60 TRINIDAD. 



the town of Saint Joseph, at the foot of the mountain, and 

 adjoining the royal road ; this gypsum is very white, containing 

 native sulphur, and perfectly resembling that of Guiria, on the 

 opposite coast of the gulf. There exists another deposit at La 

 Ventille, at a short distance from the town. Lamellar gypsum 

 is found in many places in the southern division, as also 

 granular, and a bank of grayish earthy sulphate of lime is 

 known on the Brechin Castle Estate, ward of Savanetta, within 

 a short distance of Cangrejos Bay. 



Sandstone is also abundant, and is exhibited in the limestone 

 formation, as, for instance, near Port-of- Spain, at Maraval, 

 Pointe-a-Pierres, Manzanilla, duemada, &c. Between Guanape 

 and Aripo, at the foot of the mountains, the soil is composed 

 altogether of silicious pebbles, imbedded in a coarse reddish clay. 

 Blocks of milky quartz, and crystals of hyaline quartz, are found 

 in many parts of the mountainous region, and at the bases of the 

 mountains. " However extraordinary this mixture of sandstone 

 and compact limestone may appear/' says Baron von Humboldt, 

 " we cannot doubt that these strata belong to one and the same 

 formation. " 



The slate, or schistose formation, is also very apparent in the 

 hills forming the valleys of St. Ann and Maraval. Mica slate, 

 taleky and mica schists, are particularly common ; the latter 

 sometimes contains garnets, generally of a small size. The 

 admixture of sandstone, schistose and limestone rocks, is well 

 marked at Monos ; some of the projections are formed of lime- 

 stone, others of large slabs of schistose rocks ; and mica schists 

 are observed in many localities, as also quartz rocks. In our 

 valleys and the beds of rivers rounded pebbles of quartz-stone, 

 some very large, are found, together with a small flat stone of a 

 bluish soft talc ; this is particularly apparent after some of those 

 mountain torrents, swollen by heavy rains, have furrowed the 

 neighbouring ridges. The softer rocks, however, soon disinte- 

 grate, and the silicious pebbles alone resist the action of atmos- 

 pheric agents, and thus predominate in the valleys and beds of 

 rivers. 



Lignite has been found to the westward of the river Moruga, 

 near Erin, and apparently occurs in seams, not only in that 

 locality, but in several places also throughout the southern 

 division. A substance nearly allied to lignite has also been 







