Mr. E. C. Taylor on the Birds of the West Indies. 75 



terminates in the lofty point called La Pena, exactly opposite 

 the north-west promontory of Trinidad, and distant from it 

 about fifteen miles. The channel between these points is divided 

 by three small rocky islands, called Monos, Huevos, and Chaca- 

 chacave, into four channels or bocas, which form the northern 

 entrance to the Gulf of Paria, and are collectively called the 

 Boca del Drago, or the Dragon's Mouth. The range of hills 

 on the south coast of Trinidad has no corresponding range on 

 the main, but terminates opposite the low land of the Orinoco 

 delta ; the channel opposite to them forms the soixth entrance 

 to the Gulf of Paria, and is known as the Boca del Serpente, or 

 the Serpent's Mouth. Port of Spain, the capital of the island, 

 is situated on the Gulf of Paria, at the foot of the northern 

 range of hills. Immediately to the south of the town lies an 

 extensive mangrove-swamp, through which the Caroni, one of 

 the largest rivers in the island, finds its way to the sea. The 

 Caroni is navigable by boats for about eighteen miles from its 

 mouth. Sugar and cocoa are the principal products of Trini- 

 dad. The cultivation of the former is almost confined to the dis- 

 trict along the coast of the Gulf of Paria and the valley of the 

 Caroni ; the latter is chiefly grown in the narrow, shady valleys 

 of the northern chain of mountains. Nearly the whole of the 

 interior of the island is utterly destitute of roads or even paths, 

 and is covered with a magnificent growth of virgin forest. One 

 of the most valuable trees in Trinidad is the Cedrela odorata, 

 the wood of which is much used for building houses. This tree 

 is rather like the common ash-tree in appearance and foliage, 

 but is universally called cedar from the smell of the wood, which 

 resembles that of the true cedar {Cedrus libanotica). In point 

 of size, however, the silk-cotton tree [Eriodendron anfractuosum) 

 is quite unrivalled. Until I went to Trinidad I did not know 

 what a really big tree was. I had seen the oaks of Fontaine- 

 bleau and the elms of Aranjuez, which are, I believe, considered 

 the largest trees in Europe, but these do not give one the least 

 idea of the size which trees attain in Trinidad. Had the gen- 

 tleman who wrote an account, in the last-published volume of 

 * Long- Vacation Rambles,' of how he went up the Amazon 

 in order to see large trees, and returned home without having 



