334 TRINIDAD. 



on the S. and E. by the sea, on the W. by the county of St. 

 Patrick. It comprises only one ward, that of Mayaro, which con- 

 sists of the old quarters of Mayaro and Guayaguayare, extending 

 along the eastern and southern coasts, from Point Mayaro to 

 Point Casa-Cruz. Only a part of this belt is cultivated, and it is 

 very thinly inhabited. Mayaro preserves a level all along the sea- 

 shore, from Point Mayaro to the Lagon-doux, but runs into 

 waving land towards the interior. The level tract along the beach 

 is a light sandy loam, of excellent quality, compounded largely of 

 organic matters, with a goodly proportion of comminuted marine 

 shells ; the undulating region is of a dark clayey loam, resembling 

 the Naparima Sapatero soil. The sugar-cane, rice, plantains, and 

 roots, succeed admirably and yield abundant returns ; sweet 

 potatoes, also, and yams are of particularly fine growth, and of 

 excellent quality. The coco-palm thrives better along the Mayaro 

 beach than anywhere else, perhaps, in the colony. Cotton was 

 once extensively cultivated, but the high price of sugar, coupled 

 with the depredations of caterpillars and locusts, induced the pro- 

 prietors to abandon its cultivation for that of the cane. Six 

 sugar estates were then settled in the quarter. Immediately 

 after emancipation, however, a great number of the emancipated 

 labourers abandoned the cane-fields for other pursuits, and the 

 planters were compelled to make the most urgent sacrifices to 

 procure immigrants. But the difficulties of communication with 

 Port-of- Spain, and the high freight paid for the carriage of produce 

 thither, as well as of articles of food therefrom, influenced, or rather 

 necessitated, the labourers to retire from the quarter ; they were, 

 in fact, sometimes left without salt provisions, or even flour, for 

 weeks. The remoteness of Mayaro from a market, therefore, was 

 the chief cause of its utter ruin, all the sugar estates having, in 

 succession, gone out of cultivation. The plantation of coco-palms, 

 however, has extended, and, it is expected, will continue to ex- 

 tend, both to the advantage of the proprietors and the prosperity 

 of the ward. 



Cotton and provisions only, as far as I know, have hitherto 

 been cultivated in Guayaguayare. The soil is of excellent quality, 

 being either a rich, clayey, or light loam ; and it may be said, that 

 no part of the island has been found better adapted to the growth 

 of corn, plantains, and other articles of food, than this quarter. 

 Guayaguayare, moreover, is well watered, an advantage of which 



