66 Dr. Nugent o« the Pitch -lake 



mentioned, and on the east by the usual argillaceous soil of the 

 country ; the main body may perhaps be estimated at three miles in 

 circumference ; the depth cannot be ascertained, and no subjacent 

 rock or soil can be discovered. Where the bitumen is slightly 

 covered by soil, there are plantations of cassava, plantains and pine- 

 apples, the last of which grow with luxuriance and attain to great 

 perfection. There are three or four French and one English sugar 

 estates in the immediate neighbourhood ; our opinion of the soil 

 did not, however, coincide with that of Mr. Anderson, who in the 

 account he gave some years ago, thought it very fertile. It is worthy 

 of remark, that the main body of the pitch, which may properly 

 be called the lake, is situated higher than the adjoining land, and 

 that you descend by a gentle slope to the sea, where the pitch is 

 much contaminated by the sand of the beach. During the dry 

 season, as I have before remarked, this pitch is much softened, so 

 that different bodies have been known slowly to sink into it ; if a 

 quantity be cut out, the cavity left will be shortly filled up ; and I 

 have heard it related, that when the Spaniards undertook formerly 

 to prepare the pitch for economical purposes, and had impru- 

 dently erected their cauldrons on the very lake, they completely 

 sunk in the course of a night, so as to defeat their intentions. 

 Numberless proofs are given of its being at times in this softened 

 state : the negro houses of the vicinage, for instance, built by driv- 

 ing posts in the earth, frequently are twisted or sunk on one side. In 

 many places it seems to have actually overflown like lava, and pre- 

 sents the wrinkled appearance which a sluggish substance would 

 exhibit in motion. 



This substance is generally thought to be the asphaltum of natu- 

 rahsts : in different spots however it presents different appearances. 

 In some parts it is black, with a splintery conchoidal fracture, of con- 



