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Appendix No. 9.
NETHERLANDS.
and Coppename, each the artery of comparatively populous regions, and at the mouth of the Corentyn is Nikari, a town of 2,300 inhabitants; but the town is decaying. The mouth of the river is shoal, and the sea is encroaching on the town.
Curaçao.
The Island of Curaçao is situated at a distance of 50 miles from the coast of Venezuela, and is little more than a bare rock, about 40 miles long by some 10 miles broad. Comparatively insignificant in respect of its products, it owes its importance to its position and subserviency to commerce.
Its shores are bold, and in some places deeply indented, forming several harbours, the principal of which are Santa Anna and Santa Barbara, on the west side of the island.
The chief town is Williamstadt, population 8,400, of which Santa Anna is the port. The town is large, and well provided with merchandize and manufactures of every description.
The population of the island is 24,000; its chief products cotton, indigo, tobacco, sugar, and brandy. A considerable portion of the island is pasture land, on which cattle are bred in large
numbers.
The island is deficient in water, and rain water, preserved in tanks, has largely to be depended on; there are, however, a few wells,
The chief export is salt.
The climate is healthy, and the thermometer ranges from 75° to 95° Fahrenheit.
The chief harbour, Santa Anna, is formed by a land-locked lagoon, which, though difficult of access, and only to be entered by day, affords a secure and convenient anchorage for vessels once they are inside; 300 of the largest class of ships can anchor safely, protected from the winds or from the enemy, and there are facilities for effecting repairs; thus a fleet defeated at sea can at once here find an asylum and be able to refit.
It is an excellent place to obtain provisions, which, with the exception of water, are plentiful and cheap.
The entrance to the inner harbour is formed by a deep channel, half a cable wide, between two low tongues of land, and is defended on the east side by Fort Amsterdam, and on the west side by Fort Rif, between which two forts chains can be stretched across the channel.
Fort Amsterdam has a bastioned trace, and would appear to be the most formidable of the two defences.
Fort Rif is a redoubt, comparatively speaking, small. Inside these two forts, on the east side of the channel, is the town of Williamstadt, and on the west side the towu of Oversijde, each of over 8,000 inhabitants.
The east side of Williamstadt is closed by a continuous line of defences. The channel varies in width from half a cable to a cable, and passing the two towns, runs in a north-north-easterly direction for three-quarters of a mile; it then opens out into that part of the lagoon called Schottegat, which forms the main anchorage, and which is 7 to 11 fathoms deep.
War ships usually anchor in the Schottegat. The channel is lined on both sides with quays, and though there are no docks, there are facilities for careening ships of any size for repairs, with smith- yards and all sorts of shops.
Fort Nassau is situated at the inland end of the channel, on a hill, and commands the Schottegat and the inner portion of the channel.
The harbour of Santa Barbara is small, and is defended by a fort.
In 1876 the strength of the garrison was 6 officers, 283 non-commissioned officers, and men. addition to this there was a local militia and a volunteer rifle corps.
In
The details of the present armament of the defences is not known; they are, of course, armed with guns of old type, and it may be presumed that some guns of modern type have been added, as it appears that the guard-ships both in Surinam and Curaçao are furnished with such guns, and rifled guns of various classes are in store in the Dutch arsenals, and have been sent out to arm the defences in the Dutch East Indies. The most formidable of the latter were 24-centim.
She has a crew
The "Bonaire," screw iron-clad, 4th class, is stationed at Curaçao as guard-ship. of seventy-five men, an armament of one rifled 15-centim. gun, and three 12-centim., probably unrifled. Her engines are 90 horse-power, and she draws 12 feet of water.
Venezuela constantly displays political ill-feeling towards Curaçao, one ground of complaint being that the island is made use of by smugglers, but the real reason no doubt is that Dutch enterprise forms such a contrast to their own listlessness.
Owing to its healthiness, fine harbour, and capacities for defence on the sea side, Curaçao is a valuable possession, and as it is nearer to Panamá than any considerable island except Jamaica, its importance will increase should the Canal prove a success, and indeed M. de Lesseps has proposed it as the emporium and sanitarium of the canal.
It is a post which has to be reckoned with, especially if parted with to Germany, of which there have been rumours at times; or, in the event of war with Holland, in alliance with that or other Powers. But the harbour can only be entered by daylight. To defend it effectually on the land It has side it would require an expenditure as great as any other more easily accessible harbour. not the central position of Jamaica, or the flanking one of Trinidad, which at the same time threatens the mouth of the Orinoco, or of Nassau, which threatens the Florida Pass. There must be a limit to our defended possessions in any sea, and we have in the West Indies better ones than Curaçao.
Curaçao was attacked in 1803 by an English force which did not venture to force the harbour. The forts then mounting 100 pieces of cannon, the land attack failed, being in insufficient force to meet the regulars, local militia, and crews of the ships in the harbour.
In 1807 a British force of four frigates, carrying 164 guns, entered the harbour, one ship getting aground; fired broadsides into the ships and forts, boarded and captured two Dutch ships mounting
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