COUNTY OF NARIVA. 329 



consists of about 60,000 coco-nut trees, more or less, some of 

 them very old, others quite young, and a great many in full 

 bearing. 



A manufactory has been erected about midway between the 

 rivers Lebranche and Mitan, so that the carriage of nuts across 

 the Mitan, from near the Ortoire, to the establishment, is a 

 tedious affair. It is worked by a steam-engine of six-horse 

 power. The kernel extracted from the shell is bruised by means 

 of grooved rollers, then reduced to a pulp by a mill-stone ; the 

 pulp is next placed in double-bottomed pans, heated by steam, 

 which process has for result the evaporation of a certain propor- 

 tion of water, and the coagulation of the albuminous ingredients 

 of the pulp. The mass is then submitted to the action of an 

 hydraulic press, and the oil allowed to run off ; it is finally 

 drawn off into casks, carted to the landing-place at the mouth 

 of the Lebranche, and put on board of vessels anchored 

 under lee of Point Manzanilla, for transport to Port-of- 

 Spain. 



The sea has a tendency to encroach upon the land at the 

 Cocal, while the Mitan is gradually eroding southward to a con- 

 siderable extent ; the destruction of a good number of coco- 

 trees is the result of this process. The plantation, however, may 

 not only be preserved in its natural area, but it might be ex- 

 tended by steady planting, when two establishments might be 

 maintained — one as at present existing, and the other between 

 the Mitan and the Ortoire. The Cocal is leased for a term of 

 years, at the annual rate of 2,000 dols. 



The county of Nariva may be said to consist altogether of 

 virgin land ; it is partly level and swampy, partly undulating and 

 hilly towards the central range. Both the level and hilly tracts 

 are very imperfectly known. I may say, however, that this 

 county is most varied in its geological formation. E. of Tamana, 

 S. of Lebranche, and in the ward of Manzanilla, we meet with 

 tracts of the Tamana calcareous soil ; a long belt of the Napa- 

 rima marl, extending from the Guarapiche to a few miles from 

 the beach ; a tract of stiff ferruginous clays, lying between 

 Tamana and Manzanilla, and between the Upper Ortoire and the 

 swamp, affording soils of a more or less red colour, not very 

 productive ; a tract of low land of good quality along the left 

 bank of the Ortoire j and the swamp, which might be made pro- 



