Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1924-11-12

| prepared by the National Geographic So
! ciety, Washington, D. CO
The island of Trinidad, British DOS
session off the mouths of the Orinoco
river. which barely escapes being a
part of South America, affords a close
to-home opportunity to study the ORR
ent. Columbus mistake has been
made the truth. If he landed again
on Trinidad he would meet true East
| Indians as he thought he did when
his vessel first touched land in the
Western Hemisphere and the red man
was given his homogeneous name, 'In-
diam" For to this island thousands
of Hindus have been brought and they
have made large parts of the country
miniature copies of their home land.
Trinidad has been called zone of
the most favored, most beautiful and
most interesting isles in the world"
| and whether the visitor of today be
naturalist, an artist, an ethnologist,
a business man or an ordinary garden
variety of tourist he will probably find
the phrases accurate. To begin with,
the soil is exceedingly fertile Though
in the tropics, the island has a pleas
ant climate for it Is in the trade wind
| belt and is covered with hills which
| catch the breeze There is abundant
moisture, and thanks to importations
| from all parts of the world dating
back in many cases several centuries,
practically every plant the tropics
| know grows there luXuriantly. It is
| far enough south to escape the de-
structive hurricanes that periodically
| devaState most of the other West In
| dian islands. With it's stable British
government it is haven for political
refugees from turbulent parts of
| South America.
| Nor does Trinidad lack a world
| wonder. Near the islands southwest
ern extremity IS the famous Lake of
| Asphalt from which has come paving
| material for many of the cities of
America and Europe. More than 100
| acres is covered by the asphalt like
huge paved field, though the area
| is dotted with some pools of muddy
water and a few patches of vegeta-
| ton. One may walk upon the ma
! terial but he must keep moving or his
feet will slowly sink into it. Negro
| laborers dig the asphalt and a long
galloway of buckets transports it to
| the nearby coast where it is dumped
| into freight steamers.
This is one of the most unpleasant
| parts of Trinidad climatically; low,
sizzling hot, and odorous; for a sui
| phurous smell is constantly rising
| from the asphalt. There are other low
portions of the island given over to
swamps, alligators and malaria, but
the greater portion of the area is
either well drained lowland or rolling
hills. Where the latter have not been
cleared the close-packed vegetation
sweeps up in a vivid green mantle
! from the seashore to highest pinnacle.
It is on the large cacao plantations
in the rolling uplands that the pleas
sntest rural conditions are found.
Port of Spain a Busy City.
Port of Spain, capital and metrop-
| oils of Trinidad, is one of the busiest
cities of the Caribbean and one of
the most delightful to live in if one
| takes the ordinary precautions of the
tropics to shield himself from the hot
test rays of the SUM- The population
of the city is about 62,000, but it is
as cosmopolitan as many city of
half a million. On the streets one
meets Britons, citizens of the United
States, Portuguese, Latin Americans,
negroes, Hindus, Chinese, and natives
| Of various mixtures of blood includ-
Ing that Of the old Caribs. Port of
SPANS roadstead is constantly crowd
ed with ocean steamers and its huge
warehouses are filed with varied
goods, for this Is the principal depot
| for trade between Great Britain and
the northern countries of South Amer
lea.
On the inland edge Of Port of Spain
the city's beauty spot. Queens park
or the Savannah, adjoining which is
| the palace-like residence Of the COVER
nor and one of the finest botanical
gardens in existence. The latter, with
fits wonderful collection of trees,
shrubs and flowers, all of which APP
parently have found ideal growing
conditions, is a paradise for botan-
/ lists. It is a field as well for the
ornithologist, because of the wealth
! of It's birds, including many of the
dainty little creatures which gave
! Trinidad its native name. 1t was
called Iere, LAND of abe Humming
/ Birds"
Columbus discovered Trinidad on
! his third voyage in 1893 and gave