76 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 
What a contrast to the hurly-burly outside! There had 
been recently heavy seas and plenty of rain, so the beach was 
clean, as clean, possibly, as it would have been if the 50 maids 
of the Walrus and Carpenter ballad had been employed on it, 
just a few sea-borne logs here and there. In places, torn up 
and spread out by the tide were heaps of chip-chip, a small 
shell-fish with which the East coast cooks concoct a most 
delicious and nutritious soup, pretty, rose-tinted shells 
attached to the end of a coralline 15 ins., or 18 ins. long, 
purple bivalves, with graceful spines projecting from them 
(Cytherea Dione), and numberless other objects of joy to the 
curiosity hunter. Five miles from where we turned on to 
the Manzanilla beach, and we arrived at the great house of 
the Cocal, the residence of our genial old friend, L. E. B., the 
manager of the property, generally called King Coco in the 
quarter, on account of his extreme devotion to, and care of, 
that valuable palm and product. He received us with open 
arms, and, after offering libations to Bacchus, we took a walk 
through his favourite groves to the Nariva, which runs at 
the back and parallel with the Cocal, to look into the fishing 
prospects, as I had heard great tales of giant tarpon, grouper 
and cat-fish, the latter equal in size to those of the Mississippi 
80 lbs. in weight, but fisherman, beware!!!! the poison barb, 
a wound from it can hardly be healed. L. E. B. told us that 
some four weeks previously, his men had harpooned and 
killed a ‘“‘manatee”’ or sea-cow in the mouth of the river, 
about 600 Ibs. in weight, and showed us the hide, which had 
just been returned to him from Port of Spain, where it had 
been tanned. It was really fine, strong leather, looking as 
if it would last for ever, judging by a pair of buggy traces he 
had made out of it. 
Our host was very keen on the cultivation of the coco-nut, 
and as I had realized for some time past, that it is at present 
and will probably remain for some time the most profitable 
of tropical plants, the conversation was very interesting to 
me. My own impression is, that the chemists having over- 
come the inversion that usually took place in the freshly ex- 
pressed oil of the coco-nut some twenty-four hours after 
manufacture, and the result of this discovery being the thou- 
