The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1881-02-03
The Pitch Lake of Trinidad.

The Pitch Lake Of Trinidad is one Of
| tnose extraordinary natural wonders Of
winch much has been reported on hearsay,
| but little from personal observation. Writ
ers have been content to borrow from
tormer accounts, when describing the place,
so that errors have been perpetuated which
! ought to have been corrected. The island
Of Trinidad, in which the Pitch Lake is
| situated, lies out Of the ordinary routes Of
| travellers, and the lake is not accessible
without the expenditure Of some trouble,
even after the traveller has been landed at
| Port Of Spain. These reasons will account
for good deal of Obscurity with which
| the accounts Of this singular phenomenon
are surrounded.
/ A mornings sail down the esOuth-weStem
! coast Of the island will bring the traveller
fbOm Port Of Spain to Cape La Brea, in the
n0ighbOrhOOd of Naparina. For several
miles before reaching the cape there will
be perceived a strong pitchy smell, and it
VIII be found on landing that the beach
and shore are perfectly 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 abund-
ant vegetation springing up in 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
like colour of the ground. A walk inland
for a mile over a black road, on which the
fnely-diYided particles Of pitch form
choking and q binding dust, which flies
with every puff of wind hither and thither,
brings the traveller to the lake. The road
has been ascending from the shore, and the
lake is at a level of eighty feet above the
level Of the sea. At the lake, as on either
side Of the road for the whole way, the
number and the luxuriant growth of the
trees are very remarkable Nearly all the
tropical plants are represented, and, as if
not to allow the animal kingdom to be un-
tayOrably cOntrasted with the vegetable,
numbers of the most beautiful butterflies
it is possible to see, and of the most gOr-
geOUsly-dressed humming- birds, flutter and
lit about in the sunlight, OF fly in or out
among the branches of the trees
The lake itself is contained in basin
about q mile and a half in circumference.
In the months of July, August, and Sep
tember the contents are in a simmerinp
condition fountains of pitch, boiling water,
and aTgillaceous matter are thrown up
ASAC ea4u LACAG " q uClBAG u GulIly 4e6Gy
and objects, however light, allowed to fall
into the lake, sink down and are irrecOYer-
ably lost. During the rest Of the year,
however, the pitch at the borders, and for a
considerable extent away from them, is
comparatively hard; soft and dangerous
parts are indicated by the bubbling
asphalte and by the increasing Insecurity
of the footing. Even at times when it is
practicable to walk on the lake, it 5 not
safe to stand still; the footsteps leave their
imprint on the soft substance Of the sur
face, and it is necessary to keep moving
on in order to avoid sinking as into 8
quick-sand. At these times the pitch Lies
IN large hUmmOcks, between which run
small rivulets Of fresh water, clear as a
crystal, and with a sulphureO-pitchy taste,
which act as a system of veins and arte-
ries to the Tartarean lake. Small islets,
covered with the greenest shrubs and plants,
are dotted about the surface of the lake,
which engulfs them Immediately the ique-.
flying season comes, but reprOdUees them
on the arrival Of the next cool season.
1t Is supposed that the lake has subterra-
mean communication with the sea, poles
marked with special characters having
been found on the coast, which had ere
while been thrust into the asphalte Of the
lake. That q communication does exist Is
more than likely; for at some distance from
Cape La Brea there are submarine pitch
volcanoes which throw up quantities Of
pitch and Pitch Lake products into the sea-
and it is at all events reasonable to sup
pose that these and the lake are connected.
De Verteuil, and other authori-
ties affirm that there is a correspondence
between all of these and similar phenOme-
na in the South American continent, with
which the island of Trinidad was unques-
once joined.