PITCH LAKE IN TRINIDAD 208 



niards undertook formerly to prepare the pitch for economi- 

 cal purposes, and had imprudently 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 instanec, built by driving 

 posts in the earth, frequently are twisted or sunk on one 

 side. In many places it seems to have actually overflown 

 like lava, and presents the wrinkled appearance which a 

 sluggish substance would exhibit in motion. 



This substance is generally thought to be the asphaltum The substanct 

 of naturalists: in different spots however it presents different va " es nmch. 

 appearances. In ssome parts it is black, with a splintery 

 conchoidal fracture, of considerable specific gravity, with 

 little or no lustre, resembling particular kinds of coal, and 

 so hard as to require a severe blow of the hammer t,o detach 

 or break it; in other parts, it is so much softer, as to allovr 

 one to cut out a piece in any form with a spade or hatchet, 

 and in the interior is vesicular and oily; this is the charac- 

 ter of by far the greater portion of the whole mass; in one 

 place, it bubbles up in a perfect fluid state, so that you 

 may take it up in a cup, and I am informed, that in one 

 of the neighbouring plantations there is a spot where it is 

 of a bright colour, shining, transparent, and brittle, like 

 bottle glass or resin. The odour in all these instances is it smells of 

 strong and like that of a combination of pitch and sulphur. su, P hur » 

 No sulphur however is any where to be perceived, but from 

 the strong exhalation of that substance and the affinity which 

 is known to exist between the fluid bitumens and it, much 

 is, no doubt, contained in a state of combination; a bit of melts in the 

 the pitch held in the candle melts like sealing wax, and J™' *£ ^d- 

 burns with a light flame, which is extinguished whenever ens'on cooling, 

 it is removed, and on cooling the bitumen hardens again. 

 From this property it is sufficiently evident, that this sub- 

 stance may be converted to many useful purposes, and ac- 

 cordingly it is universally used in the country wherever Used as pitch, 

 pitch is required ; and the reports of the naval officers who 

 have tried it are favourable to its more general adoption; 

 it is requisite merely to prepare it with a proportion of oil, 

 tallow, or common tar, to give it a sufficient degree of fluid- 

 P 2 ity. 



