110 PltOCEEDINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION'. 
supplied with water. £49,530 stg. have been expended on 
the water works ; balance bearing interest at 6 per cent, on 
1st January, 1865, £43,876 stg. Amount of interests on 
the above sum, £2632 stg. ; repairs, £150 stg. = £2782. 
Revenue from all sources, about £3000 stg. ; balance to 
sinking fund, £218. 
Port-of-Spain derives great advantages both from the 
geological composition and the natural disposition of the 
ground upon which it stands. The soil, being an admix- 
ture of sand and clay, is highly permeable, so much so that, 
during the wet season, water is seen springing up at dif- 
ferent places, in the lower portion of the town. It is also 
a well known fact that some of the privies never required 
emptying, the contents percolating through and becoming 
disseminated in the soil. How loathsome and noxious when 
the inhabitants got their supply of water from wells ! Thus, 
what is a real advantage to the upper part of the town may 
be regarded as detrimental to the lower section. The de- 
clivity being, as already observed, about sixty feet per mile, 
surface or rather pluvial water is soon carried off. At 
present rain-water from the Queen’s park and the adjacent 
ground finds its way into the town, and it has become ne- 
cessary to divest it westwards through the Ariapita lands. 
On many points lots are lower than the adjoining streets, 
and, consequently, very damp. The surface water having 
no issue into the gutters, is discharged S. or W. into the 
adjoining lots, or is slowly absorbed into the ground. 
That part of Port-of-Spain which is known as Corbeau- 
town is low near the sea and very damp from want of 
proper drainage. The part E. of the Dry River called 
“Grand Jardin” is flat and ill drained; and both sides 
of the river, near its mouth, are low and swampy. The 
