Two specimens of the more compact and earthy sort, analysed by Mr. Hatchett, yielded about 32 and 36 per cent. of pure bitumen: the residuum in the crucible consisted of a spongy, friable and ochraceous stone, and 100 parts of it afforded, as far as could be determined by a single trial, of silica 60, alumina 10, oxide of iron 10, carbonaceous matter by estimation 11; not the smallest traces of lime could be discovered, so that the substance has no similarity to the bituminous limestones which have been noticed in different parts of the world.[1] I have already remarked, that this mineral production differs considerably in different places. The specimens examined by Mr. Hatchett by no means correspond in character with the great mass of the lake, which, in most cases, would doubtless be found to be infinitely more free from combination with earthy substances; though from the mode of origin which I have assigned to it, this intermixture may be regarded as more or less unavoidable. The analysis of the stone after the separation of the bitumen, as Mr. Hatchett very correctly observes, accords with the prevalent soil of the country; and I may add, with the soil daily deposited by the gulph, and with the composition of the porcelain jasper, in immediate contact with the bituminous mass.
All the country which I have visited in Trinidad is either decidedly primitive or alluvial. The great northern range of mountains which runs from east to west, and is connected with the Highlands of Paria on the continent, by the Islands at the Bocas, consists of gneiss, of mica slate containing great masses of quartz, and in many places approaching so much to the nature of talc, as to render the soil quite unctuous by its decomposition, and of compact bluish grey limestone, with frequent veins of white crystallized carbonate
- ↑ Vide Linnean Trans. vol. 8.
