THE TRINADAD PITCH LAKE.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10263, 4 February 1899, Page 2

THE TRINADAD PITCH LAKE.

The famous pitch lake, or great bitumen deposit, of Trinidad, is situated at Point Librea, on an elevation at about a mile from the sea. It covers an area, says Popular . Science, of nearly one hundred'acres, and its appearance is that of a dull still, dark waste. It is irregularly, circular, and its surface perceptibly convex, being more elevated in the centre, and thence insensibly declining on all sides. In the centre the pitch is quite soft, in fact, semi-liquid;. but it becomes more and more hardened as its circumference widens,out. Except the soft central parts, the surface is intersected in all directions by numerous fissures pr chasms, varyihg in breadth from two to sixteen feet, and from half a foot to seven feet in depth, widening also at the surface, and terminating acutely at the bottom, thus iiroducing, as it were, inverted angular hoi-, ows, while the sides are regularly rounded, These crevices are always .filled with fresh water. Here and there where the bitumen. is mixed with earthy matter grow lichens, mosses grasses, &c. The centre of the lake, . tlie pitch pot, or chaudiere, as it is called, is at all times so soft that it would be impossible to. venture »n it tl>e danger of being engulfed. *ae k>k* is Government property, parts of it was leased out to private individuals, who have to pay royalties according to the amount of pitch removed, which amount is checked by the Government. The lake ir practically inexhaustible. No matter what* quantity is taken out, it is replaced by fresh pitch, which always wells up to fill the hole. The surface of tho outer edges of this m(?W wonderful of lakes is quite hard enoughlt*» walk upon; but a curious result ensues if you stand still for any length of time on one spot.' For some years around you the pitch bodily sinks until it forms a sort of basin.

Most of us would be all right if our action! were not so much in arrears of our .intentions.'

Romantic Guide: "You Bee.befqre you the beautiful Nile, on whose placid bosom . Antony and' Cleopatra sailed hundreds of years ago!" Chicago Dame: "Vvny, my der man, there isn't a word of truth in any ~

of Ridar Haggard's works 1"