88 TRINIDAD. 



St. Joseph, at the foot of the mountains, and adjoining the royal 

 road ; this gypsum is very white, containing native sulphur, and 

 perfectly resembling that of Guiria, on the opposite coast of the 

 gulf. Lamellar gypsum is found in many places in the southern 

 division, as also granular, and a bank of grayish earthy sulphate 

 of lime is known on the Brechin Castle estate, ward of Savanetta, 

 within a short distance of Congrejos Bay. 



In the county of Victoria, a large tract, viz., the ward of South 

 Naparima, presents a substratum of magnesian marl, on which 

 supervenes a layer, more or less in depth, of the most fertile soil 

 in the world. 



Sandstone is also abundant, and is exhibited in the limestone 

 formation, as, for instance, near Port of Spain, at Maraval, Pointe- 

 a-Pierres, Manzanilla, Quemada, &c. Between Guanape and 

 Aripo, at the foot of the mountains, the soil is composed alto- 

 gether of silicious pebbles, imbedded in a coarse reddish clay. 

 Blocks of milky quartz, and crystals of hyaline quartz, are found in 

 many parts of the mountainous region, and at the bases of the 

 mountains. " However extraordinary this mixture of sandstone 

 and compact limestone may appear,' 7 says Baron von Humboldt, 

 " we cannot doubt that these strata belong to one and the same 

 formation." 



The slate, or schistose formation, is also extensive and very 

 apparent in the hills forming the vallies of St. Ann and Maraval. 

 Mica slate, talcky, and mica schists, are particularly common ; the 

 latter sometimes contains garnets, generally of a small size. The 

 admixture of sandstone, schistose, and limestone rocks, is well 

 marked at Monos ; some of the projections are formed of lime- 

 stone, others of large slabs of schistose rocks; and mica schists are 

 observed in many localities, as also quartz rocks. In our vallies 

 and the beds of rivers rounded pebbles of quartz-stone, some 

 very large, are found, together with a small flat stone of a bluish 

 soft talc ; this is particularly apparent after some of those moun- 

 tain torrents, swollen by heavy rains, have furrowed the neigh- 

 bouring ridges. The softer rocks, however, soon disintegrate, and 

 the silicious pebbles alone resist the action of atmospheric agents, 

 and thus predominate in the vallies and beds of rivers. 



Lignite, and perhaps anthracite, have been found to the west- 

 ward of the river Moruga, near Erin, and apparently occurs in 

 seams, not only in that locality, but in several places also through- 



