I90I-2.] The Windward Islands of the West Indies. 365 



Trinidad. 



This is not an Antillean island, (see map. Plate D, appended), but a 

 part of South America, being situated on the continental shelf, and 

 separated from the mainland by only a shallow strait. 



Along the northern coast there is a range of mountains containing 

 crystalline schists, and rising to points 3,000 feet above the sea. 

 Isolated ridges occur in other parts of the island, in some cases having a 

 height of 1,000 feet. Elsewhere the island is generall)' low, with occasional 

 extensive swamps. Apart from the northern mountains, the sandy, 

 shaly, and calcareous strata are of a much more clastic nature than the 

 formations of the Windward Islands, for these materials have been 

 supplied by the South American rivers, such as the Oronoco ; — but 

 they belong to the same geological periods as those of the Antillean 

 chain. There are no volcanic accumulations as in the other islands. 

 During the long Miocene-Pliocene period, land surfaces prevailed and 

 gave rise to most of the present topographic features. These, however, 

 were thinly covered by subsequently deposited mantles, so that the 

 general changes of level of land and sea, the connection with North 

 America, and the drowning of the region again, are phenomena common 

 to the history of the other islands. Among the strata certainly no more 

 recent than the Eocene period, are radiolarian and foraminiferal 

 organisms that were accumulated at abysmal depths of the ocean, 

 of perhaps two miles or more. These are of importance in showing 

 that where there had been shallow seas, or even land, the region had 

 sunken to the great depth mentioned, and been raised again, so that 

 other shallow water formations could cover them and constitute the 

 foundation of the modern land features. 



Trinidad is a beautiful island of large size, but its fertile plains are 

 only partly cultivated, as much of the island is still covered by primeval 

 forest. The roads of the cultivated districts are excellent. Sugar cane 

 is the principal product. Pitch Lake is most valuable, and is far famed. 

 It lies on a flat plain a mile from the sea and 1 10 feet above it, and has 

 an area of about a hundred acres. No high land occurs within sight of it. 

 It is immediately surrounded by a small open wood. It is a dreary spot. 

 The pitch rises and overflows a loose sandstone, which is covered 

 by a red earthy loam. The surface of the pitch is hardened, and only 

 plastic near the centre, so that it can almost everywhere be walked upon. 

 But through the fissures of the crust are numerous springs of water and 



