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XXXII r. Account of the F^ttk Lake of the Island of Tri- 

 nidad. By Nicholas Nugent, M.D. Honorary Mem- 

 ber of' the Geological Society*. 



Jljeing desirous to visit the celebrated lake of pitch, pre* 

 viously to my departure from the Island of Trinidad, I em* 

 barked with that intention in the month of October, 1807> 

 in a small vessel at Port Spain. After a pleasant sail of 

 about thirty miles down the Gulf of Paria, we arrived at 

 the point la Braye, so called by the French from its charac- 

 teristic feature. It is a considerable headland, about eighty 

 feet above the level of the sea, and perhaps two miles long 

 and two broad. We landed on the southern side of the 

 point, at the plantation of Mr. Vessigny : as the boat drew 

 near the shore, I was struck with the appearance of a rocky 

 bluff or small promontory of a reddish-brown colour, very 

 different from the pitch which I had expected to find on 

 the whole shore. Upon examining this spot, I found it 

 composed of a substance corresponding to the porcelain 

 jasper of mineralogists, generally of a red colour where it 

 had been exposed to the weather, but of light slate-blue in 

 the interior ; it is a very hard stone with a conchoidal frac- 

 ture, some degree of lustre, and is perfectly opake even at 

 the edges ; in some places, from the action of the air, it 

 was of a reddish- or yellowish-brown, and an earthy ap- 

 pearance. I wished to have devoted more time to the in- 

 vestigation of what in the language of the Wernerian school 

 is termed the geognostic relations of this spot, but my com- 

 panions were anxious to proceed. We ascended the hill, 

 which was entirely composed of this rock, to the planta- 

 tion, where we procured a negro guide, who conducted us 

 through a wood about three quarters of a mile. We now 

 perceived a strong sulphureous and pitchy smell, like that 

 of burning coal, and soon after had a view of the lake, 

 which at first sight appeared to be an expanse of still water, 

 frequently interrupted by clumps of dwarf trees or islets of 

 rushes and shrubs: but on a nearer approach we found it to 

 be in reality an extensive plain of mineral pitch, with fre- 

 quent crevices and chasms filled with water. The singu- 

 larity of the scene was altogether so great, that it was some 

 time before I could recover from my surprise so as to in- 

 vestigate it minutely. The surface of the lake is of the co- 

 lour of ashes, and at this season was not polished or smooth 



• From Transactions of the Geological Society, vol. i. 



Vol. 38. No. 161. Sejst. 1811. L so 



