50 TRINIDAD. 



great drain o£ the lagoon basin. It is an extensive swamp, 

 studded with mounds of a black soil, clothed with rank vegetation, 

 and intersected by channels, expanding at intervals into ponds, 

 covered with reeds, rushes, and other aquatic plants or trees. A 

 great number of streams, flowing from the surrounding undu- 

 lating districts, supply it with much more water than might be 

 at first imagined. The Lagoon discharges its waters into the 

 gulf by two principal outlets — Mosquito Creek or Blazini's River, 

 and Godineau's River. 



The eastern division of the southern plain is drained by the 

 largest river in the colony — the Guataro or Ortoire. Its course 

 is imperfectly known; it may, however, be traced from the 

 Montserrat heights, running southward, then eastward, and its 

 mouth opens on the eastern coast, immediately northward of 

 Point Guataro. Its tributaries are partly from the central range, 

 the principal being the Pure, Bell's Creek, Guanapure, Laranache, 

 Anapa, Guarapiche, and a number of small ravines, and partly 

 from the high lands to the south. The river Guataro is made on 

 Mallett's map to communicate with the Nariva by means of 

 navigable canals, but no such communication exists. 



The Lebranche valley is watered by the Lebranche and a few 

 ravines ; the Lebranche itself has its source in the group of the 

 same name, and its mouth to the southward of Manzanilla Point. 

 The Guaracara valley is watered by the Guaracara, which descends 

 from the Montserrat Range, and discharges itself into the gulf 

 southward of Point-a-Pierre. 



Between Manzanilla and Mayaro, at the basis of the Lebranche 

 group, and parallel with the Cocal, is an extensive swampy tract, 

 cut up by several canals, which concur in the formation of the 

 Nariva. This river, or rather natural canal, runs northward, and 

 nearly parallel with the shore, till it meets with the high land of 

 Morne Calabash, when it curves in an opposite direction south- 

 ward, to discharge itself nearly in the centre of the Cocal ; hence 

 its name of Mitan, or Middle River. The Nariva cannot be said 

 to have any current, since the flow is upwards at high tide, and 

 downwards at low tide only. It is very deep and wide near i 

 mouth, and receives all its waters from the central range. 



The rivers on the N. and S. coasts may be regarded in gene 

 as unimportant. They are, on the N., Rio Grande, Tiburo 

 Madamas, Paria, Macapou, Chupara, Las Cuevas, and Maraccas 



ind 



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