TRINIDAD. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Of the numerous groups of islands which stud the surface of 

 the deep, none is of more intrinsic importance than the Western 

 or Caribbean Archipelago; and it may be questioned whether 

 even the Eastern or Indian Archipelago, which alone can stand 

 in comparison, really does equal it in the totality of its local and 

 relative advantages. 



In point of fertility of soil, agricultural productions, similarity 

 of climate, and geographical position, they bear a great resem- 

 blance to each other, though they are, of course, not without 

 their individual peculiarities. As a consequence, they may be 

 said to have been always antagonistic in interest, and to have 

 progressed in as constant an opposition. 



At one period, the Western Archipelago seemed to have 

 gained the ascendancy ; but that ascendancy has been gradually 

 transferred to the East, in proportion as European interest, power, 

 and patronage have been extending in that quarter, and, more 

 particularly, since the abolition of slavery in the West Indies. 



The isles of the East certainly do possess many advantages 

 over those of the West ; they have greater agricultural and 

 mineral wealth. Gold is found in almost every part, but particu- 

 larly in Borneo and Sumatra, and no country produces better tin 

 than Banca. Copper and iron are not uncommon, sulphur exists 

 pretty generally, and diamonds are found in Borneo. Copper, 

 only, it seems, is abundant in the Western Archipelago, though 

 traces of gold have been found in Cuba and Hayti; sulphur 

 however, is not scarce, and salt is plentiful and of excellent 

 quality. 



Sugar, coffee, cotton, indigo, and tobacco are products of both 

 archipelagos ; cotton and indigo of the Eastern particularly ; 

 tobacco of the Western. Cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, and black 

 pepper are indigenous to the East ; vanilla, cacao, cochineal, 

 and pimento to the West. Rice forms the basis of the agri- 



