HISTORICAL OUTLINE. 81 



acres only are under cultivation, the rest still belonging to the 

 crown. 



Monotony may be said to be the characteristic feature of the 

 country ; and this tameness of scenery arises not so much from a 

 general evenness of surface as from the vast and almost unbroken 

 series of virgin forests, which still cover nearly the whole of its 

 extent; and thus this beautiful and fertile colony, capable of 

 supporting, according to a most moderate calculation, 300,000 

 inhabitants, at present maintains the unimportant aggregate of 

 70,000 individuals. 



HISTORICAL OUTLINE. Trinidad was discovered on the 31st 

 of July, 1498, by Christopher Columbus on his third voyage to 

 the New World. " On the 31st of July," says Washington 

 Irving in his life of Columbus, " there was not above one cask 

 of water remaining in each ship, when about mid-day a mariner 

 at the mast-head beheld the summit of three mountains rising 

 above the horizon, arid gave the joyful cry of Land! As the ships 

 drew nearer, it was seen that these three mountains were united 

 at the base. Columbus had determined to give the first land he 

 should meet the name of the Trinity. The appearance of these 

 three mountains united into one, struck him as a singular coin- 

 cidence ; and, with a solemn feeling of devotion, he gave the island 

 the name of ' La Trinidad,' which it bears at the present day." 



It appears that Columbus first approached the south-eastern 

 point of the island, and gave it the name of Punta de la Galera 

 from the peculiar shape of a rock, closely resembling a galley 

 under sail ; this designation was afterwards exchanged for that of 

 Punta de la Galeota, of similar signification ; the former name 

 now designating the north-eastern point. Columbus then coasted 

 the southern shore, and entered the Gulf of Paria, between 

 Point Icacos which he called Punta Arenal and the Wolves' 

 Rocks. On the 2nd August, he cast anchor " to leeward" 

 of a El Gallo." To the pass itself, from its dangerous appearance, 

 he gave the name of " Boca de la Sierpe," or the Serpent's 

 Mouth ; to the gulf that of " Golfo de la Balena," " Golfo Triste," 

 or the Whale's Gulf, and the Dull Gulf; and to the northern pass 

 that of " Boca del Dragon," or the Dragon's Mouth. 



" Columbus," again says Irving, "was surprised at the verdure 

 and fertility of the country, having expected to find it more 

 parched and sterile as he approached the equator ; whereas he 



