TRINIDAD AND BERMUDEZ ASPHALTS 



33 



Land Deposits 



In what lias been said hitherto reference was had to the asphalt 

 taken from the lake deposit itself. As has been mentioned, there are 

 deposits of bitumen between the lake and the sea, and the material taken 

 therefrom is known as land pitch. It has been subject to atmospheric 

 weathering and by contact with the soil for years, as a result of which 

 its physical properties are inferior to those possessed by the lake deposit. 

 The greater the distance from the lake at which the land pitch is found, 

 the more it shows signs of age and weathering and the more inferior 

 it is. 



Trinidad Petroleum 



There has recently been developed on the Island of Trinidad, in the 

 neighborhood of the pitch lake, a new source of binding or cementing 

 material of a very desirable character for surface application to roads, 

 and for the productions of a residual pitch of a high grade. It has been 

 called a liquid asphalt, and must have been the source of the asphalt 

 found in the main deposit, and of the material which now forms the 

 soft spot in the middle of the lake. It was recognized in the earliest 

 days of the Trinidad asphalt industry tha»t the millions of tons of 

 asphalt existing in the old crater must be associated with some mother 



Photo, C. R. Toothaker, Phila. Commercial Museum. 

 A Country Road, Tkinidad. 



VOL. LXXXI.— 3. 



