304 TRINIDAD. 



The county of St. David, as may be inferred from the above 

 sketch, is very thinly populated, and scantily cultivated : a few 

 cacao plantations, on the sea-border and on the banks of the rivers 

 Oropuche and Matura, with a growth of rice and provisions, only 

 sufficient for the consumption of its inhabitants, form the whole 

 of its productive industry. The hills and undulating parts of this 

 county are fertile, but the plain is desperately barren ; this latter 

 circumstance, connected with the want of a good sea-port, will 

 be, for an indefinite period, a serious hindrance to the progress of 

 this district. One single ward-road, or rather trace, branching 

 off the Royal road, between Valencia and Aripo, connects Matura 

 and Oropuche with Arima ; it then follows the Matura river to 

 the sea; from the mouth of the Matura along the beach to 

 Salibea bay, and thence, across the hills, to Toco. Population 

 913 of which 187 are protestants, and 722 Roman catholics ; 

 males, 533 ; females, 380. 



County of St. Andrew. Only one ward has been formed of 

 this county, viz., that of Manzanilla. The only inhabited portion 

 is that comprising the settlements of Manzanilla and Morne 

 Calabash : these were formed, like those of Cuare, Turure, and 

 la Ceyba, of disbanded soldiers, on the same plan and with the 

 same views, and were brought under the common law, in the 

 year 1849 fifteen acres of land being granted free to each 

 settler or his descendants. For many years, the settlers in St. 

 Andrew had as their superintendent a medical man. They were 

 on half-pay, and every month a drogher was despatched from 

 Port-of- Spain to carry provisions to the settlement, and return 

 with their produce to town the owners of the produce travelling 

 generally by land. The ward of Manzanilla and the county of 

 St. Andrew in general is fertile ; in fact, Morne Calabash and 

 Manzanilla may be classed among the richest soils of Trinidad. 

 " Plant a stampee (the smallest silver coin) and a doubloon will 

 grow," is a common proverb of the inhabitants, whereby to 

 express their opinion of the fertility of the soil ; and really the 

 whole tract bordering on the sea, and from about eight to ten 

 miles inland, is of the best description ; the surface is undulating, 

 and lavishly produces those natural indexes of fertility carats, 

 cedars, wild fig-trees, balisiers, &c. That section of the colony 

 would be densely populated were it not for the great difficulty of 

 conveying the produce to a market; as, except the small port 



