\ 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 33 



called it so on account of the three hills which he saw 

 joined in one at their base ; and the third because he 

 sighted it on Trinity Sunday. I suppose there are 

 people who by calculation would be able to tell 

 whether the 31st July, 1498 was Trinity Sunday, but 

 I am unable to do so, and I have no inclination to try ; 

 after all, what does it matter ? either of them may be 

 correct. But the popular theory that the three hills 

 which either Columbus or one of his sailors first saw 

 from the mast of one of his ships, were the three 

 so-called Trinity Hills on the south coast of Trinidad, 

 in the Ward of Moruga, is one that I do not agree 

 with. 



After my two attempts at correcting former nar- 

 rators, I will leave the task of further retailing the 

 events of Columbus' visit to Trinidad to other writers 

 whom I shall quote ; after all, it is of little impor- 

 tance. It was, however, at the time of his arrival, 

 thickly inhabited ; not, as some writers say, by the 

 Caribs, but by the Aruacques (or Arrowauks) and 

 Chaimas, whose origin is not known ; — except the 

 theory which I propound at page 20 be accepted. 



" Passing through the ' Serpent's mouth ' he 

 entered the great land-locked Gulf of Paria. Here 

 he coasted along the shore and treated with the 

 Indians, obtained from them specimens of pearls, 

 which subsequently rivalled the gold of Hispaniola 

 in bringing over to the New World all the scoun- 

 drels of Spain ; he finally sailed out into the ocean 

 by the northern strait which he named the Boca del 

 Dragon — * Dragon's Mouth.' " 



o 



