296 TRINIDAD. 



was opened by the proprietor of the Felicite estate to carry his 

 produce to the Chaguanas river for shipment to town. 



The Caroni, or Grand Savanna, was for many years regarded 

 as a public pasture-ground, to which cattle were sent from 

 various estates for the advantage of grazing out of crop. It 

 may be said that at present it is not used for the purpose, and 

 the Government is now prepared to parcel it out and sell the land 

 to public competition. Every year in March (or sooner or later, 

 according to the dryness of the season) fire is set to the rank 

 grass, which bums readily. The fire sometimes keeps alive for 

 weeks, the dark, dense smoke spreading and hanging at the 

 horizon like an immense cloud. 



It has been observed, as the beneficial result of this yearly 

 burning, that the quality of the grass improves, and the shade- 

 trees grow more thickly. When the colony was first settled, the 

 Grand Savanna was renowned for the immense quantity of aquatic 

 game and parrots which thronged there, and which were eagerly 

 hunted for sport or profit by the inhabitants. 



Some of the white settlers and French emigres made a livi 

 from their chase. Ducks, teals, herons, flamingos {Red Ibis), 

 then swarmed in the ponds; the mangroves and guava trees 

 were literally covered with ramiers and parrots. The quantity, 

 however, has diminished in an incredible degree, particularly 

 since the firing of the long grass, which afforded shelter to the 

 feathered and other game. From the mangroves along the 

 Caroni, Port-of-Spain gets a good supply of fuel. Lower Caroni 

 and Chaguanas : population in 1881, 7,118 ; in 1871, 4,046. 



Wards of Carapichaima, Couva, and Savanetta. — Next to 

 Chaguanas lies the ward of Carapichaima, and in succession, 

 southward, Couva and Savanetta ; these wards are bounded on 

 the north by Chaguanas, on the south by Pointe-a-Pierre, on the 

 east by the ward of Montserrat and undefined crown lands, on 

 the west by the Gulf. These wards very much resemble each 

 other in point of soil and general disposition, and may be said 

 to form a perfect level, except towards the interior. The soil 

 not of the best description, being generally sandy, except on t 

 banks of the rivers, where it is pretty rich alluvial ; also near t 

 sea-shore. The soil of Couva is considered, on the whole, 

 being of a better quality; also the lower part of Savanett 

 Carapichaima is the worst, being a poor stratified detritus. 



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