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in quantit}' may possibly lead to the opening up of a new 
branch of productive industrj' in the island. 
The quantity of rocks in this island 3'ielding asphaltic and 
bituminous substances which may hereafter be valuable for 
the production of illuminating and other oils by distillation is 
ver}' great. Tertiarj- coal was discovered and worked in 
Couva man3' 3-ears ago. The .site of the beds is marked on 
the geological map, and the3' probabl3' extend with more or 
less interruption all across the island to the north of the 
Tamana and Montserrat ranges. I append hereto an extract 
from a report on the Couva coal by Mr. Wall, Director of 
the Geological Surve3L 
The late discoveries added to m3- own observations make 
it seem probable that the Nariva series of the Government 
geologists, is the equivalent on the south side of the central 
range of the Caroni carbonaceous series on the north ; and if 
this be correct, we ma3- expect to find a series of coal beds 
extending from the Guaracara valle3’ on the west to the 
Xariva swamp on the east. In support of this view I ma3' 
state that the section made b3- the Geological Surve3- of the 
countr3- between Sanfernando and Montserrat bears out the 
theory of the contemporaneit3’ of the so-called Nariva series 
with the Miocene (Caroni) series. 
Extract from a Report by G. P. Wall, F.G.S., Director of 
the Geological Survey, on the Mineral Fields of the Couva 
District, dated " Trinidad, \st May, 1857.” 
The deposits of mineral fuel in the district of Cou\’a, con- 
sist of carbonaceous beds of a character intermediate between 
lignite and coal. A practical trial of the economic value of 
this substance was made by Mr. Maurice Rostant, who was 
