12 SEA FISH OF TRINIDAD 



provide their own food, liquor, bed and table linen, and cut- 

 lery; all the other furnishings are found with the house. 

 A small stock of groceries, pickled meats, etc., will have to 

 be taken down on assuming possession of the island home, 

 also some live poultry. The Government Gulf Steamer 

 visits the Islands four times a week, and supplies of fresh 

 meat, ice, etc., can also be had down on board when re- 

 required. The climate of these islands is very healthy, dry, 

 and equable, though necessarily hot in the middle of the 

 day under a tropical sun ; the scenery is lovely, bathing not 

 to be surpassed anywhere, and these subsidiaries should go 

 far towards enhancing the enjoyments of the keenest fisher- 

 man. The names and situations of these four islands are : — 

 I. Chacachacare, separated from the Spanish Main or 

 Venezuelan Coast by the Boca Grande or fourth Boca. 

 This island may be described as consisting of two smaller 

 islets or ridges converging towards the north until they meet, 

 being there connected by a narrow neck of land about a him- 

 dred yards broad, and a few feet above sea level. On the 

 Western side of this neck is the beautiful Bay of La Tinta 

 facing the Grand Boca and the Venezuelan Coast; on the 

 Eastern side there is a fine cove with deep water formed by 

 the ridges. This bay was much used as an anchorage by the 

 ** Dreadnought " when she came to Trinidad on her trial trip 

 in 1907. Chacachacare and Monos are the largest of the 

 four, being about one and a half square miles in extent each, 

 and having a population of several hundred Creoles, who 

 fish in a very desultory manner, their chief subsistence being 

 derived from what they call " gardens " on the neighbouring 

 mainland of Venezuela, where they squat at the risk of a 

 very summary and forcible ejection. As the land on the 

 Main is very rich, what they plant in maize, plantains, 

 cocoa, etc., gives back fourfold (at very little cost of labour) 

 what they could raise on the poor dry soil of their own 

 island. Chacachacare boasts a light-house on the north- 

 west point, at an elevation of 800 feet above the sea level. 

 It commands the Boca de Navios (Ships') and has an ex- 

 tremely powerful light, being visible from a ship's deck at a 

 distance of 40 miles. There are four residences available for 



