X PREFACE. 



accomplish a pleasant duty, in tendering my acknowledgments to 

 those who have supplied me with materials for, or have otherwise 

 aided me in, the completion of this work. 



During the eight years of the Eight Honourable Lord Harris's 

 rule in Trinidad, his Lordship invariably manifested the liveliest 

 interest in the welfare of the island, not only as to the develop- 

 ment of its natural resources, but also in regard to the intellectual 

 and moral improvements of its inhabitants ; and that interest he 

 evinced in various ways, but particularly by directly encouraging 

 useful information, and the diffusion of knowledge among all 

 classes. 



After awarding a very liberal prize to the best Essay on the 

 Cultivation of the Sugar-cane and the Manufacture of Sugar, his 

 lordship proposed for public competition another Essay on the 

 Vegetable and Mineral Resources of Trinidad. Various reasons 

 then prevented me from writing on the subject ; the proposals, 

 however, aroused in my mind a strong desire to bring under 

 public notice the natural resources of this important, but com- 

 paratively unknown and much neglected, colony ; and to that 

 circumstance may be traced the origin of the present work. 



My personal knowledge of the island being confined to a few 

 localities only, I have availed myself of information drawn from 

 publications on the subject, and especially from the valuable 

 survey made by Captain Columbine, of the northern and eastern 

 coasts of the island. From the survey of Captain Laurence, of 

 H.M. schooner Scorpion, I have also obtained the elevation of 

 some of our mountains and a few remarkable spots. These aids, 

 however, were not alone sufficient to enable me to give the 

 topography of Trinidad ; but from many kind friends I have 

 received most useful and interesting contributions, and from some, 

 material aid : to these gentlemen, too numerous to be individually 

 mentioned, I here offer my most grateful acknowledgments : they 

 are, however, especially due to Mr. John Thatcher. 



The zoological part of this work is very incomplete ; but not 

 only did I not possess the necessary facilities for writing very 

 comprehensively on the subject, but my intention has merely 



