On the Pitch-Lake of Trinidad. 333 



for by considering the whole as a lake, a person naturally ex- 

 pects to find one very large lake of pitch, which is not the case. 

 The question naturally arises whether the lake is to be consider- 

 ed as the basin or origin of the whole, from which the sides of 

 the hills and the adjacent country have been overflowed. I think 

 appearances are against such a conclusion. A little to the north- 

 ward of the pitch is a well, or fount of liquid tar. But the pitch 

 itself is not confined to the lake, for there are submarine beds of 

 it. Midway between Point Naparina and Point Breea is a very 

 extensive pitch -bank, with no more than ten or twelve feet 

 water on it, the approach to which may be generally known by 

 a strong impleasant smell, and by the water having a pellicle of 

 tar on its surface. Sometimes, at low-water, ships have ground- 

 ed on this bank ; and should they come to an anchor, the anchor 

 and cable are found covered with pitch. The water about the 

 pitch-bank abounds with fish, and fish-pots are generally set on 

 it. At the Serpent's Mouth there are some reefs, formed of 

 pitch, which occasionally increase and again disappear, and are 

 supposed to he connected with the mud volcano. The pitch it- 

 self is a dull, black, sohd substance, breaking with an even frac- 

 ture, easily scratched by a knife ; it emits a peculiar nauseous 

 smell, like coal-tar ; it sinks rapidly in salt water, and marks 

 paper a dull brown. At about 310° Fahrenheit, it fuses imper- 

 fectly into a soft mass, more like the softening of coal than the 

 melting of pitch, for it does not run into a flaccid mass. Spirits 

 of wine, nitric acid, strong alkali, had no effect on it whatever. 

 It differs, therefore, in chemical composition from pitch, and is 

 incapable of being used for the same purposes. It is used in 

 mending and repairing the roads at Trinidad, and for cement- 

 ing and binding stones under water. It has also been employed 

 to obtain gas. Some years ago, when speculation soared with 

 prying eye over the surface of the globe for treasures, the pitch- 

 lake came into notice, but was soon disregarded. Whatever 

 speculations may be indulged in about the origin of this sub- 

 stance, its affinity to coal cannot be doubted ; and, notwithstand- 

 ing the authority of the names in favour of the theory respect- 

 ing the vegetable origin of coal, it is by a remote analogy only; 

 and philosophers have never yet made one atom of coal by their 



VOL. XVIII. NO. XXXVI. APRII, 1835. z 



