Vlll PREFACE. 



Port-of -Spain, on whose shores stands the capital of the island." 

 Mr. Martin, therefore, classes as one of the chief ports resorted 

 to, in the Gulf of Paria, Chaguaramas Bay, whereas vessels 

 never resort thither, except at intervals, to take in ballast. Let 

 me remark here again that Port-of-Spain is the name of the 

 town, and not of a port. Mr. Martin is likewise committing a 

 glaring error when he says that from Mount Tamana "the 

 lovely and fertile valleys of Maraccas and Las Cuevas extend 

 themselves before the eye/' for this good reason, that, between 

 Tamana and those valleys, the northern range rises nearly 

 1,400 feet above the former. Again, never was Bio Grande a 

 good roadstead — the only safe harbours, on the whole northern 

 coast, being Las Cuevas and Maraccas Bay, which are not even 

 mentioned in Mr. Martin's work. 



In preparing the following pages, my anxious desire has 

 mainly been to make Trinidad better known to the British public 

 in general, and to its own inhabitants in particular. It is really 

 surprising how uninformed even Trinidadians are regarding their 

 own country. Our best schoolboys are able to give the names 

 of the chief rivers, and the position of the principal towns in 

 Great Britain, France, and even in Russia and China ; but they 

 are ignorant, perhaps, of the names of the Guataro and Oropuche, 

 or through what county the Caroni has its course. They know 

 that San Fernando exists, but may not be able to say whether it 

 is on the eastern or the western side of the island ; they can give 

 the principal boundaries and dimensions of Europe, and its larger 

 kingdoms, but are ignorant of those of their own island-home ; 

 they can enumerate the chief productions of England and France, 

 but they do not know what are the agricultural products of their 

 own country. 



Not only is such ignorance discreditable, but its effects cannot 

 but be prejudicial to the best interests, and consequently to the 

 advancement, of the colony. 



With this view of being serviceable, particularly to my own 

 countrymen, I have entered into details which might otherwise 



