GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. 53 



northern, is corresponded to by the Nariva Lagoon in the 

 southern section; but the Oropuche or Grand Lagoon has not 

 its counterpart in the northern section, unless Oropuche be taken 

 as such. 



There are no ports on the eastern coast ; but, as a compen- 

 sation, easy communication may be established with the gulf by 

 means of wheel or even tram-roads ; so that the produce from 

 eastern and intervening districts may be easily brought to the 

 shores of the gulf. It was once in project to connect the Oro- 

 puche with the Caroni by means of a canal. I fear, however* 

 that canal communications will not answer in a country like ours, 

 where there exist no considerable water-courses, and where the 

 rains are so heavy at one season as to cause partial inundations, 

 and the drought so protracted at another as to dry up the ravines 

 and even portions of the larger streams for several weeks at a 

 time. Under such circumstances, tram-roads deserve a decided 

 preference. 



None of the other islands, I believe, offer such advantages as 

 Trinidad in an agricultural point of view. Even its highest 

 summits are not inaccessible to beasts of burden, and there the 

 soil is commonly of excellent quality. The area of the island is 

 about 1,755 square miles, or 1,020,000 acres. Of this quantity 

 not more than 326,597 are appropriated, of which about 100,000 

 acres only are under cultivation, the rest still belonging to the 

 Crown. 



Monotony may be said to be the characteristic feature of the 

 country ; and this tameness of scenery arises not so much from a 

 general evenness of surface as from the vast and almost unbroken 

 series of virgin forests which still cover nearly the whole of its 

 extent; and thus this beautiful and fertile colony, capable of 

 supporting, according to a most moderate calculation, 1,000,000 

 inhabitants, at present maintains the unimportant aggregate of 

 153,118 individuals. 



