86 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 
fell into the water, at a distance of 400 toises (fathoms), and 
this caused on the sea-shore such a ‘remous’ that it (the 
boat) was capsized and thrown perilously near the iceberg.”’ 
3. Counter-currents formed on each river boundary, 
which direct themselves to the source after having struck 
the bank. On the great rivers there are along the sides con- 
siderable ‘‘remous,”’ and these intensify in power the nearer 
the sea is reached and the larger the river bed becomes. 
Some etymologists derive “remous’’ from the Latin 
removére, but others assert that “remole’”’ derived from the 
Latin emolere is the proper appellation. ‘Remole’’ is a sea 
term in France rarely used, and means a whirlpool which is 
always more or less dangerous. The Spanish word “remo- 
lino,’ also meaning a whirlpool, is evidently derived from 
the same source. Chateaubriand in his book on the Chase 
in America, mentions the word thus: “Ils (the beavers) 
approchent du souperail (trou ménagé dans la glace), le re- 
mole qu’ils font en nageant les trahit. ” 
It must be remembered that there is the sweep of two 
contrary currents along the coast, which have their point of 
conflict in the bay opposite Port of Spain. The currents are 
made up of the resultants between the tides of the sea, the 
Orinoco currents and the Caroni current. When the tide is 
ebbing a current sweeps along the coast from the Serpent’s 
Mouth towards Port of Spain and seeks an outlet through the 
Bocas into the Caribbean. But when the tide rises, a con- 
trary current forms outside the Bocas, forces them back to 
the eastward, and there is a moment just at the lowest ebb 
and the approaching rise, that the famous boiling of the 
waters, called the ‘“remous” takes place; afterwards the 
Bocas currents assert their supremacy until the tide begins 
to ebb once more. 
It is a curious and withal fascinating sight to stand on a 
headland commanding a good view, especially on a calm day, 
in the vicinity of the Bocas, and watch the “remous’’ from 
its coming to its passing away—a period of about thirty 
minutes, when there is a spring-tide. Personally, I prefer 
the rocks at Pointe Baleine, the headland cocupying the 
western end of Gasper Grande, because the view from there 
