VARIETIES. 
467 
building  and  flagging  streets.  Near  the  Lake  some  of  the  negroes  occupy 
themselves  in  boiling  down  the  pitch,  some  of  which  is  shipped  in  a  pure 
state,  and  some,  with  the  addition  of  lime,  exported  as  mastic.  Many 
hundreds  of  tons  have  been  thus  taken  from  the  lake,  to  the  depth  of  about 
a  foot  below  the  surface.  The  hole  is  always  filled  again  within  two  days 
after  the  cutting,  by  the  upheaving  of  the  mass.  It  appears  as  though 
billions  of  tons  of  pitch  had  boiled  up  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  from 
the  effects  of  an  immense  subterraneous  fire,  which  had  been  extinguished, 
and  left  the  asphaltum  to  cool  in  enormous  bubbles. 
Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  apply  the  inexhaustible  store  of 
bitumen  afforded  by  this  lake  to  some  useful  purpose.  It  is  the  best  sub- 
stitute for  macadamization  yet  discovered.  Mixed  with  sand  and  pebbles 
it  is  much  used  for  pavements  and  the  ground  floors  of  houses  at  the  town 
of  Port-au- Spain,  a  purpose  for  which  it  is  admirably  adapted.  The  late 
Sir  Ralph  Woodford,  when  governor  of  the  island,  tried  to  obtain  carbu- 
retted  hydrogen  gas  from  it  to  light  a  beacon  on  the  tower  of  Trinity 
Church.  It  burnt  well,  but  created  such  an  intolerable  stench,  that  the 
experiment  was  obliged  to  be  abandoned.  The  person  entrusted  with 
the  trial,  however,  knew  nothing  of  chemistry.  It  has  been  employed 
to  advantage  as  fuel  by  the  American  steamers  plying  on  the  Orinoco. 
It  is  thrown  in  the  furnace  among  the  wood,  fusing  too  readily  to  be  used 
alone. 
With  ten  per  cent,  of  resin  oil  it  forms  an  excellent  pitch  for  vessels. 
It  was  used  for  this  purpose  so  far  back  as  1593,  by  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
who  tells  us  that  this  substance  was  then  in  general  use  by  the  various 
tribes  of  Indians  in  the  river  Orinoco  for  caulking  their  canoes.  It 
lias  been  recently  coming  into  use  in  the  manufacture  of  petroleum.  It 
might,  I  should  suppose,  form  a  base  for  some  of  the  compressed  artificial 
fuels. 
The  Earl  of  Dundonald  has  long  had  great  faith  in  its  ultimate  com- 
mercial utility.  Twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  he  shipped  two  cargoes  of  it 
to  England,  but  it  was  found  then  to  require  too  much  oil  in  order  to  ren- 
der it  useful.  Lately  his  lordship  has  purchased  a  large  tract  of  the  pitch 
lands,  including  twenty-six  acres  of  the  lake,  and  has  instituted  various 
experiments  with  the  view  of  substituting  the  bitumen  for  India  rubber 
and  gutta-percha  in  the  manufacture  of  water-proof  fabrics,  covering  of 
telegraph  wires,  &c.  Judging  from  the  specimens  of  those  shown  by  hi3 
agent  at  Port-of-Spain  (Mr.  C.  F.  Stolmeyer),  these  efforts  bid  fair  to  be 
quite  successful.  It  seems  only  necessary  that  the  same  amount  of  in- 
telligent enterprise  should  be  directed  to  the  subject  in  order  to  render 
this  wonderful  reservoir  of  bitumen  a  source  of  great  individual  profit  and 
of  essential  service  to  mankind.  If  it  could  be  brought  into  extensive  com- 
mercial use  for  pavements  and  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  pitch  and  tar, 
Trinidad  could  easily  furnish  supplies  for  the  whole  world.  Persons  de- 
sirous of  information  connected  with  this  lake  will  find  good  accounts  in 
