CHAPTER IL 



ANTILLES OF THE VENEZUELAN SEABOAED. 



I. — Tobago, Trinidad, Margarita, Leeward Group. 



HE islands lying in proximity to the Venezuelan coast, and usually 

 grouped with the Antilles, are not to be regarded as all belonging 

 to the same formation. They are, in fact, of diverse origin, and 

 Tobago, easternmost of the series and geographically harmonising 

 best with the West Indies proper, is yet invisible from Grenada, 

 the nearest member of that system. The two islands are also separated by great 

 oceanic depths, while the waters shoal gradually from Tobago towards the mainland. 

 This island is also disposed south-west and uorth-east, nearly in a line with the 

 heights of Trinidad. 



Trinidad itself is obviously a mere fragment detached from the continent b}'^ a 

 disturbance of comparatively recent date in geological time. Margarita and neigh- 

 bouring islets constitute, on the other hand, the remains of a mountain range which 

 formerly ran parallel with the Cumana (Cariaco) peninsula. Lastly Tortuga, 

 Curaçao and other western islands, sometimes collectively called the "Leeward 

 Group," like the southern section of the Antilles proper, form another chain running 

 with great regularity for a distance of 370 miles in the same direction as the first 

 ranges of the Andes system in Venezuela. 



Advantage was taken by the European naval powers of the position of these 

 islands at some distance from the mainland to detach most of them from the Spanish 

 main. Of the larger members of the group, Margarita alone remained in the 

 possession of Spain, and thus passed to the State of Venezuela, together with the 

 valueless islets and reefs of Coche, Cubagua, Tortuga, Los Testigos, Blanquilla, 

 Orchilla, Los Roques, and Birds (Aves). But Tobago in the east and the neigh- 

 bouring Trinidad, most important of all, were annexed to the vast colonial empire 

 of Great Britain, while Curaçao, Buen Ayre, and Aruba in the extreme west still 

 remain Dutch colonies. 



II. — Tobago. 



Tobago, as it is called by its English masters, projects in the form of a spear- 

 head to the north-east of Trinidad. Its real name is Tahaco, a word which recalls 



