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Islets in the 

 lake. 



Its extent. 



Vegetation on 

 it where there 

 is a thin soil. 



The surface of 

 the pitch 

 higher than 

 that of the 

 neighbouring 

 land. 



Much soften- 

 ed in the dry 

 reason. 



PITCH LAKE IN TRINIDAD. 



several bits thrown into the pools immediately sunk*. The 

 lake (I call it so because I think the common name appro- 

 priate enough) contains many islets covered with long grass 

 and shrubs, which are the haunts of birds of most exqui- 

 site plumage, as the pools are of snipe and plover. Alli- 

 gators are also said to abound here, but it was not our lot to 

 encounter any of these animals. It is not easy to state pre- 

 cisely the extent of this great collection of pitch; the line 

 between it and the neighbouring soil is not always well de- 

 lined, and indeed it appears to form the substratum of the 

 surrounding tract of land. We may say, however, that it is 

 bounded on the north and west sides by the sea, on the 

 south by the rocky eminence of porcelain jasper, before 

 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 ascer- 

 tained, 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. Ander- 

 son, 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 situ- 

 ate higher than the adjoining land, and that you descend 

 by a gentle slope to the sea, where the pitch is much con- 

 taminated by the sand of the beach. During the dry sea- 

 son, as I have before remarked, this pitch is much softened, 

 s o that different bodies have been known slowly to sink in 

 it; if a quantity be cut out, the cavity left will be shortly 

 filled up: and I have heard it related, that wheu the Spa- 



* Pieces of asphaltum are, I believe, frequently found floating on 

 the Dead Sea in Palestine, but this arises probably from the extraor- 

 diuary specific gravity of the waters of that lake, which Br. Marcet 

 found to be 121 1. Mr. Hatchett states the specific gravity of ordi- 

 nary asphaltum to vary from 1023 to ri65, but in two varieties of 

 that of Trinidad it was as great as 1336 and 1744, which led Mr. 

 Hatchett to form a conjecture, which I shall afterwards notice. 



niards 



