ARIMA. — GUANAPE. 285 



Next to Tacarigua are Arima and Guanape, very much re- 

 sembling each other in point of soil and general features. Of 

 these wards, a small part only is hilly, the greater portion being 

 flat ; the soil is in general very poor, except on the hills and along 

 the rivers — such as those of Arima and Guanape — where there is 

 a belt of alluvium, very rich and well adapted to the cultivation 

 of the cacao. The soil of the plain consists, in most parts, of a 

 coarse > yellow clay, very retentive, and consequently cold ; corta- 

 deras, melastomacese, and timites grow in abundance, as also fine 

 poui and balata timber. Between the Guanape and Aripo, the 

 soil is of the worst description ; wild pine-apples, cortaderas, and 

 timites are particularly abundant — some of the timitales, or 

 timite-groves, resembling marshes. A small section of Guanape 

 is covered over with silicious pebbles and a meagre vegetation. 

 Arima and Guanape are almost exclusively cultivated in cacao ; 

 they also produce some coffee; but the growth of provisions is 

 much neglected, though maize, plantains, yams, manioc, &c, 

 grow to perfection in the best tracts. There is also a great abun- 

 dance of good timber, such as carapa, yoke, olivier, and tapana, 

 besides poui and balata, already mentioned. These two wards are 

 sparingly cultivated, and the population scanty, on account of 

 their bad soil. Guanape, Arima, and Tacarigua form, perhaps, 

 the most healthy districts of Trinidad, and newly-arrived Euro- 

 peans are not therein subject to the usual country fevers, unless 

 imprudent or addicted to intemperance. Several natural savan- 

 nas are found in the ward of Arima — viz., Piarco, Piarquito, 

 Arima, and CVMara ; they produce but a coarse grass, upon which 

 animals do not thrive. The village of Arima, situated at the foot 

 of the northern range, on the right bank of the river Arima, and 

 at the head of an extensive plain, sixteen miles from Port-of- 

 Spain, is well laid out ; its streets are wide, and intersect each 

 other at right angles, with a large square in the centre of the 

 village. It has its police-station ; and at the eastern side of the 

 square stands the Catholic church, built of mason work. 



The village of Arima was for a long time an Indian mission. 

 Soon after the settlement of the island by the conquerors, the 

 Indians, with the consent of the Government, had been drawn to- 

 gether by the Capuchin monks, mainly with the object of bring- 

 ing them under the civilising influence of Christianity, also of 

 protecting them against the exactions of the colonists. Four such 



