SURVEYS. 331 



being E. J S., and its entire length fourteen miles. For nearly 

 four miles from Tamana, the country is undulating, the super- 

 stratum resting on limestone. The lower portion is seven miles 

 in length, and varies alternately from gently waving to flat ; the 

 last three miles present a marshy plain. In this section, man- 

 groves were observed first, then, in succession, a dry savanna, a 

 tract of very rich land, of about one mile and a half in breadth, 

 covered with carats and wild plum-trees; next, an extensive 

 savanna, with clusters of the moriche-palm ; several mangrove 

 swamps, separated by dry savannas and belts of dry land ; a fine 

 dry savanna, swamps, and mangroves ; again, a small savanna ; 

 and finally, cabbage-trees and balatas bordering on the Cocal. 

 The track opened on the beach about midway between the Nariva 

 and the Ortoire. 



All the water-courses met with during the survey, had a 

 northerly or north-easterly direction. Four of them only bear 

 names, viz., the Cunape, about one mile and three-quarters, and 

 the Canque, five miles from Tamana ; the Carapa, one mile and a 

 quarter, westward of the first savanna, and the Caratal immedi- 

 ately after the same. About six miles from the starting-point, 

 Messrs. Sorzano and d'Abadie met with a low wet tract ; and, 

 soon after, with an impassable swamp, which compelled them to 

 alter their line by nearly a mile to the southward. These gentle- 

 men observed, on their route, several cacao-trees : were they acci- 

 dentally planted, or are they the natural growth of the country ? 

 They fell in also with brush- wood, and a few lime-trees ; such 

 being evidence that, during slavery, the maroons or fugitive 

 slaves resorted to that spot, as to a fastness. 



In the following year, Mr. d'Abadie received further instruc- 

 tions to find a more direct road to the eastern coast, from 

 Savanna Grande to the Cocal, or to Mayaro. He started from 

 i Monkey Town on the 19th of March, 1850, but completed his 

 j survey only the following year, when he reached the Cocal one 

 | mile northward of the mouth of the Ortoire — the whole length 

 : of the track being twenty-six miles. He followed, as far as 

 | possible, the direction of ridges, in order to avoid the low 

 : swampy grounds. For seventeen miles all the water-courses 

 | had their flow southward towards the Ortoire. The principal 

 were the following : Guanapure, three miles from the starting- 

 ! point ; this river ought to be regarded as the true origin of the 



