282 TRINIDAD I THEN AND NOW. 



without injury to health. I have visited the " Pitch 

 Lake " many times without the least inconvenience. 

 I have walked over it, jumping the crevices contain- 

 ing water ; I have ridden and even raced over it on 

 horseback, the water crevices affording nice jumps ; 

 I have driven a pair of horses and dog-cart over it 

 loaded with precious freight ; carts drawn by horses 

 or mules draw heavy loads of pitch from the edge of 

 the oozing part to the village of La Brea there to be 

 boiled into what is locally called epuree, thence to be 

 shipped in barrels. 



This description of carting the dry pitch from 

 the lake to the village was written five years ago ; a 

 tramway worked by its natural incline now does the 

 work of the horses and mules. 



My first visit to La Brea was in 1877. Having 

 finished my business in the village, with many hours 

 to wait for the return steamer, I went up the road 

 described by Mr. Joseph. I quite agree with his des- 

 cription, except as to the respectable looking village 

 which he found ; it must have, like the Chiman en- 

 campment described by him, disappeared — at least 

 the respectable part of it, which would have been 

 difficult to find. In every other respect I agree with 

 Joseph's description. The good road, then in exis- 

 tence also a few years later disappeared. When I 

 reached the supposed lake, my great surprise was to 

 find that there was no appearance whatever of a 

 lake, as I always understood a lake's appearance to 

 be ; it reminded me of what I had often seen in the 

 immense tracts of the bog of Allen in Ireland, from 



