22 Mr. James Epps, Jun., on 
Basin; they lie about fourteen miles from Port of Spain. To 
reach them one must drive or take train to St. Joseph (this was 
once the capital of Trinidad), and then proceed up the Maraccas 
Valley. This is, I think, the most charming spot in Trinidad. 
The river, which flows down the valley, is a very winding one, 
and the visitor has to wade through this at least seven times 
before reaching its source. The land in the valley is very 
undulating, and most grandly clad, and after a drive of seven or 
eight miles through this paradise we arrive at the falls. The 
water falls over a perfectly vertical cliff, at least three hundred 
feet high. I timed the fall of the water; it took about sixteen 
seconds for the water to reach the ground from the summit. 
The water strikes a projecting ledge about half-way down, and 
the breeze carries a lot of the water away in the form of spray. 
Just before reaching the falls you pass through a bit of real 
virgin forest. It was here that we noticed more especially one 
parasitic plant, which had sent its roots round and round another 
tree as if it had taken it prisoner, and had bound it with ropes to 
prevent its escape. The root went round the tree at least thirty 
times. The aerial roots hanging down from the cliff by the 
waterfall must have been at least fifty or sixty feet long. 
Trinidad in the past was a great sugar-producing island, and 
although it continues to put out a fair quantity it wisely took to 
cacao cultivation ; that and the Pitch Lake have made it one of 
the most prosperous of our West Indian islands. Sugar, they 
declare, does not pay, and a few only are hanging to it in the 
hope that the British Government will eventually put a duty on 
bounty-fed beet-sugar. I must allow I think it only right that 
the continental beet-sugars should be taxed up to the amount of 
the bounty allowed, which would put our West-Indian planters 
and the continental beet-growers on similar ground. I must say, 
however, that I was very much surprised to find that, although 
there is so much grumbling on the part of the West-Indian 
planter, he has not got his own island to support him in boy- 
cotting the beet-sugar, and I found it quite a common thing for 
the West-Indians whom I visited in the islands to be using beet- 
sugar. 
The climate of Trinidad is warm and humid, and is perfectly 
healthy, if a few precautions are taken: first, to keep clear of 
swampy ground, more especially at night-time; second, not to 
be tempted to sleep out of doors; third, to wear flannel next the 
skin; fourth, strict temperance. This last precaution is, I fear, 
often forgotten, and the foolish man or woman who breaks the 
rule pays dearly for sodoing. I believe the West-Indians them- 
selves would be far less liable to attacks of fever and other illnesses 
if they would give up cocktails, swivells, and wines. 
The soil of Trinidad, as a whole, is rich and fertile. Fruits 
