GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION. 
27 
Sometimes when men find Trinidad too uncomfortable 
for them to remain in it with safety to themselves, they 
will horroio a boat and set off for the INIain, and spend 
the first night of their flight at Pata without the 
slightest apprehension that a fugee warrant will be 
presented there. 
The islands I have spoken of lie all near the north- 
western point of the island, and do not obstruct the free 
navigation of the gulf when once within its limits. This 
beautiful sheet of water is about thirty miles wide, and 
about seventy miles long. The country may be said to 
be divided into two sections, formed by three ranges 
of mountains — a northern, a central, and a southern 
range. The two valleys, formed by these ranges, are 
almost of the same form and extent. The northern 
ranoe of mountains attain to an elevation of two and 
o 
three thousand feet. The southern range is less moun- 
tainous, reaching the height of about twelve hundred feet. 
The intermediate country in the southern division is 
more or less broken and undulatory, while the northern 
division is more uniformly level and low. 
The whole country presents rather a monotonous 
appearance because of the interminable forests by which 
it is covered. The population is under a hundred 
thousand, while the country is, according to a most 
moderate calculation, capable of supporting a population 
of three hundred thousand. Were the . country under 
cultivation, a very different and a much more beautiful 
scene would present itself to the eye. 
