oGG CUBA AND PORTO RICO 



Roques, Buen Ayre, Curasao, and Oruba care of consider- 

 able Bize, each possessing an area only a little less than 

 thai of the average Caribbee. Here, too, is multiplicity of 



nationalities. Tobago and Trinidad are British; Buen 

 Ayre and Curacao Dutch ; and most of the others, which 

 are not worthy of further mention, are Venezuelan. 



Trinidad lies just south of the eastern end of the main 

 chain of South American islands. It is separated from the 

 ] i lain continent by the Gulf of Paria, which has two outlets 

 on the south and northwest, known as the Mouth of the 

 Serpent and the Mouth of the Dragon respectively, which 

 are only a few miles wide, and across which the mainland 

 is plainly visible. Trinidad is merely a severed fragment 

 of the mainland, having exactly the same relations to it 

 that Long Island has to the adjacent coast of New York 

 and New England. 



The island is quadrangular in outline and embraces an 

 area of 1754 square miles nearly as large as all the Carib- 

 bee Islands combined. The volcanic appearance which 

 marks the configuration of the Caribbee Islands is missing, 

 and Trinidad resembles the continent. It is crossed in 

 east-and-west directions by great mountain ranges with 

 rivers and lakes, and is diversified by beautiful plains and 

 valleys. On the east it faces the Atlantic, the straight 

 north shore lies against the Caribbean Sea, while to the 

 west there is the great bulb-shaped Gulf of Paria. These 

 waters, instead of being bright blue, are a muddy yellow, 

 filled with sediments from the adjacent land. There are a 

 few low wooded islands in this gulf. The equatorial cur- 

 rent, as it passes from the Atlantic into the Gulf, rushes 

 with great velocity through the Serpent's Mouth, 



Trinidad has been called Great Britain's loveliest West 

 Indian colon} 7 , but there is nothing West Indian about it. 

 It is thoroughly South American. The flora, rocks, ani- 

 mals, and geology all partake of the adjacent Cumana 

 peninsula, and it should be considered in the same cate- 

 gory as British Guiana. 



