298 TRINIDAD. 



cient to warrant a decision on their medicinal properties; but 

 they have been used in a few cases of nervous debility particularly, 

 and have proved efficacious ; this spring, therefore, will be found 

 of great advantage to invalids. It is in that part of the mountains, 

 stretching between Santa Cruz and Maraccas bay, that Galena 

 was found by Mr. Darmany, as before related. Very valuable 

 timber abounds in these wards. 



Tacarigua, to the eastward of St. Joseph, is in general more 

 level than the latter ward, a small section only to the north being 

 hilly ; the plain slopes very gradually towards the Caroni. The 

 banks of this river are somewhat higher than the adjacent plain, 

 which, being in some parts of a retentive nature, is not easily 

 drained. The soil of the ward is, in general, light too much so, 

 in a few spots. 



Tacarigua, strictly so called, is more fertile than Arouca. It 

 is here proper to remark, that the quality of the land gradually 

 improves from Port-of- Spain to St. Joseph ; but from St. Joseph, 

 eastward, it becomes gradually poorer, until we reach the 

 table-land between Aripo and Cuare. Eastward of Cuare, it 

 again improves until meeting the fertile districts of Oropouche 

 arid Manzanilla. The hilly parts of Tacarigua, and also portions of 

 the plain, are cultivated in provisions, the rest in canes, there 

 being eleven sugar estates in this ward, of which only two are 

 worked with cattle mills. The river Tacarigua traverses this 

 ward, flowing from the valley of Caura ; it supplies three water- 

 mills. On the left bank of the river, and immediately southward 

 of the Royal road, is the parish church of St. Mary, not far from 

 which is the country-seat of the late Mr. Burnley. Between St. 

 Joseph and the Tacarigua river, houses scattered on each side of 

 the road form a rude village. Another village, on a more 

 regular plan, is situated opposite the Orange-grove and Dinsley 

 estates, on lands of the Paradise, an abandoned sugar estate. 

 Two miles further eastward, is the village of Arauca, with a 

 catholic church and a presbyterian chapel. 



Next to Tacarigua are Arima and Guanape, very much re- 

 sembling each other in point of soil and general features. Of 

 these wards, a small part only is hilly, the greater portion being 

 flat : the soil is in general very poor, except on the hills and along 

 the rivers such as those of Arima and Guanape where there is 

 a belt of alluvium, very rich and well adapted to the cultivation of 



