, 1888-09-19
rRINlDAD's LAKE OF PITCH.
Singular Quality of the AsphaIt-Legend
of Its Origin.

Sity "a tho beBcnu
of Its Origin.
Right and lift. a fiat surface extends
over forty acres of space, dull black in
color and intersected every few rods by
gullies or assures whose sides fall into a
point -four or five feet down, filed with
sweet water, slightly favored with as.
phalt. Here and there a few scrawny
bushes mark where a little soil has been
blow into a assure and given them a
chance to cling, and a pole or two. half
sunkenr is a guide to forgotten excava-
tions. There are no birds, no fishes in
the water, and the whole scene is singu,
larly desolate and uninviting.
Near the edges. the pitch is so hard as
to fracture with a blow, will support
carts that carry it away and feels as firm
as q rock under foot Yet it is possessed
Of a singular quality. If a heap of frag-
ments is piled up, it slowly levels down
fat again; and a great hole left by work
men engaged in q%uarrying it for removal,
gradually fills until no trace is visible of
the depression Where my camera
stood was apparently quite solid, but
the short time needed to make two or
three exposures proved sufficient for the
tripod to make half inch deep holes be-
meath it's weight where the feet had
rested.
Toward the center of the lake, this
mobility increased until it assumed visi.
BILE speed, seeming to advance toward the
middle with a motion like that of q land
slide-slow, steady and gliding. Here the
pitch grew so soft as to be perfectly
liquid and hot enough to char paper, yet
devoid of adhesive Tuality. A stick
thrust into the mass was withdrawn
without any pitch adherent to it, and a
pail could be nodded in the hands that
remained quite undefled
The amount exported last year was
about $500 tons, without the smallest
apparent diminution of quantity, and it
may well prove what it appears to bean
inexhaustible source of future supply and
of income to the colony.
From the lake a lovely road brought us
back to the village, winding between the
ichest display of tropical verdure l had
ever seen, u natural pavement through q
natural park. Wonderful orchids bios
somed on wonderful trees, gayly painted
birds huttered amongst wild flowers of
gorgeous hues and unknown names, and
clear brooks of sweet water wound their
way down to the near sea between banks
whose dark brown color told of pitchy
origin; and when we emerged from those
thick recesses upon the beach, our horses
feet sounded hollow as they swiftly trod
a shore that was of the same material.
Even under the sea 1t still exists, and
possibly forms oceans bed across to Ven
ezuela, upon whose shores. only a few
miles away, similar deposits of like ma
ture occur. The Indians had a pretty
legend of it's origin:
Ages ago the place where is now the
lake was land of such marvellous fertility
in yield of pineapples that it was chosen
by the Chaima tribe for their home.
Actuated by some evil spirit, they began
to kill the pretty humming bird (''iere"
in their musical tongue), although they
knew them to hold in shining coats of
feathers their ancestors spirits; and the
Great Father, enraged at such impiety,
sank their town and its people in a single
night, replacing it with this monument
of asphalt as a warning to future sinners.
DR.. William F. Hutchinson in American
Magazine.