COUNTY OF CARONI. 293 



separated by spaces of low and swampy land. It has been 

 ascertained that this coal formation extends to the Gulf 

 of Paria, constituting what Messrs. Wall and Sawkins term 

 the Caroni or carbonaceous series. 



4. County of Caroni. — This county has been divided into 

 seven wards : Upper and Lower Caroni, Chaguanas, Cara- 

 pichaima, Savanetta, Couva, and the ward of Montserrat. 

 Upper Caroni possesses a great variety of soils, from the worst 

 to the best; the level section is, at times, a poor sandy soil, 

 sometimes argillaceous; the vegas, or river hollows, and the 

 undulating land towards the east and the south are excellent. 

 Maize and cacao are almost the sole cultivations ; plantains 

 also thrive in the vegas, but are not extensively grown. The 

 parts under culture are along the banks of the rivers, such as the 

 Tumpuna and Caroni, or in their immediate vicinity. The 

 produce was taken down the river to town, or brought to 

 Arima on mules. For many years all the properties in this 

 ward were owned by the mixed descendants of Indians and 

 Spaniards, many being emigrants from Venezuela ; and little 

 or none but the Spanish language was spoken throughout 

 this district. Of late years many have changed hands, and 

 become the property of usurers. The parasol-ants, or Bachacos, 

 are there a regular pest. This ward abounds in good timber, 

 and there are groves of cedars towards the upper course of 

 the Tumpuna. Cacao yields more abundantly in this ward than, 

 perhaps, in any other part of the island. I know an instance of 

 1,000 trees, about 18 years old, yielding 32 fanagas, or 

 3,500 lbs., whilst the average returns, in other parts, for the 

 same number of trees, is about 1,500 lbs. only. Maize is 

 cultivated during the dry season. 



Three roads connect this ward with the Royal Road : one from 

 the junction of the Guanape and Aripo, which reaches Royal 

 Road just at the south-eastern boundary of the Arima village — 

 this is the Cocorite Road ; another runs a little westward 

 of Tumpuna, meets the Arima railway station, and crosses 

 the O'Mara savanna — it is known by the name of O'Mara 

 Road; the third leads from the mouth of the Maujico to 

 d'Abadie's village, and by another branch through the Piarquito 

 savanna to the village of Arouca. For years the Caroni river 

 was the real highway to Port-of- Spain. It is in this ward 



