THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE RAIN-FOREST REGION. 



The Blue Mountains lie in a WNW.-ESE. position, being midway 

 between the north and south coasts and parallel with them. The range 

 extends from Silver Hill in the west to Cunhacunha Pass in the east, 

 a distance of 22 miles. The first considerable elevation in the western 

 end is John Crow Peak (6,000 feet, 1,830 meters), which is separated 

 by Morce's Gap (4,934 feet, 1,505 meters) from a comparatively level 

 ridge which runs from an unnamed elevation (about 5,800 feet, 1,770 

 meters), through New Haven Gap (5,600 feet, 1,705 meters), Sir John 

 Peter Grant Peak (about 6,200 feet, 1,890 meters), and Mossman's 

 Peak (about 6,900 feet, 2,105 meters) to Portland Gap (5,550 feet, 

 1,695 meters). To the east of Portland Gap the ridge rises abruptly 

 to its summit in Blue Mountain Peak (7,428 feet, 2,265 meters). From 

 its sister peak, the Sugar Loaf, the range descends gradually eastward 

 to Cunhacunha Pass. To the north and south of the Main Ridge, 

 lesser ridges diverge toward the sea, dropping in altitude with a rapidity 

 which may be judged from the fact that the coast is in no place more 

 than 13 miles from the Main Ridge. To the east of Cunhacunha Pass 

 lies the Blake, or John Crow, range, running parallel to the eastern 

 coast and having an average elevation of about 2,100 feet (640 meters). 

 Again, to the south of the Blue Mountains lies a range known in part 

 as the Port Royal Mountains, which have their greatest elevation in 

 Catherine's Peak (5,036 feet, 1,535 meters) and rise to nearly that 

 height at other places. 



In the following pages I have confined my treatment to the Blue 

 Mountains proper above an elevation of 4,500 feet (1,372 meters). On 

 descending below this altitude the flora of the mountains is rapidly 

 left behind and the climate is found to be not only warmer but drier 

 and less foggy, at the same time that the virgin forest begins to give 

 place to vegetable and coffee fields. The accompanying map (plate 1) 

 has been drawn from Liddell's survey (published by Stanford) and the 

 contours have been sketched in from eight known elevations. The 

 contours have been used only for the sake of giving a graphic approxi- 

 mation of the extent and configuration of the area under consideration. 

 The roads and trails indicated are the only ones in the area, and the 

 character of the topography and vegetation makes it laborious to pene- 

 trate very far beyond them. Although I have made visits to Portland 

 Gap and Blue Mountain Peak, the region is best known to me in its 

 western part between John Crow and Sir John Peaks and between 

 Cinchona and Vinegar Hill, and it is within this part that all of my 

 instrumentation has been carried on. 



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