S. F. Peckham—Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 43 
Farther on I struck the road to the lake, which appeared to 
me exactly as Mr. Manross had described it forty years ago. 
The houses in the village were in the same condition 
described by Dr. Nugent in 1807. The slope leading up to 
the lake was in exactly the condition in which all previous 
observers had described it, as resembling a lava flow—a black 
glacier. The several points at which asphalt had been and 
was being excavated, showed in the most admirable manner 
that the movement of the asphalt down the slope and towards 
the sea is still in progress. Every excavation was in a short 
time partially refilled by a movement of the asphalt up from 
the bottom and in from the sides, the cavity in time becoming 
filled full to the level of the surrounding area. One illustra- 
tion of this fact was the spot from which the noted cargo of 
the Teneriffe was taken, every trace of former excavation hav- 
ing completely disappeared.*¥ = = 
The Trinidad Bituminous Asphalt Company were excavat- 
ing a lot near the road, and had also recently uncovered a lot 
that had become almost completely refilled in a few months, 
after the removal of several thousand tons of asphalt. Farther 
up the slope the Trinidad Asphalt Company were taking out 
asphalt from lots on the Belle Vue estate. These lots, like 
most of the others, were covered with a dense tropical jungle, 
consisting of palms, sedges, canna and other plants, from three 
to ten feet in height. It did not need the testimony of Mr. 
Manross to show, that in all probability, fire had more than 
once consumed this mass of vegetation, producing a terrific 
heat, that had melted and converted into so-called “iron-pitch ” 
much of the surface of the pitch. The “iron pitch” is pres- 
ent in greater or less quantity, both within and without the 
boundaries of the lake, wherever fire has consumed the vegeta- 
tion, and consists simply of melted pitch which has been 
heated so hot as to deprive it of its water and more volatile 
constituents, causing it to flow in streams, often to considerable 
distances. Below these melted masses the pitch lies in its 
normal and unaltered condition. 
It must, however, be constantly borne in mind, while read- 
ing the statements of different observers made on different 
occasions, that the lake and its principal overflow have pre- 
sented different phenomena at different periods. While it was 
evident at the time I visited the overflow that fire had swept 
over its surface, it was equally evident that it had for a long 
time been free from any such visitation. I have seen similar 
flood-plains of asphalt in California that had been on fire for 
* I was told by those who witnessed the digging of this cargo, that apparently 
no care was exercised in its selection. One gentleman declared that it was the 
dirtiest cargo of pitch ever sent from the island. 
