SOUTH NAPARIMA. 315 



South Naparima. This section is divided into two wards, viz., 

 South Naparima eastern and western wards. It is bounded on 

 the N., by the district of N. Naparima ; on the S.,by the Oropuche 

 lagoon ; on the E., by Savannah Grande ; on the W., by the 

 gulf. It is gently undulating, and the whole of it may be said to 

 be under cane cultivation. If not the largest, at least the best 

 sugar estates of the colony are in this section. Very little cacao is 

 grown, and few ground provisions are raised, though maize, rice, 

 and edible roots, such as yams and tanias, thrive remarkably well. 

 The soil of this district may be classed under three heads black, 

 orfyuier soil ; dark brown, or zapatero ; and white. The black 

 soil is called figuier, on account of the great quantity of thefyuiers 

 or wild fig-trees which grow therein, and the dark brown, zapatero, 

 because the zapatero tree is there found in great abundance. The 

 figuier soil is of the very best description, and of inexhaustible 

 fertility : it extends in the form of a zone or belt, from the sea 

 board and the lagoon, along the river Cipero, towards Savannah 

 Grande ; it varies in breadth from three to four miles. Not only 

 do canes ratoon in this soil for many years, but it does not seem to 

 be very favourable to the growth of rank weeds ; from two to three 

 annual weedings only are required to keep the cane-fields clean 

 and in good condition. The canes generally do not grow to a 

 very large size, but from twenty to thirty shoot from the same 

 stool, and the richness of the juice varies from 15 to 22 per cent, 

 of sugar. The zapatero soil is also excellent, although not of the 

 same extreme fertility. The white soil of Naparima forms, in a 

 manner, the substratum of the whole district ; it is a magnesian 

 marl. Wherever it predominates, the canes are liable to wither 

 from drought during the dry season, but they grow and thrive well 

 during rainy weather. The principal defect of this soil seems to 

 result from its colour, which opposes the free absorption of heat, 

 whilst its power of reflection acts injuriously on the foliage of the 

 cane. Stable manure is the best corrective of this defect. That 

 the magnesian marl forms the substratum of a large tract, becomes 

 apparent wherever the superstratum has been removed by one 

 cause or another, and patches of it are also met with both in the 

 black and brown soil. 



There are more cattle mills in this district than in any other of 

 the island; and the proprietors are so well satisfied with the 

 results that they do not think of making a change to steam-engines. 



