GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. 51 



on the S. the Lizards and Pilot rivers discharge their waters into 

 the Bay of Guayaguayare ; they are both tidal streams. Between 

 Points Canary and Pelican are three small rivers ; then comes the 

 Moruga, westward of Point Moruga — a tidal stream also, and the 

 largest of all ; and, in succession, La Ceyba, Curao, Siparia, and 

 Erin, to the leeward of the corresponding promontories. 



The different water-courses above mentioned present a few 

 general characteristics which require notice. Those that take 

 their rise in the northern range have clear and limpid waters, 

 running over pebbly beds ; those from the central range flow 

 between steep banks and over muddy bottoms, their waters being 

 turbid and yellow — as, for instance, the Cumuto and Tumpuno, 

 the Cunapo, Sangre-Chiquito, &c. Several of these streams, but 

 especially those which take their rise in, or only flow through, 

 swampy districts, have dark-coloured waters ; such as the Nariva, 

 Mosquito Creek, the Godineau, &c. The water, however, though 

 dark, is perfectly clear, the discoloration arising from the long 

 maceration of leaves, bark, and other vegetable debris in water 

 almost stagnant. 



Rivers falling into the gulf, particularly the Caroni and 

 Couva, are obstructed at their mouth by basses or shallows. The 

 shallow at the entrance of the Caroni extends upwards of a mile 

 into the gulf, and presents somewhat of an impediment to the 

 coastwise navigation. More than once vessels beating up for 

 Port-of-Spain have run aground on its mud-bank. These shal- 

 lows are formed by the gradual accumulation of stumps, branches, 

 and even entire trees, carried down the stream during the rainy 

 season, and which, sticking in the soft ground, remain to form an 

 embankment with the alluvial deposits ; such accumulation and 

 deposits are greatly aided by the nearly constant direction of the 

 prevailing winds, there being no surf at all along the western 

 coast to disturb the formation of such deposits. On the other 

 hand, to the eastward, where a heavy surf incessantly rolls over 

 the beach, also to the northward and southward, where the coast 

 is generally bluff and the shores steep, all the rivers, with the 

 exception of the Lebranche, which empties itself under the cover 

 of a rocky hill, have across their mouths bars of sand, resulting 

 from the antagonism of the waves and the currents of the streams. 

 The consequence is that such of our rivers as are of a depth suf- 

 ficient to admit small craft can be entered only at high tide, when 



