Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-20

flint arranged in precisely the same design
which doubtless had some original signih
canoe long lost even to tradition.
lake Of Burning Pitch.
While on the wonders Of the lands to ths
south of us it is we'll to mention that thu
asphalt barks from the West Indies an
about the only vessels outside the coastine
schooners that ever favor Washington with
a visit Two of them are now lying of the
wharf at the foot of New Hampshire ave
| nue., and are we'll worth visit
Down in the hold of the cargo looks like
| the edge of q dead lava field, black and
scanned, and apparently as hard a. rock; but
the hardness is deceptive. Break up q
bushel Of the ''pitch." Is it is known to the
trade, and pile the fragments on top of the
big asphalt field which fills the whole OF
the lower deck, and by tomorrow morning
they would disappear, suuken slowly back
| into the parent mass This slow-running
quality makes the cargo one Of the most
| detested among the captains in the island
trade, for when the ship has been listed over
to port or starboard for couple of days,
while running before . strong wind, the
whole cargo will quietly shift over and have
| to be broken up and trimmed back to its
proper position to keep the ship on even
keel.
Trinidad, the island from which practi-
cally all the asphalt of the world is now
drawn, is British possession In the West
Indies. 1t was one of the little spots of
terra rma against which Columbus ran
when, in 1893, he pushed his explorations
further westward in search of that mariners
phantasm, the northwest passage The
island was then inhabited solely by Caribs,
q wild and warlike but withal intelligent
race, not unlike the North American In
dians, peculiar in their language, which,
like the Choctaw of our own Western tribe,
has been mastered BY few if any white men.
For many years the island remained a
neglected dependency of Spain, with con-
stantly dwindling population, mostly ma
tives and imported negroes. In 1897 it
passed into the hands of the British Gov
ernment, and has remained an English COL
ony since.
Only Two Towns of Importance.
There are but two towns of importance on
the island, Port of Spain and San Fernando.
These live mostly by their imports. the
chief productions of the island beyond its
own necessities being asphalt and cocoanuts.
The sugar crop is large, but at the present
prices it does not pay to export it. The
population of the towns is mixed. English
is the court language, but the majority of
the people are negroes, descendants of the
old slave stock, who talk patois of mingled
French, Spanish and English that is de-
scribed as the ''most -handedest lingo"
any heather ever invented. The negroes
are, like those of the United States, begin
ming to feel their freedom, and on the
otr poyfh Of %ho L. - Al
second and third generation The resident
whites designate them as sassy" and as Q
class unbearable when they have risen above
the stage of picking asphalt. This is true
of all but the French negroes from Mar
Unique and the adjacent tricolor provinces,
who by long association have acquired the
suave manner of their former owners, and
are all of them fit instructors for an ordi-
nary dancing master. Among them i'm
politeness is unknown.
Some of the original Caribs are still to be
found among the island people, but they
are rapidly disappearing, and in their place
is now seen the imported coolie. The
coolie trade, which was originally instituted
to furnish cheap labor for the plantations,
was in former times terrible disgrace to
the islands and partook of more than all the
horrors of the African slave trade. Thou
sands of the miserable Asiatics were sacri-
feed in the business by the greed and in
of the masters who brought them
over, and, although imported under tine
guise of q labor contract, not one in hun
dreds of them ever lived to return home
Stringent laws governing the traffic are now
enacted, however, and, what is more to the
purpose, are we'll enforced, and many of the
coolies by the time they have served their
eight years contract out are well-to-do citi-
zens, being paid for their work by the
piece and saving nearly all they earn.
The Chief Wonder and Attraction,
The great pitch lake, which is the chief
wonder and attraction of the island, is
situated in low, sandy stretch of the
southwest coast, near Cape Corbaray. The
country is low and malarial, in
striking contrast to the high hills and rich
woodlands of the coast further back. The
lake is owned by the British Government
and leased by it to the Barber Asphalt
Company. an American firm of immense
capital, which controls the trade for the
United States Their present lease has 42
years yet to run. The laborers are all
negroes, even the coolies shrinking from the
heat and low fevers of the place. The lake
itself is about a mile in diameter, hard at
the edges, and softening toward the middle.
The suface is continually changing, appar-
emily from some subterranean action, and
little oases of dry land, and even trees and
shrubs will disappear in a single night, and
fresh islands or soil will be reared in other
places
The lake is in all probability merely an
large deposit of bitumen or soft |
,oal that has undergone transformation |
rom decaying vegetable matter in contact |
With water, and too near the surface of the |
'arth pressure above to harden it thorough
y. Hundreds of negroes the year round |
oil at the lakes edge, taking out cargo |
lfter cargo from the supply that seems
lever to diminish. They work under over.
eers of their own color, and are paid at the
ate of ~ cents day. The asphalt crust is
'roken up with picks and crowbars, and 10
oaded on dump carts, drawn by . single
un-dried mule, in whom the constant boil
ng temperature seems to have concentrated
III the native meanness Of his speciea The
arts crunch through long sandy road
lown to the wharf at the waters edge,
rhere the load is dumped and carried by
vheelbarrows on board the lighters, which
n turn carry it out to the ships, lying a
half mile out in the shoal water. The
ough Jumps of pickings are hoisted on
BOARD in baskets and piled in the hold,
where they sink down into a compact mass,
equiring q fresh filling the next day, and
o on till the solid cargo is completed.
{ you are troubled with itching, bleeding.
I~s.FN 1s-@- Ill ~ i