Page 10 - aruba-today-20230724

Monday 24 July 2023 locAl
A10

Episode 26

All for the red Aruban gold

called Tarabana. At Playa
on a good day, you could
find canoes, piraguas and
Cayucos on the beach.
Boats of various sizes dug
out from tree trucks and all
fantastically decorated.

The layback life changed
abruptly when gold was
found by a Dutch mestizo
sheep herder called Wil-
lem Rasmijn. Trade activi-
ties exploded, like a rocket
though the sky. This even
made the commanders
Playa, was and still is how a leash, while other rid- consider moving office
everyone referred to the ers were ready to indicate from Commanders bay under the citizens. 1819, tradition reports that
area of Horses bay. The the incoming herds where to Horses bay. Merchants he used to live at a place
beach at the salt lake and to swim to. This spot was and gold smiths of Cura- Governor Johan Rudolf where now Windstraat runs.
the fresh water well close known as Taratata, by the cao soon settled at the Lauffer (1796-1803), a Swiss In Van der Biest’s time there
to the village, they all are Caquetios. foot hill on the path go- by birth, had the idea that still was “mondi” (An Aru-
gone today. ing to the town of Noord. a fort was very necessary ban word denoting barren
However they claimed it Now the story of Aruban and had some designs pre- soil over-grown with weeds
Since the Spaniards an- meant “place of arrival” gold reached the ears of sented. Rather against war and cactuses). The story
chored here, five centuries told by the old ones, the freebooters, pirates and fleets of European armed tells us that the old kwihi-
ago, it was thought to be Paleo ancestors, who lived buccaneers. Strange ships forces, forts in overseas ar- tree- it has survived till the
a safe harbor for unload- here way before us. They could be seen at the ho- eas should withstand any present day- was already
ing livestock. Horses swam had an encampment at rizon. You did not really privateer incursion. The standing there at that time.
ashore to be herded by both sides of the entrance needed to be a corsair; fort was constructed and People now belonging to
the Indians who had a of a narrow lagoon. At anyone who wanted to four pieces of artillery were the oldest generation re-
special way with horses. that time it was all cov- get some of it could do so mounted there in 1797. late that they heard that
The method was to have ered with vegetation. This for their own. Now, some- From that time the number under this kwihi-tree Van
someone stand on the same lagoon went way thing had to be done to of people coming to live der Biest used to play his vi-
beach holding a horse on in land reaching a zone maintain peace and order
on the bay itself constant- olin in the evening, seated
ly increased. This was the before his country-house.
reason why Commander
Borchard Specht (from A delightful scene from
1792) or his grandson Pieter Aruba’s age of repose:
Specht (from 1803) shifted The commander in his gar-
the seat of authority. When den, playing his violin to his
Commanders’ Bay was de- family, in the background
serted and the people set- some slaves serving (un-
tled on the Ponton hill, the cooled) refreshments. A
administrations also moved peacefulness only slightly
there. Now that it had be- disturbed by an occasional
come safer to live on the visitor who, on horseback,
bay and a new dwelling- or straddling a donkey,
Centre was arising around comes to pay his respects
it and the commander es- to the commander and his
tablished his headquarters family. We have anticipat-
there too. ed events here in order to
be able to give a continu-
Oral tradition says that ous survey of the removals
Commander Bruin Go- of the commander’s resi-
vertsz Quant (1805-6) still re- dence. Together with this
sided at Ponton. A remov- functionary an increasing
al after Quant would be number of persons settled
plausible. Quant’s house “on the Bay”, as it was
was razed to the ground then commonly called.
by the English. In fact, until The construction of the
the coming of Boye in 1816, Fort had made life reason-
our information about the ably safe there, though his
commanders is very con- safety will prove anything
fusing indeed. It does not but absolute in the period
seem to be known where to be discussed in the next
Boye lived, but about Jan episode.q
van der Biest III, who super-
seded him, in the capac- Source; Island Insight by Etnia
ity of vice-commander in Nativa