300 TRINIDAD. 



experience, where the Government had to deal with not a few, 

 but with more than four hundred, squatters. 



The land in Montserrat may be said to be of the best quality. 

 It belongs to the Tamana series, the limestone producing a 

 reddish brown to a dark brown loam, and the calcareous sands 

 affording a loose, generally blackish, soil. It is particularly well 

 adapted to the cultivation of cacao and coffee ; provisions of all 

 kinds thrive well, especially tanias. 



The wards of Carapichaima, Couva, Savanetta, and Montserrat 

 still abound in good timber — balata, poui, copaiba, carapa, cedar. 

 They are drained by the following water-courses : the Arena and 

 Couva, which latter separates the ward of Couva from Sava- 

 netta. It is the largest river of the whole district, and has for 

 its principal tributary the Savanetta brook : they flow from the 

 adjoining hills. 



On the southern sloping of the Montserrat hills there is 

 a spot of highly sandy and sterile land, designated as the 

 " white land," on account of the colour of the soil. Here has 

 been discovered a bed of beautiful glance pitch, which might be 

 worked to advantage when the means of communication are im- 

 proved and the facilities of transport increased. 



Several villages have sprung up in the above wards since 

 emancipation — among which, Camden and California villages. 

 The Royal Road from Port-of-Spain to San Fernando traverses 

 these wards, running parallel to, and about one mile and a half 

 from, the sea-shore. From this main road branch off several ward- 

 roads, viz., those of Upper Couva and Montserrat. The railway 

 from St. Joseph to San Fernando runs nearly parallel to the 

 Royal Road; there are four stations, viz., at Carapichaima, 

 Camden village, California village, and Claxton bay. 



The county of Caroni is generally level, and even flat. The 

 quality of the soil is very varied, being, in general, a light 

 sandy loam, resting on a substratum of clay ; as a whole, it is 

 not considered as very rich, except towards the interior, where 

 the land is undulating. The vegas, or river hollows, are also of 

 excellent quality. Cane, cacao, and provisions are pretty gener- 

 ally cultivated. There are, perhaps, more Spanish families of 

 mixed blood in this county than in any other. Population, 

 according to the last census, 25,777; population in 1871, 

 14,911. 



