308 TRINIDAD. 



is the following : the fisherman makes a sort of raft with rushes, 

 and then ventures out on the deep water, throwing his cast-net, 

 which he generally withdraws fully laden with fish. 



Westward of the Bejucal is the Cascaradura-hole, very deep and 

 in the centre of a bog. The savannah extends southward of the 

 Bejucal to the river Chaguanas. Westward of the savannah, and 

 along the sea-board are the mangrove swamps, dotted over with 

 ponds of salt or brackish water, and traversed by several natural 

 canals. It is a hard task, and not altogether free from danger, to 

 venture into these swamps, as it is necessary to leap, almost from 

 root to root, to take any step in advance. 



Between the Royal road and the Caroni is the first pond, that 

 of Maitre Jacques ; it communicates with the sea by a canal. To 

 the south of the Caroni are three ponds ; then comes the Blue 

 river, an outlet from the centre of the savannah. To the south of 

 the Blue river are several ponds of different sizes, and among 

 them the Great and Amand ponds ; next is the Small river, or 

 Amand canal. Between the latter and the Blue river is G-rand- 

 point the only spot between town and Savanetta where a landing 

 can be effected at all tides. Next to Amand canal are the Mud- 

 pond canal and the river Chaguanas: the latter rises in the 

 Montserrat range, and after running along the outskirts of the 

 Caroni grand savannah from which it is separated by a belt of 

 high wood it crosses that part of the savannah which stretches 

 along the sea-board. 



To the east of the mangroves, bordering on the savannah, are 

 several ponds, the principal of which are hard and mud ponds, 

 which are drained off to the sea by several canals. Southward of 

 Chaguanas is Cipriani's canal, which communicates with the river 

 Chaguanas. 



The Caroni or Grand Savannah is regarded, and has been 

 hitherto reserved, as a public pasture-ground, to which the working 

 animals principally cattle .and mules are sent from various 

 estates for the advantage of a more extensive grazing, out of crop. 

 Annually in March (or sooner or later, according to the dryness 

 of the season) fire is set to the savannah, in order to burn up the 

 sour and rank grass, and sometimes this fire keeps alive for weeks 

 the dense dark smoke spreading and hanging over like an 

 immense cloud. 



It has been observed, as the beneficial result of this yearly 



