80 TRINIDAD. 



Trinidad. The northern division is more mountainous; the 

 range, in that direction, attaining an elevation of two and three 

 thousand feet. The ground rises gradually from each extremity 

 towards the centre, and from the depth of the valley, on each 

 side, towards the ridges. The southern portion is less mountainous 

 the middle and southern ranges reaching the height of about 

 1,200 feet, whilst intermediately the country exhibits more 

 or less of gradation ; a uniformly undulating surface being suc- 

 ceeded on the N. and S.E. by a hilly, and, -in some parts, a 

 broken region. 



In the northern section the rivers are, generally speaking, 

 larger ; such as the Matura and Oropuche, to the eastward ; the 

 Caroni, Chaguanas, and Couva, to the westward ; the only large 

 river in the southern section is the Guataro. Nevertheless, the 

 rivers, which from the southern range flow in a southerly direction, 

 are larger and more numerous than those which from the northern 

 range have a northerly course. The Caroni swamp, in the 

 northern, is corresponded to by the Nariva Lagoon, in the 

 southern section ; but the Oropuche or Grand Lagoon has not 

 its counterpart in the northern section, unless Oropuche be taken 

 as such. 



There are no ports on the eastern coast ; but, as a compensation, 

 easy communication may be established with the gulf by means 

 of wheel or even tram-roads ; so that the produce, from eastern 

 and intervening districts, may be easily brought to the shores of 

 the gulf. It was once in project to connect the Oropuche with 

 the Caroni by means of a canal. I fear, however, that canal 

 communications will not answer in a country like ours, where 

 there exist no considerable water-courses, and where the rains 

 are so heavy at one season as to cause partial inundations, and 

 the drought so protracted at another as to dry up the ravines, and 

 even portions of the larger streams for several weeks at a time ; 

 under such circumstances, tram-roads deserve a decided pre- 

 ference. 



None of the other islands, I believe, offer such advantages as 

 Trinidad in an agricultural point of view. Even its highest 

 summits are not inaccessible to beasts of burden, and there the 

 soil is commonly of excellent quality. The area of the island 

 is about 2,012 square miles, or 1,287,600 acres; of this quantity 

 not more than 213,292 are appropriated, of which about 53,000 



