On the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 159 
deposited upon the naked pite 
In the course of several days spent in examining the lake and 
the region around it I walked several miles along the sea-shore 
both to the northward and to the southward ‘of the lake. To 
the southward the shore is made up of bold cliffs upon which 
the sea is making rapid inroads. The strata consist of indurated 
clays of brilliant red and yellow colors. They present also 
thick veins of porcelain jasper. 
Strata of loosely coherent sandstones also abound. These are 
more solid and durable where they are impregnated with bitumen 
which acts asa cement. Rounded pebbles of pitch and porce- 
lain jasper form a beach at the foot of the cliffs. é 
out a mile and a half south of the lake 1 observed numer- 
ous beds of slightly indurated clay filled with the remains of 
leaves and vegetation. A little further on appears a bed of brown 
coal and lignite about twelve feet thick. It has such a dip and 
direction that if continuous it would pass under the lake at a 
great depth. But the strata are here much contorted and some 
even thrown into upright positions. 
Pebbles of pure asphaltum are thrown up by the waves at this 
point and not far off the beach is blackened by brilliant titanic 
iron sand. 
- Nearer the lake and to the southwest of it, a large spring of 
petroleum breaks out under the sea. The escape of gases from 
this vent is sometimes so violent as.to spout a column of water 
several feet high. 
d over the place in a boat but at the time. there was no 
ebullition although a strong odor of bitumen pervaded the sea 
reeze and acres of the sea were iridescent with the floating oil. 
The rocks on the beach opposite were varnished of a bright glossy 
black by the petroleum. [ filled a bottle with it by skimming it 
up from the water with a palm leaf. 
Many springs of petroleum oécur in the interior, within a few 
miles of the lake. ‘T'wo veins of pure asphaltum enclosed in clay 
were discovered about three-fourths of a mile from the same 
night hawks from their nests is rather from their eggs which were 
as yet unknown, distance under the sea. 
About a mile to the northward of the lake another bed of 
brown coal crops out upon the shore. It is about twenty feet 
