328 TRINIDAD. 



timber for water-transport to the capital. The mora is a social 

 plant, and grows in immense quantities on the same spot, whilst 

 the young plants are as thickly set under the grown up trees as in 

 a well-supplied nursery. The trees are felled and cut into logs ? 

 the largest sized being squared on the spot; they are then formed 

 into rafts and floated to Port-of- Spain, a distance of forty miles. 

 A saw-mill has lately been established on the sea-board of the 

 town, with apparatuses for planing, grooving, tonguing, and 

 morticing the latter not yet in operation. 



It seems that the mill was originally intended to have been 

 erected on or near the forest ground ; and this, at first sight, 

 might appear the most obvious as well as feasible plan ; but the 

 only advantage obtainable by this position would have been that 

 the timber could have been sawn on the spot into scantling 

 planks or boards, and conveyed to Port-of-Spain by means of 

 droghers, or coasters, instead of being transported, as at present, 

 in logs of unwieldy bulk, on a raTt, or float, of a peculiar con- 

 struction, and towed by a schooner which is itself laden with the 

 lighter timber. A serious inconvenience would, however, have 

 arisen, in case of accidents, from the remoteness of the works 

 from any forge, or foundry, which could furnish the necessary 

 repairs to the engine and mill-machinery; and even were this 

 objection obviated by attaching one or other of the above depart- 

 ments to the establishment, the additional expense would be in a 

 great measure superfluous, for there are already engaged a super- 

 intendent engineer at 500 and an assistant at 250 per annum. 

 Now, were a forge or foundry set up in exclusive connection 

 with the Mora settlement (as must have been the case, since there 

 are no estates adjoining, from which an extra supply of work 

 could be procured), a smith, or founder, with at least one assistant, 

 must have been engaged at fixed salaries. But it is not to be 

 supposed that newly erected machinery would furnish constant, 

 or even average employment, to two artisans throughout the year, 

 and consequently, the local scheme, as already shown, would not 

 only have been a disadvantageous but a losing speculation. 



I know not whether these drawbacks were taken into con- 

 sideration at the time, but I have heard that one of the principal 

 motives influencing the fixture at Port-of-Spain was the positive 

 refusal of the chief engineer to reside at Irois. This objection, 

 however, standing alone, would appear rather futile. 



