286 



TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



his influence in the colony, he then being a member of 

 the Legislative Council. He undoubtedly was the 

 means of forming the present Barber Co. in their in- 

 terest in the Pitch Lake of Trinidad. 



About 1880, 1 suppose in consequence of what be- 

 gan to leak out, pitch began to look up, and even I, as 

 a stranger having no concern in it could see this. 

 Each time I visited La Brea the number of sailing 

 vessels shipping pitch steadily increased. Many peo- 

 ple who previously had, or seemed to have, no in- 

 terest in pitch suddenly began to travel up and down 

 to La Brea by steamer, particularly on Saturdays. 

 After landing they wandered about the village, look- 

 ing here, looking there, a labourer accompanying them 

 delving into pitch, numerous villagers clustering 

 round them, then separating and whispering together. 

 In the meantime Mr. Finlayson was not idle, he made 

 several trips to both England and America ; rumours 

 of concessions were in the air and village lots began 

 to boom, many private sales and purchases were 

 effected before the owners of the lots, who sometimes 

 did not live in La Brea, knew anything about the in- 

 creasing value of their lots. The Wardens and 

 Crown Lands officers were beseiged by intended pur- 

 chasers and people began to wonder what it was all 

 about. Then came the concession to what was, and 

 still is, locally known as " The Barber Company." 

 All sorts of rumours were in the air, the truth or 

 falsehood of which I am unable to uphold or contra- 

 dict ; but one thing I do know — they did not always 

 emanate from a taintless source, especially from those 



