TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 217 



As our eyes gaze around us, reaching to and 

 peeping over, the distant cultivation both of plain 

 or mountain ranges, rivers and streams by which 

 we are surrounded we must be struck with wonder 

 at the workings of, and provisions made by nature to 

 provide man's wants. An old writer on Trinidad 

 says, " The valleys which lie between the different 

 ranges of the Northern hills are singular in their for- 

 mation ; the mountains on each side rise so abruptly 

 and correspond so nearly to each other in general, 

 that the mountain wall of the valley seems a reflec- 

 tion of the other, appearing as though they had been 

 cleft asunder by a violent blow from above. ' ' These 

 hills are now under cocoa cultivation. 



As we behold the several crystal streams, gently 

 flowing towards the greater Caroni, we wonder how 

 they could so often in the short space of less than an 

 hour, become swollen torrents, dangerous to the life 

 of man or beast who attempt to cross them while in 

 their anger. They often remain in this state for days. 

 On looking at the gentle stream passing now so grace- 

 fully by the village of St. Joseph, we are reminded of 

 another event in Trinidad's history when Sir Walter 

 Raleigh with one hundred men in boats stormed the 

 then city of St. Joseph ; but so it was, and facts are 

 stubborn things. Ask many of the people of Trinidad 

 " Who was Sir Walter Ealeigh ? " and they will 

 answer you : ' 1 Oh, the man who spread out his cloak 

 over a guttery place so that Queen Elizabeth might 

 pass over without dirtying her shoes." They don't 

 know of an important event in this illustrious man's 



