Nicholas Nugent

“ An examination of this tract of country could not fail, I think, to be highly gratifying to those who embrace the Huttonian theory of the earth, for they might behold the numerous branches of one of the largest rivers of the world (the Orinoco) bringing down so amazing a quantity of earthy particles as to discolour the sea in a most remarkable manner for many leagues distant, [6] they might see these earthy particles deposited by the influence of powerful currents on the shores of the gulph of Paria, and particularly on the western side of the island of Trinidad ”

“ The Pitch-lake with the circumjacent tract, being now on the margin of the sea, must in like manner have had an origin of no very distant date; besides, according to the above representation of Capt. Mallet, and which has been frequently corroborated, a fluid bitumen oozes up and rises to the surface of the water on both sides of the island, not where the sea has encroached on and overwhelmed the ready-formed land, but where it is obviously in a very rapid manner depositing and forming a new soil. ”

“ It is not only in forming and extending the coast of Trinidad, that the Orinoco exerts its powerful agency; co-operating with its mighty sister flood, the Amazons, it has manifestly formed all that line of coast and vast extent of country, included between the extreme branches of each river. ”

“ We proceeded by a circuitous and steep route about six miles, gradually ascending the mountain, which consisted entirely of an uniform porphyritic rock, broken every where into fragments and large blocks, and which in many places was so denuded of soil, as to render it a matter of astonishment how vegetation, and particularly that of the cane, should thrive so well. The far greater part of the whole island is made up of this porphyry, which by some systematicks would be considered as referable to the newest floëtz trap formation, and by others would be regarded only as a variety of lava. ”

“ The island of Montserrat, so called by the Spaniards from a fancied resemblance to the celebrated mountain of Catalonia, is every where extremely rugged and mountainous, and the only roads, except in one direction, are narrow bridle paths winding through the recesses of the mountains; there is hardly a possibility of using wheeled carriages, and the produce of the estates is brought to the place of shipment on the backs of mules. ”

“ A vast river, like the Orinoco, must for ages have rolled down great quantities of woody and vegetable bodies, which from certain causes, as the influence of currents and eddies, may have been arrested and accumulated in particular places ”

“ There is every reason to believe, however, that some of the islands are really of contemporaneous formation with the adjacent parts of the continent, from which they have been disjoined by the incursions of the sea, or by convulsions of nature, and it is probably in those islands which contain primitive rocks, that we are chiefly to look for a confirmation of this supposition. ”

“ An accidental fire, such as is known frequently to occur in the bowels of the earth, may then have operated in separating and driving off the newly formed bitumen more or less combined with siliceous and argillaceous earths, which forcing its way through the surface, and afterwards becoming inspissated by exposure to the air, may have occasioned such scenes as I have ventured to describe. ”

“ It is indeed singular that the attention of government should not have been more forcibly directed to a subject of such magnitude: the attempts that have hitherto been made to render it extensively useful have for the most part been only feeble and injudicious, and have consequently proved abortive. ”

“ This substance is generally thought to be the asphaltum of naturalists: in different spots however it presents different appearances. In some parts it is black, with a splintery conchoidal fracture, of considerable specific gravity, with little or no lustre, resembling particular kinds of coal, and so hard as to require a severe blow of the hammer to detach or break it; in other parts, it is so much softer, as to allow one to cut out a piece in any form with a spade or hatchet, and in the interior is vesicular and oily ”

“ The exhalations of sulphur do not at all times proceed from the same fissures, but new ones appear to be daily formed, others becoming, as it were, extinct. On the margins of these fissures, and indeed almost over the whole place, are to be seen most beautiful crystallizations of sulphur, in many spots quite as fine and perfect as those from Vesuvius, or indeed as any other specimens I have ever met with. The whole mass of decomposed rock in the vicinity is, in like manner, quite penetrated by sulphur. ”

“ An intense degree of heat is at the same time evolved, which, added to the apprehension of the ground crumbling and giving way, renders it difficult and painful to walk near any of these fissures. The water of a rivulet which flows down the sides of the mountain and passes over this place, is made to boil with violence, and becomes loaded with sulphurous impregnations. ”

“ Amidst the loose stones and fragments of decomposed rock are many fissures and crevices, whence very strong sulphurous exhalations arise, and which are diffused to a considerable distance; these exhalations are so powerful as to impede respiration, and near any of the fissures are quite intolerable and suffocating. ”

“ The surface of the ground, not occupied by the ravine, was broken and strewed with fragments and masses of the porphyritic rock, for the most part so exceedingly decomposed as to be friable and to crumble on the smallest pressure. ”

“ And it must be remembered that geological inquiries are not conducted here with that facility which they are in some other parts of the world; the soil is almost universally covered with the thickest and most luxuriant vegetation, and the stranger is soon exhausted and overcome by the scorching rays of a vertical sun. Immediately to the southward, the face of the country as seen from la Braye, is a good deal broken and rugged, which Mr. ”

“ Hatchett states the specific gravity of ordinary asphalt umto vary from 1.023 to 1.165, but in two varieties of that of Trinidad it was as great as 1.336 and 1.744, which led Mr. Hatchett to form a conjecture which I shall afterwards notice. ↑ This island contains also a great quantity of valuable timber, and several plants which yield excellent hemp. ↑ The different kinds of bitumen have always been found particularly obnoxious to the class of insects ”