the Caribs, issued his order of the 7th of September, 1760, instructing the Lieutenant of Infantry, Don Juan de Dios y Flores, to prevent said traffic; that said lieutenant left, but did not reach the place of his destination, on account of having seized, on his way, a schooner and two Dutch launches that came to Orinoco for the purpose of fishing; that he brought said vessels to the port of Santo Thome of Guayana, where they were visited as prizes and an inventory made; that a local investigation was instituted, by which it appears that said lieutenant and his crew seized the above-mentioned vessels, on account of their being employed in fishing at the Orinoco; that their crews fled with the exception of a mustee and a few Arauca Indians; that the reason for not having reached the place of destination was on account of being short of hands, and that it was natural to suppose that the Hollanders whom they were after, had received news of their approach and left; that it was shown by the confessions of the persons arrested in the vessels seized; that the vessels were Dutch, on their way to fish in the Orinoco; that there were several Hollanders at Barima purchasing Poytos; that the Commander ordered the arrest of the mustee, and the other No. 427. Indians to be sent to the Missions; that, by direction of the Commander General of Cumana, the other parties were apprized with their appurtenances and sold at public auction, distributing all the proceeds, according to the Royal regulations. 85. That in the Royal order his report was wanted on the matter, for the notice of his Majesty, and he had to observe that in all countries the sea coasts were most precious, as without them the productions inland were useless for the countries beyond the sea; that in the vast Province of Guayana, so fertile and advantageously situated, all the coasts were occupied by strangers, remaining only to the Spaniards, on one extremity, the mouth of the Orinoco as a sea port; that the Hollanders possessed those parts of the coast of most importance to that vast country, having many navigable rivers running from the innermost and most profitable part of Guayana; that it was therefore advisable to destroy the Dutch Colonies, beginning at Esquivo and following to Demerari, Berbis, Corentin up to Surinam; that the exponent thought of two proper ways, that the second way to accomplish such an end was to keep in said Province a standing battalion of Infantry to watch and verify the frontiers and rivers emptying into the Esquivo, the building of strongholds that even when projected had frightened the Hollanders. * * * That among the fortresses above mentioned, one ought to be at the point of Barima, at the windward of the mouth of Navios, in a northerly direction, with a high wooden house of the same kind of the balize at the entrance of the Mississippi, as the land is swampy and low; that from said establishment we would be enabled to keep a close watch on the Hollanders and stop them in their illicit trade, keeping a constant lookout at the Barima river, the chief avenue of communication between the Esequivo Colony and the Orinoco; * * * by holding a Post at Barima Point, that of the Hollanders at Moruca would become useless, for the purpose of preventing the escape of their Indian Poytos or other slaves arresting their pursuers, who sometimes were bound to come as far as the Orinoco, when they knew that the Spaniards were at 49 leagues from the mouth. 87. This part, No. 8, is confined to a certificate given at the city of San Thomé, of Guayana, on the 20th of September, 1769, by Don Juan No. 427. Josef Canales, an Ecclesiastical Rector, Vicar, and Judge of that city; Don Andres Oleaga, Royal Accomptant of the same; Don Josef Bosse, Captain of Infantry and Sergeant Major of the Orinoco troops; Don Juan Antonio Bonalde, Captain of Infantry of the same troop; Don Nicolas Martinez, Lieutenant Commander of Artillery; Don Antonio Barreto, Lieutenant of Infantry and Chief Adjutant of the same; and the resident officers and civilians, Captain Don Vicente Franco, Captain Don Diego Ignacio Mariño, Lieutenant Don Juan de Jesus Miers, Don Joaquin de Mieres, Don Cayetano Filgueyra y Barcia, and Captain Calixto de Lesama. It appears by the certificates of all the above persons that Don Manuel Centurion Guerrero de Torres, Royal Captain of the Artillery Corps, and General Commander of Guayana and all the settlements of the upper and lower Orinoco and Rio Negro, had endeavored and was endeavoring, with the utmost diligence and constance, to secure the advancement and welfare of that Province and their neighbors, and ** that he dislodged, likewise, from the Barima river the usurping Hollanders, who had settled on its margins, in alliance with over eight thousand Carib Indians. * That he