208 



THE MUSEUM. 



tation, houses, road?, etc. , — were slow- 

 ly drifting towards the sea. 



"It is fortunate," as one writer has 

 remarked "that the pitch, when com- 

 pact, will not kindle, or, in other 

 words, will not burn without a wick; 

 for otherwise the entire region, includ- 

 ing the village might suffer the fate of 

 "Sodom and Gomorrah." 



The pitch not only forms the sea- 

 shore for nearly four miles, but in front 

 of the village, and perhaps lOO miles 

 from the shore, it rises from the sea 

 as a solid barrier-reef, which is often 

 a source of danger to unwary boat- 

 men. It is possible that the peninsu- 

 la of La Brea owes its existence to 

 the protection afforded the land by 

 this reef of asphalt, which resists the 

 action of the water better than the un- 

 consolidated clays and sands forming 

 the coast to the north and south- 



We may now return to the lake. 

 Of the published descriptions of this 

 remarkable phenomenon, very few are 

 accurate. Probably no object in na- 

 ture has been so grossly misrepresent- 

 ed as the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. In 

 an official history of the English Ex- 

 position of 1 85 1, it is stated that "the 

 Pitch Lake is on the highest land on 

 the island. It is soft and fluid at the 

 center, and there is an active subma- 

 rine volcano near the coast." 



Another writer speaks of "a subma- 

 rine volcano, which at times makes a 

 noise like thunder, and emits naptha 

 and petroleum." I have already giv- 

 en the true altitude of the lake, as 

 140 feet, while the highest point on 

 the island is Mount Tucutche, 3,100 

 feet above the sea. The "submarine 

 volcano" is a petroleum spring which 

 comes up under the water a short dis- 

 tance from the shore; the water is vis- 



ibly oily over an area of several rods, 

 and bubbles of gas are sometimes seen 

 to escape, but nothing further. The 

 lake is usually described as "three 

 miles in circumference, hot and fluid 

 in the center, but cold and solid to- 

 wards the shore." 



In point of fact, this body of pitch, 

 which is of approximately circular out- 

 line, is scarcely one and one-half miles 

 in circumference, and there is no part 

 of its surface that may not be walked 

 upon with impunity. The tempera- 

 ture is uniform throughout. Its sur- 

 face, soft enough in a few spots to re- 

 ceive a man's boot, is for the most 

 part quite hard and firm, and every- 

 where of a dull earthy-brown or 

 brownish-black color. The fracture 

 of the pitch is eminently conchoidal, 

 but the luster is always dull; the re- 

 sult of an admixture of 20 to 30 per 

 cent of earthy matter, sand and clay. 

 These impurities are removed by boil- 

 ing, and the pitch then becomes shin- 

 ing black and more brittle. 



There are some twenty or more 

 patches on the lake, five to fifteen 

 yards in diameter, where soil has col- 

 lected, and vegetation, trees, shrubs 

 and grasses has gained a foothold, 

 forming green islands or oases. The 

 surface presents many small, dome- 

 shaped swellings from an inch to a 

 foot in diameter. These pitch bub- 

 bles are always hollow, and contain 

 traces of decayed vegetation. Exca- 

 vations made in the pitch show that 

 below the surface these cavities or 

 vehicles are exceedingly numerous. 

 They are usually almond-shaped, and 

 though always the result of gaseous 

 expansion, are commonly filled with 

 water. In fact, the entire mass of 

 pitch is saturated with water so that 



