Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1921-02-03
Trinidad's Wonderful Lake.

with no otner support tnan the Ties
Dream Of a lake on which men may
walk without sinking into its depths
and becoming engulfed. If you can
do this, you are ready to take fanci-
full trip, no, not TO the world of make
believe, but to a most interesting part
of this hemisphere, the West Indies
Perhaps the most prosaic work in the
world is laying a city pavement To
the average citizen it means discom-
fort, and the closing of the street for a
time. Clouds Of sooty smoke from the
fre-wagon, sticky shoes if one of not
careful, and a huge roller rumbling
along which one has to dodge, no
chance for imagination, nothing but
stolid, dirt work. And yet. the place
from which the asphalt comes, which
is used to make the pavement, is one
Of tropical beauty, with its brightly
hued flowers, its gayly colored butter
| flies and birds, and, most wonderful
of all, its great, brown-gray lake Of
pitch.
1t is on the island Of Trinidad,
British possession, which lies just off
the coast Of Venezuela, that this world
wonder is to be found. How it
originated, how long il has been there,
and how deep it is, are all matters of
speculation.
The island, with its three green hills,
which. suggested to Columbus the
name he bestowed upon it when he dis
covered it in 1893 basking in the sun
shine and the lazy tropical air with the
music of the soft whirr of the wings of
the humming birds would seem to be
the very place where dreams are born
One of the dreams, or legends, is that
of how the asphalt lake came into
existence. This has been handed
down the centuries, among the natives
of the island.
Long, long ago, they tell us, before
Columbus sailed the seas, the island
was inhabited by the Carib Indians.
AT that time, more so than at pres
ent, the island abounded with humming
birds of many different hues. These
birds the Indians believed to be the
spirits oftheir departed dead, who had
returned in that guise to protect the
living. They reverenced the birds,
and not one of them was ever hurt or
killed by an inhabitant of the island.
Then there came upon the scene a
fierce tribe Of Indians called the ebay
mas who cared not for the superstitions
of their neighbors. They made their
village upon hill overlooking the
sea, and at once began to kill the birds
for their bright colored feathers with
which they adorned themselves.
But this sacrilege could not 90
unpublished, the Caribs tell us. The
Great Spirit who rules the happy hunt
ing grounds of departed Indians took
swift Vengeance. One morning the vii
lage on the top OF the hill had dis
appeared, and in its place was a vast,
molten lake of pitch, which boiled and
seethed as il heated by supernatural
fires. 1t took a century for it to
cool, so the story goes, and the lake
stands today as perpetual warning
to those who would harm the humming
birds.
The biologists, however, have a diff
ferent story to tell.
The asphalt lake, as it is called, is
in the depression or crater Of an old
mud spring or volcano. Here, they
say, ages ago, petroleum oozed UP from
the depths, passing in its course
through strata Of extremely fine miner
al matter, clay and sand, with which
it became intimately mixed. Natural
gas helped along this movement, and
caused the emulsion of oil and CLAY
to be churned until when it reached
the surface it formed the material
which today is designated as "asphalt."
That at one time the lake overlooked
is reasonably certain, for deposits of
the pitch have been found along the
side Of the hill at some distance from
the lake itself. PROBABLY, however,
some OF this material may have burst
through the crust of the earth at some
point of least resistance and was har
dened upon coming in contact with the
air. This material is called Gland as
phalt" to distinguish it from that found
in the lake land is of inferior Quality.
being more weathered than that found
in the original deposit.
The lake, even today, is in constant
motion. Not the seethng and boiling
W hich nrnhn Ill, Oh :.