SPRINGS, RIVERS, CANALS, LAKES, 



these animals. It is not easy to state precisely the extent of this 

 great collection of pilch; the line between it and the neighbouring 

 soil is not always well defined, and indeed it appears to form the 

 siibstratom of the surrounding tract of land. We may say, how- 

 ever, that it is bounded on the north and west sides by the sea, on 

 the south by the rocky eminence of porcelain jasper before men. 

 tioned, and on the east by the usual argillaceous soil of the country ; 

 the main body may perhaps be estimated at three miles in circum- 

 ference ; the depth cannot be ascertained, and no subjacent rock or 

 soil can be discovered. Where the bitumen is slightly covered by 

 soil, there are plantations of cassava, plantains and pine-apples, the 

 last of which grow with luxuriance and attain to great perfection. 

 There are three or four French and one English sugar estates in the 

 immediate neighbourhood : our opinion of the soil did not, however, 

 coincide with that of Mr. Anderson, who in the account he gave 

 some years years ago thought it very fertile. It is worthy of remark, 

 that the main body of the pitch, which may properly be called the 

 Jake, is situated higher than the adjoining land, and that you descend 

 by a gentle slope to the sea, where the pitch is much contaminated 

 by the sand of the beach. During the dry season, as I have before 

 remarked, this pitch is much softened, so that different bodies have 

 been known slowly to sink into it : if a quantity be cut out, the 

 cavity left will be shortly tilled up ; and I have heard it related, that 

 when the Spaniards undertook formerly to prepare the pitch for 

 (Economical purposes, and had imprudently erected their cauldrons 

 on the very lake, they completely sank in the course of a night, so 

 as to defeat their intentions. Numberless proofs are given of its 

 being at times in this softened state : the negro houses of the vicinage, 

 for instance, built by driving posts in the earth, frequently are 

 twisted or sunk on one side. In many places it seems to have 

 actually overflown like lava, and presents the wrinkled appearance 

 which a sluggish substance would exhibit in motion. 



This substance is generally thought to be the asphaltum of 

 naturalists: in different spots, however, it presents different appear- 

 ances. In some parts it is black, with a splintery conchoidal fracture, 

 of considerable specific gravity, with little or no lustre, resembling 

 particular kinds of coal, and so hard as to require a severe blow of 

 the hammer to detach or break it ; in other parts it is so much 

 softer, as to allow one to cut out a pkce in any form with a spade 



