TRINIDAD : THEN AND NOW. 



247 



Chacachacare,) and from this point right over to 

 Tobago, leaving Toco for the return trip. Having 

 reached Tobago we can land at Scarborough — not 

 quite so fashionable as its namesake in England, 

 although it too has had its day when youth, beauty, 

 and fashion were to be seen. It was at one time an 

 important island and is looking up again. We can 

 land at Scarborough and wander about the town ; 

 it is an interesting old town, and although hilly is 

 well laid out. A trip through the (island and round 

 the coast is very interesting ; it has many fine bays 

 worthy of a visit ; the roads have, of late years, been 

 so much improved as to render the majority of them 

 driveable. 



Now back to Toco and while crossing we may 

 see a whale and what is called a thresher having a 

 fight, although there is good authority for believing 

 that there ds no foundation for these celebrated bat- 

 tles, the thresher being simply a peculiar species of 

 whale, and the supposed fight is the action of his 

 enormous fins in trying to dislodge the parasites 

 from his back, thus making it appear from a distance 

 as if there was a terrific battle going on. See Des 

 Voeux's " My Colonial Service/' pages 326-7. 



Toco is an interesting place and here we come 

 first in contact with Trinidad's magnificent range of 

 northern hills many of them deserving the dignity 

 of being called mountains. Toco is not at all times 

 a pleasant landing place, it has been much improved 

 of late years but in any case we are perfectly safe in 

 the hands of the ship 's boatmen ; I have no hesita- 



