PREFACE 



It is to me somewhat surprising that geographical works, in 

 general, should contain so many and such glaring errors, even 

 respecting countries which certainly ought to be better known. 

 Not to deviate from the subject in hand, and selecting Trinidad 

 as a case in point, I may remark that such errors are of frequent 

 occurrence in some of the best works that have made mention 

 of the island, and also in books of very recent publication. 



Adrien Balbi, speaking of Trinidad, has only these few 

 words: — " Spanish Town (jadis Puerto Espana), ville for iifiee et 

 commercante, avec un port et peut-etre 10,000 habitants; Saint- 

 Joseph d'Orufia, autrefois capitale : Char agar amus, importante 

 par son beau port, et les chantiers que les Anglais y ont Habits." 



Thus Balbi alters the name of the modern capital from Pori- 

 of- Spain to Spanish Town ; he terms it fortified, whilst it is an 

 open, unprotected town ; also, instead of Chagtiaramas, he writes 

 Charagaramus — a misnomer, adopted by all the French geo- 

 graphers — making it, besides, an important place " on account of 

 the docks therein established by the English." 



In Mr. Montgomery Martin's book, " The British Colonies/' 

 and the volume on the West Indies, published as late as 1854, 

 I find the following erroneous statements : — " The chief ports 

 resorted to, on the Trinidad side (of the Gulf of Paria), are : 

 Chaguaramas Bay, where the extremity of the north-western 

 peninsula, Gaspar Grande, and other islets, form an immense 

 natural dock, sheltered from all weathers and all winds, and 



