The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1880-12-30
THE PITCH LAKE OF TRINIDAD.

Ihe Pltcn Lake OF IrlnlQaQ Is one OF
those extraordinary natural wonders OF
which much has been reported on hear
Writers have been content to borrow from
former accounts, when describing the
place, so that errors have been perpetusted
which ought to have been corrected
The island of Trinidad, in which the
Pitch Lake is situated, lies out of the or
dipary routes of travellers, ard the lake
is not accessible without the expenditure
of some trouble, even after the traveller
hes been landed at the Port Of Spain
These reasons will account for good
deal of obscurity with which the accounts
Tor this singular phenomenon are sur
rounded.
A mornings sail down the southwes-
tern coast of the island will bring the
traveller from Port of Spain to Cape La
Brea, in the neighborhood OF Napariua
For several miles before reaching the
cape their will be perceived a strong
pitchy smell, and it will be found on
landing that the beach and shore are per
fectly black, being either composed of,
or overlaid with, the pitch which has at
some time or other found its way down
from the lake. There is abundant vege
tation springing mp III dark earth more
or less impregnated with pitch, and the
bright fresh green of the shrubs and trees
serves the better to set off the vulcan
ike color of the ground. A walk inland
for a. mile over black road, on which
the finely ly-divided particles o. pitch form
choking and binding dust, which
flies with every puff of wind hither and
th;ther, brings the travelersto the lake.
The road has been ascending from the
shore, and the lake is at level of eighty
feet above the leyel Of the sea. At the
lake, as on either side of the road for the
whole way, the number and the iuxuriant
orowth of the trees are very remarkable.
Nearly all the tropical plants are repre-
kingdom to be unfavorably contrasted
with the vegetable, numbers of the most
beautiful butterflies it is possible to see,
aud of the most gorgeously dressed hum
ming birds, futter and fit about in the
sunlight, or fly in or out among the
branches of the trees.
The lake itself is contained in basin
about mile and half in circumference.
liz the months of July, August, and Sep
tember the contents are in simmering
condition; fountains of pitch, boiling
water, aud argillaceous matter are thrown
.. he:e aud there TO height OF thirty
lee', eiht. o~...as1 ;s.,s,eEer ii1ht, ailoNe,i
to fall into the lake, sink down and are
irrecoverably lost. During the rest of
the year, however, the pitch at the bor-
ders, and for a considerable extent away
from them, is comparatively hard; soft
and dangerous parts are indicated by the
bubbling asphalt and by the increasing
insecurity of the footing. Even at times
it is not safe to stand still; the footsteps
leave their imprint on the soft substance
of the surface, aud it is necessary to keep
moving on in order to avoid sinking as
INTO quick sand. At these times the
pitch lies in large hummocks, between
which run small rivulets of fresh water,
dear as crystal, and with a sulphureo
sitchy taste, which act as a system of
reins and arteries to the Tartareau lake.
Small islets, covered with the greenest
ihrubs and plants, are dotted about the
nlrface of the lake, which engulfs them
Immediately the liquefying season comes, |
lat reproduces them on the arrival of the |
text cool season. 1t is supposed that |
tie lake has subterranean communication
tith the sea, poles marked with special |
| Garacters having been found on the |
east, whicn had erewhile been thrust !
| ito the asphalt of the lake. That a |
Communication does exist is more than
| Kelly; for at some distance from Cape |
| IA Brea there are submarine pitch vol
anoes which throw up quantities of
| itch and Pitch Lake products into the
| ga, and it is at all events reasonable to |
| appose that these and the lake are con-
tcted. Humboldt, De Verteud, and |
ther authorities affirm that there is |
brrespondence between all of these and |
fmilar phenomena in theSouth American |
bntinent, With which the island of Trim |
fad was uuquestionably once joined.
II A LAUGHABLE circumstance once took |
lace upon a trial in Lancashire, where |