328 TRINIDAD. 



sub-tropical regions is more in demand than any other at tl 

 present time, and the consumption is likely to continue equal to 

 the supply. Should the time arrive when this staple can possibly 

 be raised to advantage in this colony, experiments in the district 

 would be advisable, as affording the best chances of success. 



" Tobacco has succeeded in Siparia, the quality produced 

 there being regarded as superior. 



<( There is abundance of analogous soil, and this article 

 might doubtless be advantageously cultivated on a more extended 

 scale. 



" If the uneven country, and that adjacent to the coast, 

 should be devoted to the above staples, the interior districts 

 might be found adapted for cacao ; and the level and richer valley 

 of the Ortoire even for sugar, as the extent to which that fine 

 river is navigable would afford the means of readily transporting 

 the produce raised along its course. The districts adjacent to tl 

 Ortoire seemed amongst the finest in the island, and it was 

 matter of regret that time did not permit their more comph 

 exploration.'''' 



Population of the county, 2,006 : males 1,075, females 93" 

 increase on 1871, 1,669. 



4. County of Nariva. — Bounded on the N. by the county of 

 St. Andrew, on the S. by that of Mayaro, E. by the sea, and 

 W. by the county of Victoria. Although one of the most ex- 

 tensive, this county is the least populated, and consequently the 

 least cultivated of all the island divisions. The only inhabited 

 part is the Cocal or coco-walk, a very narrow belt along the 

 sea, planted in coco-nut palms, and which constitutes the ward 

 of Nariva. The whole, or nearly the whole, of this county is 

 crown property, except the Cocal, which belongs to the Borough 

 Council of Port-of- Spain, and nothing is cultivated in the county 

 but coco-palms and some provisions. 



This coco-palm plantation, extending from the mouth of the 

 L6branche to that of the Ortoire, was, as it appears, accidentally 

 formed years ago. Among the many traditional accounts 

 that event, the following bears a very plausible aspect : it is 

 the effect that a schooner, laden with coco-nuts, was wrecked 

 the coast, and the nuts washed ashore by the surf. The localil 

 being favourable, they sprouted, grew np, and spontaneous! 

 propagated to a large extent. Whatever its origin , the Co( 



