902 



Popular Science Monthly 



In the National Museum at Washington is a model of the Island of Trinidad, showing 

 the topographical details on a scale of one inch to sixty feet 



A Model of Trinidad's Famous 

 Asphalt Lake 



THERE are several places in which 

 natural asphalt in one form or 

 another exists with but few impurities, 

 the best known and largest being located 

 on the Island of Trinidad, a British pos- 

 session lying off the northeast coast of 

 Venezuela. The island includes about one 

 thousand seven hundred and fifty square 

 miles of rather barren land. Near its 

 center is a lake of natural asphalt about 

 one hundred and thirty acres in extent, 

 which furnishes over two hundred thou- 

 sand tons of material each year. Nearly 

 one half of this total is sent to the 

 United States. 



Nature seems to have endowed this 

 remarkable lake with miraculous powers. 

 The supply never decreases appreciably, 

 in spite of the great number of tons of 

 asphalt removed annually. From some 

 eternal pitch-spring located far beneath 

 the surface there continues to flow a 

 steady stream of this fine road-building 

 substance. Naturally it is not like water 

 in consistency; it flows very slowly like 

 cold molasses or tar. It is not unlike 

 the asphalt seen in the carts in your own 

 home town, but it is not boiling or even 

 hot, except for the heat of the tropical 

 sun which renders the work on the sur- 

 face very uncomfortable. Since the 

 lake is fairly solid, the men and teams 

 go out on its surface to dig and haul 

 the asphalt to the refining plant on 

 shore. Although not molten, this lake 

 has a perceptible motion, which pre- 

 vents the construction of buildings for 

 refining or a railway for transmission on 

 its surface. 



In the highest part of the model and near 

 the center the black asphalt lake glistens. 

 On the shore near at hand stands the re- 

 fining plant, and the little tram-way 

 which conveys the material ready for 

 shipping down to the pier at the water's 

 edge. Scattered about the island are 

 many fine residences and rows of houses 

 where dwell the working men and their 

 families, as well as a club house built to 

 accommodate the visitors, since the 

 island has been converted into a very 

 good winter health resort. 



I 



An Improvised Flour Bin 

 N the absence 



of a kitchen 

 cabinet a con- 

 venient flour 

 sifter can be 

 made by using 

 an ordinary bag 

 and placing a 

 sifter in the 

 opening, after 

 securely fasten- 

 ing it with heavy 

 string. The bag 

 is inverted and 

 hung from a nail, 

 conveniently 

 placed above the 

 work t a b 1 e by 

 running a heavy 

 string through 

 the bottom. At 

 first the flour 

 will sift out 



as it shifts into position, but it Will soon 

 settle in the bowl of the sifter. 



A flour sack is also 

 a flour bin 



