Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-10-06
TRIN|DAD'S PUZZLE
Mystery of the Islands Curious
Lake of Pitch.
HOLES FILL UP OVERNIGHT,
And Great Trenches More Than Three
Feet Deep Will Be Obliterated In a
Week-The Great Mass Is Solid, Yet
In Constant but Slow Motion.

Though disappointing at first sight to
people who have the crater of an ac-
tive volcano in mind. yet the famous
"pitch lake OF Trinidad is remarkable
enough to satisfy most thoroughly long
ere the visit has come to an end.
The lake is a level plain about a hun
dred acres or so in extent, surrounded
by low hills and dotted here and there
with bushes and trees. The surface is
not a shimmering black. as might be
supposed, but a dull, grayish blue col
OR, intersected with pools of shining
water. Altogether it is a very prosaic
looking place, giving no hint of its real
interest.
One a walk where one pleases on
the surface of the asphalt without any
fear of sinking in, for it is quite solid
enough to bear ones weight. If you
stand in one place for a little while it
feels hot to the feet, just like an as
phalted street on il very hot day.
Much of the time a fresh breeze
blows, and enc remembers with amuse-
ment the stories Of the imaginative
writer's who talked about sitting heat
and oppressive atmosphere.
The digging of the asphalt is a sim.
pie operation. A mattock is the only
tool required, and under it's blows the
pitch breaks readily. The negroes EN-
ployed are very skilled in the work
and break out Jumps a couple of feet
across, far too heavy for an ordinary
man to carry.
Only a very small amount of the ma
terial gets broken into little pieces. sc
that scarcely any baskets are needed
to carry the asphalt to the cars. A
lGborer simply lifts one or two Jumps,
puts them on his head, walks a few
yards and drops them into the car.
The crude asphalt, as broken out is
somewhat brownish or earthly in color,
1t is usually quite wet and filled with
many holes. like bubbles, measuring uE
to an inch or more in diameter.
The gang of ~barefooted workme1 in
one place may number thirty men, OF
whom half a dozen do the digging.
They work on a space perhaps sixty
feet long and forty feet wide, and in
the course of a day they will dig down
to a depth of three feet, or more in
some places.
Go to hat same spot next morning,
and you will find it a little rough, but
approximately level with the rest of
the lake. The hole has been mysteri-
ously filled up during the night, a4d In
the course of a week all traces of the
digging will be obliterated.
This does not mean necessarily that
fresh asphalt has come into the lake
from underground sources. On the con
trary, the excavations are filed by a
very slow settling or leveling of the
surface asphalt. There is no such
thing as new" asphalt. by the way.
for the transition from liquid Ibetro-
leum to solid asphalt by natures proc
ess involves a period of time that must
be calculated in centuries.
The digging done in past years has
caused the general level of the lake to
sink several feet, so that it is not abso-
lutely ~inexhaustible, as some people i'm
agine. 1t is believed that fresh asphalt
very slowly pushes itself upward into
the lake from the subterranean depths,
but how large a quantity is thus added
annually has not been calculatedk
Near the middle of the lake the ma