had erected a small fort furnished with artillery, served by eight soldiers, for the defence of a new Indian settlement at the Caura river, the theatre of the inhuman war kept up by the Caribs in order to carry out their infamous traffic in Poyto Indian slaves, whom they sold to the Esquivo Hollanders; that he had likewise explored the large cocoa fields of the upper Orinoco, and that in order to improve the culture and commerce of said products he had undertaken the civilization and settlement of the savage Indians of those territories, supporting and keeping there a Captain settler and some Andalusian Capuchin Missionaries, with an officer and military escort, taking them to Rio Negro, where they had settled new towns and the Missions of La Esmeralda, San Philipe, San Francisco Solano, and Santa Barbara, and supported those of San Carlos and Maypures, founded by the boundary expedition; that he had likewise trained, disciplined, and dressed in uniforms all the troops of that Province, which had been found in a wretched condition of neglect and nudity for want of economy on the part of the Directors; that he had gathered and brought to the settlement of Pan de Azucar, the dispersed Indians, fugitives from the Mission of Cabruta, and those of the Province of Barcelona in the new settlements of Tapaquire, and Cerro del Mono; that he had founded the three new Missions of Panapana, and Mamanta, and Orocopiche, in the neighborhood of Guayana, at a distance of two or three leagues from its commerce and support; that he had commenced and was carrying on with the greatest activity the erection of a magnificent church in Guayana, on a model architecture such as few could be found in America. No. 427. That he had founded a town, under the name of Bourbon, with Spanish families, from the Province of New Barcelona, without taxing the King for rations for their maintenance during the first year, nor any other expenses, as it has been the case with other populations in former times; that he erected in the interior of that Province, at the Paragua river, a small fort furnished with artillery and troops for the defence of the place, and to prevent the Hollanders from taking away the Poytos they used to seize on the margin of the Orinoco, for the service of their Colonies on the Atlantic coast of that continent; that he had increased and improved that city with over sixty houses with tiled roofs and common walls, and the corresponding families brought from the neighboring Provinces to inhabit them, and enjoying conveniences which they did not possess at home or found among the inhabitants of Guayana; that the settlement of cattle ranches and towns settled by Spaniards on the upper Orinoco by order of His Majesty, and in all the new establishments and communities of Missionaries supported by the Commander General, the true zeal of the same was manifested, as well as the economical conduct of his government, and the generous disinterestedness he showed in his endeavors for the advancement of that Province, as well as the benefits to be derived by the Spanish Crown from the population, advancement, and safety of that extensive Province, so advantageousiy situated, as being the nearest from America to Spain, the constant trade that could be kept with those countries even in time of war, without any fear of the interception of their vessels by cruisers or corsairs of the enemy, as there was no obstacle or any fixed place to wait for them from the large mouth of the Orinoco to the Spanish shores. 89. That, in compliance, he reported that the only facts that he had ascertained to exist took place before the separation of the Province of Guayana from the Government of Cumana, and were brought about by the same Hollanders of the Esquivo Colony, close to the Missions of the Catalan Capuchins in said Province; that in the year 1758, the Governor ad interim, Don Nicolas de Castro, received a letter from the Prefect of said Missions informing the Commander of that fortress of the serious injury and the loss of lives at the hands of the Caribs of the desert, influenced by the Esquivo Hollanders, who had invaded the region of Hauchica, where the Guaica Indian Mission was established; that fearing greater evils to the surrounding settlements, he applied for a prompt. remedy, giving as the chief cause of these troubles the constant suggestions of the Hollanders in persuading the Caribs not to belong or make part of the Spanish settlements, thus fostering their dislike and opposition to their holy work, so as to continue the abominable trade they kept with the Caribs, giving them dry goods and iron implements in exchange for Indian Poytos (which means slaves among them), the same Poytos were taken by the Caribs as prisoners in their wars, so as to sell them to the above men |