The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1894-09-15
A CARGO OF ASPHALT.
A STICKY SUBSTANCE THAT IS
IMPORTED FOR OUR ROADS.

Trinidad's Lake of Boiling Pitch Which
Is Used in Making Notwithstanding
About the Island and Its Workers.
How the STUFF Is Handled.
The asphalt barks from the West Indies
are about the only vessels outside the coast
ing schooners that ever favor Washington
with visit. Two Of them are lying of the
wharf at the foot of New Hampshire ave-
nue., and are well worth a visit.
Down in the hold the cargo looks like
the edge Of dead lava field, black and
scanned, and apparently as hard as rock;
but the hardness is deceptive. Break up a
bushel of the pitch" as 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, sunken 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 prac-
tically 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 flrma against which Columbus ran,
when in l49S he pushed his explorations
farther westward IN search OF that mari
ners' phantasm, the northwest passage
The island was then inhabited solely by
CARDS, Wild and Warllke, but wlthal III
telligent, race, not unlike the North Amer
lean Indians, peculiar IN Their language,
which, Ike the Choctaw OF our own west
ern tribe, has been mastered by lew II any
white men. FOR many years the Island
renamed neglected dependency OF SPAN
with a constantly dWlhullng populatlon'
mostly natives ana imported negroes In
l'9' IL passed lhto the hahds Oh the BRUSH
government anu mas remained an Ehgllsh
colony SINCE
Ihere are Dut TWO towns OIL importance
on the lsland-Port OF SPAN ana san Fer
hahuo' Ihese i've hosIly Dy their lhl,
ports, the chlef productions Oh the lsiahu
beyond ltS own necessities Deihg aspnaiV
ana coeoahuts' Inc sugar crop IS large
Dut IL does not pay TO export IT, Inc pop
uiatioh Oh the to"hS Is mixed hngllsh Is
the court language Dut the majority OF
Ihe people are negroes descendants OF the
~ln ,Na tn1l a,.fs ,Nf
ola slave stock' VINO taik a pa'ols Oh MN
gieu lrehch' spanish ana hnSiish that Is
described as the 'host Dack hahueuest
Ahgo' any heatheh ever invented
some OF the orlglhal CarlDs are stlll 10
be tounu among the Island people, but
tley are rapidly disappearing, and IN their
place Is now seen the imported cody Inc
cody trade, whlch was originally lnstl-
tuted TO Iurnlsh cheap labor Tor the plan
tatlons, was IN lormer times terrible dis
grace 10 the islands ana partook Oh more
than all the horrors oil the African slave
trade thousands OF the miserable Aslat-
lc? were sacrliled IN the business py the
greed ana lhhumanity OF the masters VINO
prought them over, ana although imported
under the gulse Oh LABOR contract, not
one IN hunoreds Oh them ever hVed 10 re-
turn hone' oorlhgehG laws governing the
trainc are now enacted however, ana, What
Is more 10 the purpose are well enforced,
ana many OF Vhe coOles Dy the time they
nave served their elght years contract out
are wen 10 90 citlzens' Delhg pald lor their
WORK Dy tne piece ana saving nearly all
they earn
Inc sreat pltch lake. whicn Is the chler
wonder ana attraction Oh the lsiand, Is slt-
uaVed IN loW' SANDY stre.ch Oh the south
WesC coast near cape oorparaI' Inc sur
rouhalng country ls low anu niaiarlai, IN
sCrlkins cohCrasU W Cne i'lgn hiiis anu rich m
WooulAhus ol Iie COAST lartner pack' LIE
lake Is owned ny 1he BRUSH government
ana leased oyl 10 an American iirm Which
GUhCrois W Vne CIaue ior the Ohi'eu 0taIes'
Iheir present lease mas iorty-V"o years yet
W run. Inc iaDorers are ail negroes, even
tne cooiles snriihihS lroln one neaC ana
low leVerS Oh Ihe place Inc lake ltseli
IS ABOUT u mile III diameter, nara at the
euges ana soiCehihg VoWara the mludie'
Inc surface Is cohtihuaily changing, ap-
parehtiy from some suoIerraneah action'
ana httle oases OF dry iahd ana even trees
ana shruns VIII disappear IN q single
nlght ana fresh ISLANDS OF SOIL be reared In
otner places
Inc iSke Is IN al proDa6lllty merely an
unusually large deposit OF Ditumeh or SOFT
coal Iha1 mas undergone lts translorlna'
tion from aecaylng vegetable matter IN
contact wlth water, ana TOO near the sur
lace lor the ear'h pressure ABOVE TO harden
IL thoroughly. hundreds OF the negroes
the year around toil at the laKe's edge,
taxing out cargo AFTER cargo from the sup
ply that seems never TO diminish. They
work uhder oVerseers OF their own color
ana are PAID at the rate oil seventy-two
cents a day. Inc asphalt crust Is broken
up with picks and croWbars, and is loaded
on dump carts drawn by a single sun dried
mule, IN whom the constant boiling TEN
the native meanneSs OF his species.