64 SOUTH AMERICA— THE ANDES REGIONS. 



ashore took root in favourable soil. Sucli is said to be tbe origin of the Cocal, a 

 narrow belt of superb coconut-palms, which develops a crescent along the coast 

 between Mancenillier and Guataro Points. The traveller passing from the virgin 

 forests of the interior into the Cocal might fancy he had been suddenly trans- 

 ported, as if b7 magic, from the West Indies to the Laccadives, Maldives, or some 

 other East Indian group. 



Beneath these avenues of bending araber-coloureJ stems the beach is strewn 

 with the trunks, branches, and leathery fruits of the timit, brought by the marine 

 current from the Orinoco delta. The west coast, also, near Port of Spain and San 

 Fernando, has been planted with the coconut-palm, which has the advantage of 

 draining the soil. But while exotics are thiis introduced, the primitive woodlands 

 are recklessly destroyed, and extensive tracts have been already shorn of their 

 leafy adornments. Hence the rivers also have become more irregular in their 

 discharge, and less easily navigated. 



Like the flora, the insular fauna is also mainly South American, and of equally 

 varied character. According to the naturalist Leotaud, Trinidad possesses as many 

 as three-fourths of the number of bird-forms found in all Europe. Unfortunately 

 the blacks, all now provided with fowling-pieces, have already depopulated the 

 greater part of the woodlands. Humming-birds, formerly very numerous, have nearly 

 disappeared, shot in myriads to supply the demands of European fashion ; as many 

 as 15,000 a week were at one time forwarded by a single dealer. On the other 

 hand, the farmyards abound with poultry, no climate apparently suiting the galli- 

 naceous family better than that of Trinidad. 



Amongst the extremely varied inhabitants of the surrounding waters several 

 besides the shark are dangerous to bathers. Such is the /t//drorio)i, which, 

 though no bigger than the sardine, rushes in such numbers and with such 

 ferocity on its prey that instant flight alone can save swimmers from being 

 torn to pieces alive. Other species, which elsewhere serve as food for the coast 

 peoples, are highly poisonous in the Trinidad waters. One of these, a species of 

 shad [chipea a /osa), is said to be so fatal that people have been known to be 

 struck dead, as if by a stroke of lightning, before swallowing a whole mouthful.* 

 One denizen of the Gulf of Paria emits musical notes, or buzzing sounds, like 

 the maigres (scirena aquila) of the Mediterranean. 



Trinidad was colonised by quadrupeds from the mainland before the opening 

 of the Serpent's Mouth, which is of relatively recent origin. There are three 

 species of simians, some small felines, a deer of extremely gentle disposition, 

 and several other mammals. Kingsley tells us that epidemics of small-pox 

 and cholera have been as fatal to the monkeys as to man himself. 



Inhabita>^ts. 



The only result of the first Spanish settlement, dating from the close of the 

 sixteenth century, was to hasten the extermination of the aborigines. The 

 Jayos (Yaos) and Xepoyos, members of the Arawak or Carib families, were 



* Ch. Kingsley, op. cit. 



