MOST WONDERFUL LAKE IN THE WORLD.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 47, 20 March 1909, Page 3

MOST WONDERFUL LAKE IN THE WORLD.

The Pitch Uilce, of Trinidad, round which, (speaking metaphorically) .111 action ecwlred in the prosaic Thames Police Court recently, is accounted one of the wonders of the world. Yet there is nothing very wonderful in it* iappiiaitt*i'. One traveller has likened it to the St. James's .Park lake —when, the miter has been drawn off and tlie bottom is. in process of being cleaned.

It is a "lake" by courtesy only, for the pitch is of siidi consistency that one. is aide to walk upon, it without danger or diliie.nlt.y. I't even supports ,i rtiilway. along which the chunks of asphalt, when "quarried," are. hauled in trucks to the shore. .But the "permanent way" has to- be raised and readjusted every three or four days, otherwise rails and sleepers would sink into the semi-solid, .semi-fluid depths, and he engulfed for ever. Aloiigtside the Atilwhy, when night (Talis, mn two, long parallel troughs or ■trenches. IHicso represent the spaces .whence "the day's output of pitch has .been dug. Next morning they have disappeared. The pitch lias closed upon them and liUi'd them. The whole snr.fa'ce 'of the lake is as solid au'd as .smooth a's ever. This process has been going on wW more or le-s regularity ever s-iiioc tlie .diivs .01 Sir Wnller lialeign. who caulked his' ships there, and vet the lake remain.* at the same level. The quantity annually removed is about 1110.11110 tons. .The little hiirlior near by. whence the pitch ships sail, is jet black. Even the .seashore is studded with boulders of .pitch on wh.u-li sit black babies .nursing dolls iluladc of pUVh. The pier is coated .thick with pilch, the houses daubed with it. And the .name of this pilch poi't, is Brighton. i