The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-09-14
TRINIDAD'S LAKE OF PITCH.

beyond any doubt Lake Trinidad Is
the most valuable lake in the woald
1t is an absolutely inexhaustible mine
OF wealth, says the Boston Herald,
and In these days of asphalt the revenue
from the lake shows SO startling and
rapid an annual increase that it can
be a question of only a few years
when the present lessees from Queen
Victoria who owns the bulk of the
lake, will rank among the worlds
mllllonaires. Columbus discovered
Trinidad on his third voyage, in the
year l49o, and as every schoolboy
knows who studies his Western he1ni-
sphere, the island lies off the Venezu
elan coast. about 600 miles north of
the equator. There is no reason to
doubt that what is now an island be-
longing to her majesty of England
was centuries ago part and parcel Of
the South American continent. The
action of the sea has created narrow
breaks In what was once the neck of a
peninsula, and these are indeed SO
narrow that getting safely into the
gulf must always prove a difficult
undertaking for shippers unfamiliar
with the lay of the rocks and varying
depth of the channel.
The famous lake lies about mile
from the beach, and is reached by a
road through typical forest. Mon
keys, parrots and snakes of the dead
llest kind are here in abundance
The roadbed is asphalt unadulterated.
A sudden break IN the forest dis
closes the lake. The surface is dotted
here and there with little clumps of
foliage, which form shelters from the
suns terrible heat for naked Coolie
plckaninnies whose mothers, equally
minus clothing, are washing the house
hold linen in the pools that abound on
the lake. Fine, slnewy negroes, wear
ing only waistcloth, lack but spear
to become formidable savage warriors
The lakes surface during the rainy
season is at times completely sub
merged, when the work Of digging is,
of course, more complicated; but in
the dry season it looks for all the
world like a vast base ball diamond
covered with elephant hide. This
seems the one and only simile which
covers the case. In some places the
asphalt is firm and hard, in others the
foot sinks to the instep. and in the
center of the lake the pitch bubbles,
suiphurous fumes arise and threat
ening, sizzling hiss betokens the exist
encesof subterranean fires. Many of
the natives believe that here is the
capital of his satanic majety's domin-
ions.
When the pitch is brought along
side the receiving vessel it forms a
compact, spongy mass that resists
everything but pick. Baskets hold
ing quarter of ton are passed up
and down over the vessels side, filed
by the hghterman and emptied into
the hold, the asphalt then appear
ing in irregular blocks about the size
of an adult watermelon. It presents
! assures and holes like those in a
sponge Once in the vessel the as
phalt again forms compact mass and
becomes by no means popular cargo
with the average skipper A vessel
loaded deep with asphalt may hold
the fine trade wind for four or five
days, during which time she of course
lists" to leeward. Then it is that the
asphalt ''lists," too, and when the trade
wind is gone so also is the vessels per
feet balance. Such cargo is a great
strain upon the timbers, and knowing
mariners would think twice before
they would willingly breast Cape
Hatteras gale in an any way old vessel
carrying pitch"