On the Pitch Lake of the Island of Trinidad. 163 



lot to encounter any of these animals. It is not easy to 

 state precisely the extent <Si this great collection of pitch ; 

 the line between it and the neighbouring soil is not always 

 well defined, and indeed it appears to form the substratum 

 of the surroundino; tract of land. We may say, however, 

 that it is bounded on the north and west sides by the sea, 

 on the ^ south by the rocky eminence of porcelain jasper 

 before mentioned, and on the east by the usual argillaceous 

 soil of the country ; the main body may perhaps be esti- 

 mated at three miles in circumference ; the depth cannot 

 be ascertained, and no subjacent rock or soil can be disco- 

 vered. Where the bitumen is slightly covered by soil, there 

 are plantations of cassava, plantains and pine-apples, the 

 last of which grow with luxuriance and attain to great per- 

 fection. There are three or four French and one English 

 sugar estates in the immediate neighbourhood : our opinion 

 of the soil did not, however, coincide with that of Mr. An- 

 derson, who in the account he gave some years ago thought 

 it very fertile. It is worthy of remark, that the main body 

 of the pitch, which may properly be called the lake, is situ- 

 ated higher than the adjoining land, and that you descend 

 by a gentle slope to the sea, where the pitch is much con- 

 taminated bv the sand of the beach. During the dry sea- 

 son, as I have before remarked, this pitch is much softened, 

 so that different bodies have been known slowly to sink 

 into it : if a quantity be cut out, the cavity left will be 

 shortly filled up; and I have heard it related, that when the 

 Spaniards undertook formerly to prepare the pitch for osco- 

 nomical purposes, and had imprudently erected their caul- 

 drons on the very lake, they completely sank in the course 

 of a night, so as to defeat their intentions. Numberless 

 proofs are given of its being at times in this softened state : 

 the negro houses of the vicinage, for instance, built by driv- 

 ing posts in the earth, frequently are twisted or sunk on one 

 side. In many places it seems to have actually overflown 

 like lava, and presents the wrinkled appearance which a 

 sluofffish substance would exhibit in motion. 



This substance is generally thought tobe the asphalfumof 

 naturalists : in different spots, however, it presents different 

 appearances, fn some parts it is black, with a splintery con- 

 choidal fracture, of considerable specific gravity, with little or 

 no lustre, resembling particular kinds of coal, and so hard as to 

 require a severe blow of the hannner to detach or break it ; in 

 other parts, it is so much softer, as to allow one to cut Out a 

 piece in any form with a spade or hatchet, and in the interior 

 L 2 is 



