140 
which, in the year l/SS, had been worked upwards of forty years ; 
their produce being sent to different parts of the continent. On 
digging at the same height, on the other side of the hill, the same 
substance was found*. 
Mr. Anderson describes, in the Philosophical Transactions, a re- 
markable lake, or rather plain, of bitumen, in the island of Trinidad, 
known by the name of the Tar Lake 5 and by the French called 
La Bray, from its resemblance to pitch, and its answering the in- 
tention of ship-pitching. It lies on the leeward side of the island, 
about half way from the Bocas, to the south end, where the man- 
grove swamps are interrupted by the sand banks and hills ; on a 
point of land which extends into the sea about two miles, exactly 
opposite to the high mountains of Paria. 
This cape, or headland, is about fifty feet above the middle of 
the sea, and has the greatest elevation of land on that side of the 
island. From the sea, it appears a mass of black vitrified rocks ; 
but, on a close examination, it is found to be a composition of bitu- 
minous scoria, vitrified sand, and earth, cemented together. In 
some parts, beds of cinders only are found. In approaching this 
cape there is a strong sulphureous smell, which is prevalent in many 
parts of the ground, to the distance of eight or ten miles from it. 
This point of land is about two miles broad ; and, on the east 
and west sides, for the distance of about half a mile from the sea, 
falls with a gentle declivity to it ; and is joined to the main land, 
on the south, by the continuation of the mangrove swamps ; so 
that the bituminous plain is on the highest part of it, and only 
separated from the sea by a margin of wood which surrounds it, 
and which prevents a distinct prospect of it. Its situation is similar 
to a savannah, and, in like manner, is not seen until treading on its 
* C. Ludov. I’Agascherie du Ble, Dissertatio Medica sistens Exatnen Bituminis 
Neucomensis, p. 11. 1758. 
