262 Mr. James Epps, Jun., on 
point, like a spear, while, being thinned off to an edge at the 
butt-end, it could also be used, if mounted, as an axe; making 
on the whole a formidable weapon well adapted for an attack on 
the gigantic mammoth, whose bones occur in gravels of the same 
age, and have been found associated with similar implements. 
139.—Tar Cacao Purant. 
By James Epps, Jun. 
(Read November 16th, 1897.) 
Ir was on the 31st of July, 1498, that Columbus first sighted 
the island of Trinidad. This was not his first voyage to the New 
World, but his third, he having made his grand discovery in the 
year 1492, when he landed at San Salvador, one of the Bahama 
group of islands. As his ship approached the island the Three 
Sisters (peaks of Moruga), which are united at the base, prompted 
the great discoverer to call the island Trinidad, the formation of 
the hills suggesting to him the Trinity. The stout-hearted 
navigator must have begun to lose heart, for on the day of the 
discovery he had been becalmed a week, and things were indeed 
looking serious. ‘‘ The air was like a furnace; the tar melted ; 
the seams of the ship yawned ; the salt meat became putrid ; the 
wheat was parched as if by fire ; the hoops shrank from the wine 
and water casks, some of which leaked and others burst; while 
the heat in the holds of the vessels was so suffocating that no 
one could remain below a sufficient time to prevent the damage 
that was taking place.” 
About ninety years after the visit of Columbus the Spanish 
took possession of the island, and in the course of time formed 
several towns, making St. Joseph their capital, following out 
their usual custom of establishing the chief town a little way 
inland, as a precautionary measure in case of invasion; it may 
also be noticed that they made it a practice to name places after 
favourite saints. 
Not very long after the Spanish appropriation, Sir Walter 
Raleigh, who was cruising about his ill-starred “Hl Dorado” 
expedition, vainly seeking for gold which he was not destined to 
discover, but which has since been abundantly found on the ad- 
jacent mainland, coasted along the Trinidad shore, attacked and 
burnt St. Joseph, and took upon himself, perhaps unwarrantably, 
the task of punishing the new rulers for their inhumanity to the 
Indians, 
