CIMARONERO— -ARICAGUA — ST. JOSEPH. 281 



however, is less unhealthy. No whites can live there; the 

 coloured people suffer much, and Africans and Chinese are the 

 only people who enjoy comparatively good health. It is 

 assumed that a white man who sleeps one night on the 

 Laventiile heights must necessarily get fever. If correctly 

 informed, a certain number of white families from Dominica 

 and St. Lucia were induced by Sir Ralph Woodford to settle on 

 the Laventiile hills and establish coffee estates. In less than 

 eight years they were mowed down by fever, and coffee culti- 

 vation was abandoned. Population, 1881, 4,472; in 1871, 

 1,775. 



Next to Laventiile comes the ward of Cimaronero, very much 

 resembling the former in general position and unhealthiness ; 

 however, it is not placed so much within the reach of the 

 malaria, and its soil, near the Aricagua river, is of a better 

 quality. 



The ward of Aricagua, which follows, is partly hilly, partly 

 flat, and very much resembling the preceding one. The Aricagua 

 river has its outlet into the Caroni. On the right bank of the 

 Caroni, and extending into the Cimaronero ward, is a natural 

 savanna, called Bordonal ; it is under water for a certain part 

 of the year. The small village of San Juan stands on a high 

 ground, northward of the Royal Road, about 200 yards from the 

 river Aricagua, and is traversed by a ward-road conducting into 

 the valley of Santa Cruz. It is a miserable-looking village, 

 with a stone-built Catholic church, and a cure attached.- 

 Besides San Juan, there are two small hamlets along the 

 Royal Road, opposite to the Aranguez and Le Vivier estates ; an 

 Anglican chapel has lately been built at the latter, and a curate 

 appointed. 



The ward of St. Joseph, which comprises the small town of 

 St. Joseph, with a population of eight hundred and eighty-eight 

 inhabitants, together with the quarter of the same name, comes 

 next ; it is partly hilly and partly flat ; soil very much resembling 

 that of Aricagua, and very fertile along the banks of the St. 

 Joseph river. On the flanks of the hills are several natural 

 savannas, looking at a distance like prairies, and which can be 

 seen from the harbour of Port-of-Spain. Large blocks of milky 

 quartz are scattered all over these savannas, which stretch, at 

 intervals, along the ridges to the river Arima. The small town 



