The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-27
One Can Walk on Its Surface Without
Wetting the Feet,

cobblestone against the vandals of mod
ern improvement, observing that GOD
Almighty made cobblestones for men and
horses to walk on" and adding that
''these new-fangled pavements" were
little else than a contrayention of an eX-
press provision of providence
While the alderman in question was
no doubt quite as gifted in legislative
ability as his philosophy would seem to
suggest, it is doubtful whether, together
with this accomplishment, he can have
possessed more than q smattering Of in
formation in respect of geology and geog
raphy, let alone natural phenomena. 9th
erWise he might have expressed himself
pretty strongly on the subject of Gods
having made q lake from which many of
the streets of Boston were soon to be
evolved. A lake in which no fish ever
swan, on which no craft ever sailed, and
upon the surface of which man walks in
patent feathers and never gets them wet
A very remarkable lake, of which, if
the aforementioned alderman should
chance to read this article, he may possi-
bly, receive information at once entertain
ing and instructive.
There are in the streets of Boston at
the present time just 94,S34 square yards
of asphalt pavement
If there were plant in this city where
the crude pitch" was refined, curiosity
might tempt numbers of people to investi-
gate the process by which q beautiful
street pavement is evolved from black,
gummy, spungy substance fuch as comes
from the asphalt lake. As it IS, the as
phalt is brought in barrels TO Boston al
ready refined either in Washington, Phil
adelphia or New York As a general
thing, the crude asphalt goes to New
York, whittier it is brought in q vessels
hold from Trinidad
Beyond any doubt lake Trinidad is the
most valuable lakein the world 1t is an
absolutely inexhaustible mine of wealth,
and in these days of aphalt the revenue
from the lake shows so startling and
rapid an annual increase that it can be
a question of only few years when the
present lessees from Queen Victoria,
who owns tine bulk of the lake., will
rank among the world s nillionaires.
Columbus discovered Trinidad on his
this voyage, in the year Of 1898, and as
every schoolboy knows who studies his
western hemisphere, the island lies off
the Venezuelan coast, about 600 miles
north of the equator BY day the sun
bakes and browns living and inert things
alike, and by night the southern cross"
stands sentinel like above the dangerous
entrance to the gulf of Paria, formed by
the circular rim of Trinidad's interior
coast There is no reason to doubt that
what is now an island belonging to her
majesty of England was centuries ago
part and parcel of the South American
continent. To use the familiar nautical
expression, one might stand on the west
ernmost shore of Trinidad and shy q
ship biscuit on to the headlands OF
Venezuela. The action Of the sea has
created narrow breaks in what was once
the neck of peninsula, and these are in
deed so narrow that getting safely into
the gulf must always prove difficult un-
dertaking for shippers unfamiliar with
the lay of the rocks and varying depths
of the channel
A vessel going from Trinidad for a
cargo of pitch, as it is called by the
natives, clears for Port au Spain, and is
very lucky if she makes that anchorage
in two days from the time of her entrance
to the gulf, albeit the distance is only
about fifteen miles as the gull flies. Once
inside, however, the wind plays exasper-
atiug pranks If it does not die away alto
gether, and it is a usual occurrence for
some half-dozen vessels to beat about
within sight of the town for several days
together before they succeed in getting
up.
This much achieved, there is still much
to be done before sails can be loosed and
DOWS I]OluGSu 10 LIE DEGds W0Bfe enough
asphalt is to be had to load every craft
in the world without the least impression
being made on the supply 1t is thirty
miles from Spanishtown to lie Brea, the
latter itself a mere village populated by
the negroes employed by the asphalt com
pany.
The visitor to the asphalt territory re-
celVes the first shock OF surprise before
he steps ashore from the small boat At
Iao "a. 49, 81 Al.
beat upon what looks like a substratum
of jet. Some say this is the accumulated
asphalt that has been dropped overheard
from lighters and washed up by the tide
In point of fact, it is nothing less than
the outermost edge of what is called the
overflow underground from the lake.
Here, too, is the bone Of contention among
rival asphalt companies That which has
a lease on the lake itself claims that this
overflow is of inferior quality to the
pitch taken direct from the lake, but it
cannot be disputed that for miles around
the lake there is an ineXhaustible supply
of the valuable article within easy Dig
ging distance Of the earths surface. and
that the quality is equally as good, since
the source of both is the same.
The famous lake lies about a mile from
the beach, and is reached by road
through a typical forest. Monkeys par
rots and snakes of the deadliest kind are
here in abundance. The roadbed is as
phalt unadulerated A sudden break in
the forest discloses the lake. In mo-
ment the stranger finds himself entering
a land of the kind so charmingly portrayed
in the romances of Herman Melville.
It is difficult to realize that here is a civil
lied country, governed Oya mighty power
and yielding up to commerce enormous
revenues every day. The surface of the
lake is dotted here and there with little
clumps of foliage, which form shelter
from the suns terrific heat for naked
Coolie pickaninnies whose mothers.
equally minus clothing, are washing the
household linen in the pools that abound
on the lake. Fine. sinewy negroes, wear
ing only a waistcloth, lack but a spear to
become formidable savage worriers. The
scene takes the strangers Imagination
back to "Typee," and he almost expects
to behold the graceful Fayaway emerge
from the foliage on her way to the after
noon bath.
The lakes surface during the rainy sea-
son is at times completely submerged,
when the work of digging is, of course,