of Mrs Sarah Trimmer (1741-1810), authoress of the Story of the Robins (1786). At the age of nineteen he was sent to North Wales to manage a copper-mine for his father; subsequently he was placed in charge of a farm in Middlesex, where he acquired a knowledge of and an interest in soils; in 1825 he became manager (for his father) of slate quarries near Bangor and Carnarvon, and in this district he remained for many years. He discovered the marine shells in the drift of Moel Tryfaen. During the years 1850-1854 he was engaged on the Geological Survey, and surveyed parts of the New Forest in Hampshire. He died in London on the 16th of September 1857.
He published memoirs on the Origin of the Soils which cover the Chalk of Kent; On the Geology of Norfolk, as Illustrating the Laws of the Distribution of Soils (1847); and Proposals for a Geological Survey, specially directed to Agricultural Objects (1850); in this respect he was a pioneer in agricultural geology. He was author also of a useful work Practical Geology and Mineralogy (1841). Obituary by J. E. Portlock, in Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. (1858).
TRIMONTIUM, the name of a Roman fort at Newstead, near Melrose, Scotland, close under the three Eildon Hills (whence the name trium montium). It was an advanced post of the Romans towards Scotland both about 80 A.D. and after, and again (after an interval of evacuation) from about A.D. 140–180. Excavations during the last four years have yielded finds of almost unique importance. These include the foundations of several successive forts, one above the other, which throw much light on the character of the Roman military post; an unparalleled collection of Roman armour, including ornate helmets, and a good series of coins and datable pottery. The whole illustrate the history of the Roman army and that of Roman Scotland very remarkably and to an extent equalled by no Scottish site as yet explored.
See the report published for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by the excavator Mr James Curle. (F. J. H.)
TRINCOMALEE, a town and former naval station on the north-east coast of Ceylon, 100 m. N.E. by N. of Kandy. Pop. (1901), 11,295. It is built on the north side of the bay of Trincomalee, on the neck of a bold peninsula separating the inner from the outer harbour. There is a lighthouse on the extremity of Foul Point at the southern side of the bay, and another on the summit of Round Island. The inner harbour is landlocked, with a safe anchorage and deep water close to the principal wharves; the outer harbour has an area of about 4 sq. m. with a depth of about 70 fathoms. With its magnificent harbor—one of the five or six greatest natural harbours in the world—it used to be the headquarters of the admiral commanding on the East Indian station, with a garrison of infantry and British artillery. The breadth of the streets and esplanades somewhat atones for the mean appearance of the houses, but the town generally has a gloomy and impoverished aspect. Pearl oysters are found in the lagoon of Tambalagam to the west of the bay. A steamer from Colombo calls weekly with and for passengers and cargo. Average annual rainfall, 62¾ in.; average temperature, 81.2° F. Some tobacco, rice, and palm are grown in the district.
Attention was directed to the importance of Trincomalee as a naval base in 1896, when a commission of officers recommended its being turned into a modern fortress. The work was commenced in 1898 and finished in 1904. All the batteries were rebuilt and fitted with modern appliances. The whole area was connected with cable and telephone communication, and armed with the latest type of guns; and the fortress was supposed to be impregnable; but in the following year the station was abandoned, the naval yard closed, and the military garrison withdrawn. A man-of-war is still kept in Trincomalee Harbour, to work the defences.
The town was one of the first settlements of the Tamil race in Ceylon, who at a very early period erected on a height at the extremity of the peninsula, now crowned by Fort Frederick, a temple dedicated to Konatha, or Konasir, named the “temple of a thousand columns.” The building was desecrated and destroyed in 1622, when the town was taken by the Portuguese, who made use of the materials for the erection of the fort. The town was successively held by the Dutch (1639), the French (1673), the Dutch (1674), the French (1782), and the Dutch (1783). After a siege of three weeks it surrendered to the British fleet in 1795, and with other Dutch possessions in Ceylon was formally ceded to Great Britain by the Treaty of Amiens in 1802.
TRING, a market town in the Watford parliamentary division of Hertfordshire, England, 31½ m. N.W. by W. from London by the London and North Western railway. Pop. of urban district (1901), 4349. It lies on the western slope of the Chiltern Hills, close to the entrance to a narrow valley which pierces them, and forms one of the highways through them to London, carrying the railway, the Grand junction Canal, and a main road. The church of St Peter and St Paul shows fine Perpendicular work, especially in the ornate interior of the nave. Industries include straw-plaiting and the weaving of canvas and silk. The Rothschild Museum, erected in 1889, contains an extensive natural history collection. Living wild animals are also kept in a neighbouring paddock and cages. The road which passes through Tring and along the face of the hills represents the ancient Icknield Way, and there may have been a Romano-British village on the site of Tring.
TRINIDAD, the most southerly and, with the exception of Jamaica, the largest of the British West Indian Islands. Pop. (1901), 236,397. It is situated 6 m. E. of the coast of Venezuela, between 10° 3′ and 10° 50′ N. and 60° 39′, and 62° W. Its average length is 48 m., its breadth 35 m. and its area 1754 sq. m. In shape it is almost square, but it throws off two peninsulas westward from its north and south corners. Corozal Point projecting from its north-western and Icacos Point from its south-western extremity enclose the Gulf of Paria. To the west of Corozal Point lie several islands, of which Chacachacare, Huevos Monos and Monos Gaspar Grande are the most important. The surface is level or undulating, excepting in the north and south where there are ranges of hills, with eastern and western axes, prolongations of the Venezuelan coast ranges. Of these the northern is the more elevated ridge, its highest point being Tucuche Peak (3100 ft.). The southern hills attain an elevation of 600 ft. A small ridge runs east to west by south through the centre of the island, from Manzanilla Point to San Fernando, having an isolated elevation in Mt Tamana (1028). The hills of the northern and southern ranges are furrowed by innumerable ravines, and are clad to their summits with dense forests. There are numerous small streams, none navigable, and all flowing either east or west.
In its geology, as well as in its flora and fauna, Trinidad differs little from the mainland, with which it was probably at one time connected. There are four mineral springs and several mud volcanoes, but the two most striking natural features are the Maracas Falls, and the Pitch Lake. The Maracas Falls are situated at the head of a valley of the same name, to the north-east of Port of Spain, where the river leaps in a foaming torrent over a sheer wall of rock, 312 ft. high. The Pitch Lake lies some 38 m. by water south-east of the capital, in the ward of La Brea. It is circular in form, about 3 m. in circumference, and 104 acres in extent. Underground forces acting on the pitch cause it to rise in unequal masses, which are rounded off like huge mushrooms, separated from one another by narrow fissures, in which the rainwater collects and forms pools. Near the centre of the lake the pitch is always soft and can be observed bubbling up in a liquid state. When the sun is hot the lightest footfall leaves an impression and the pitch emits an unpleasant odour. The soil of the surrounding district is charged with asphalt, but is very fertile, while the road to the neighbouring port of La Brea, running on a bed of asphalt, moves slowly towards the sea like a glacier. The lake is worked by a company which exports the asphalt to the United States; paying royalty to the local government on every ton exported.
The mountain range which runs along the north coast is formed of clay-slates, micaceous and talcose schists, and crystalline and compact limestones, constituting the group called the Caribbean series, the age of which is unknown. The rest of the island is composed of Cretaceous, Tertiary and Quaternary strata. The Cretaceous beds rise to the surface in the centre and are flanked to north and south by the later deposits. Owing to the rarity of satisfactory sections the relations of the various divisions of the Tertiary formation are still somewhat obscure; but they are grouped by J. B. Harrison into (1) Nariva and San Fernando beds, = Eocene
